Two Eight Year Olds Go Multi-Pitch Rock Climbing with Dad

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I tend to be pretty hard on myself.

So, when I thought I had prepared my boys enough to deal with keeping the twin ropes untangled on our first “one adult and two kids” multi-pitch climb and they struggled with some of the rope management, at first I was disappointed in myself. But after reliving the trip through the editing of this video, I see things a bit differently.

But, let’s back up a bit.

If you’ve been following our channel or blog, you know that I’ve been doing a number of videos, of late, on various techniques that I think are obligatory if you are going to take on multi-pitch climbing. You can check out the most recent videos in our Rock Climbing Safety Series, to see what I’m talking about. I’ve actually put quite a bit of thought into the skills that a climbing team needs to have once you get more than one rope length off of the ground. If I were to summarize, I believe that every climber needs to be comfortable reversing from a system designed to help us climb up to a system designed to help us either lower or rappel down. And if you are going to rappel down, you better also know how to reverse that system and head back up, if needed. In other words, don’t ever get stuck with only one direction you are able to go.

Anyway, behind those skills are other subsets of skills such as various knots and rescue techniques and the like. Then there are the basics of belay technique and anchor set ups and all of that.

There really is a lot that goes into it. And while I never expected the boys to be autonomous, I did need them to be competent enough across a wide range of skills to not endanger themselves or me, feeing me up to deal with any eventualities, should they arise.

But I missed one of the most fundamental things: how to keep the twists out of the rope as you are bringing rope in from the stack to the belay device and out to the lead climber. On two pitches, the boys had tangles they had to deal with. I felt like I let them down.

After looking at all of the footage from the climb, though, a different thought struck me: my boys managed the problems, found solutions, and kept the climb going while also keeping everyone safe. They got to experience, first hand, some of the chaos that can happen with multiple ropes and a-typical techniques (such as fixed-point belays). There is never a climb when everything stays perfectly uncluttered and efficient. There are simply too many variables.

So, while the boys’ “trial-by-fire” lesson may not have been intended by me, I’ve come to appreciate just how valuable that experiential learning is going to be for them. I’m also very pleased with just how calmly and rationally they handled it all.

Check out the 3+ minute “film” to see what I’m talking about.