Havea Outdoors

Rock climbing is definitely for women too! Although many women need to pump up our arm strength, we are fully able to join the fun – and at any age!!

The best place to start Rock climbing is at a local indoor/outdoor climbing wall or gym. There are many of these located in most urban areas in the US. These are fake walls that are built to help hone rock climbing skills such as holds, belaying, safety skills, and have supervision and onsite training. Make no mistake, it is NOT recommended to just go out into the wilderness and start climbing rocks. If you start climbing in a supervised arena, you can learn great techniques that make climbing fun for yourself, pairs, and groups. Belaying and rappelling are great fun, but there are techniques and equipment to learn – it is not intuitive and self-taught out on the rock.

Besides being supervised and trained before conquering the wilderness, there are rocks that are not safe for climbing that will crumble.

It is a good idea to go where others have gone before. Check parks that are known for climbing – Google these/check park areas – there are many. This way you have an idea where the best places to climb are and can plan accordingly.

As you are getting ready to equip yourself as a climber, you can check the bulletin boards in sports stores that carry climbing equipment and clothing. These sometimes post good information on the local climbing areas and any other pertinent information. They can also be a good place to contact other climbers and make friends.

There are many groups through Facebook and other platforms on the internet that are climbing groups. This is a great way to meet people to climb with, other women climbers, experienced climbers that know their way around your area, a great place to plan outings and climbing trips.

Blogs that cater to rock climbing are another good resource to gain knowledge of climbing.

Just in my area of NE Washington state there are several groups online that I have joined through Facebook (I have included some of what they have to say about their particular group):

• Rock Climbing Lover
• Washington Hikers and Climbers for Newbies
• Women Climbers NW
• Utah Women Climbers – a forum for women climbers (sport/boulder/trad/aid, rock/ice) to find partners, share beta, plan trips, discuss gear, and post media related to climbing/the outdoors; All things climbing.
• PNW Climbers & Clunkers – created to connect and invite everyone who is interested in participating in glacier travel skills practice, make new friends, and going on trips together. They hold monthly meetings in Arlington, WA where they safely practice self-rescue skills, rig, and operate z-pulley rescue, belay escape, rappelling, belaying, and other rope handling and climbing techniques. There is no substitute for hands on practice to sharpen your skills. All are welcome to attend the workshops, beginner, skilled and experienced alike.
• Traveling Women Climbers
• Climbers Crag – A Rock Climbing Training Community- brings together the best brands, athletes, creators & community of 350,000 climbers through social media.
• Vertical World Women’s Climbing Partners – a positive place to meet other climbers and create a greater community.
• Southern California Climbers – place to connect, make friends, laugh, brag, maybe even learn something
• PNW Women’s Hike Meetup – closed group (many of these can be found in your local bulletin boards and can be contacted by phone or email)
• Women of Mountaineering – a space for all women with a passion or interest in mountaineering to come together, exchange stories, information, and inspiration. Collectively, they are working to inspire more women to seek a life filled with adventure and connection in the mountains. They are also working to breakdown gender barriers that undoubtably exist in the outdoor space.
• Climbing Singles – beginner to experienced
• PNW Outdoor Women Group – inclusive community of passionate adventurous women from the PNW. This group is a brave space for members to plan adventures, make new friends, share stories, seek advice, and thoughtfully discuss issues related to the outdoors and the way our experiences there are mediated by our various identities. This is a diverse group and we cover a lot of ground, literally and metaphorically.
• Mountain Climbing
• Climbing Lovers
• “We like it on top” – hiking and climbing community
• Climber over 60
• Washington Hikers and Climbers 45+ Hiking and Backpacking Group
• Grey Power (50+ climbers)
• Climbers over 50 Facebook Group
• Wise Women Climbers – community of women climbers 45+ years old to share experiences and wisdom with one another (and hopefully meet up for an adventure or two)

Do any of these sound like a group that might be aligned with your interests? Check your own area groups on social media, they are likely to be close to the same.

Is there rock-climbing gear especially for women?

• There is clothing designed for women for rock climbing (see Haveaapparel.com). Leggings, sports bras, and sport jackets will give you a start in preparing to climb. Weather will also dictate needs. Clothing should all be contoured to the body, comfortable, with no extra ties, zips, or clasps that can catch and cause instability as you climb. (see haveaoutdoors.com for climbing sports bra recommendations).
• Choose a good pair of climbing shoes – personal choice. I do not recommend ordering a generic climbing shoe off the internet. These should be tried on and evaluated. What are you going to do in these shoes that you need to be aware of?  Climbing cracks, walking (sometimes tip-toeing) up rock slabs, free climbing, steep climbing, face climbs, difficult cracks, lower angles, climbing aggressive shapes outside and in the gym, trads, standing on small edges, all done as comfortably as possible.
• There are climbing harnesses especially for women – comfortable and sized for women. Some brands are Black Diamond (several styles are a good pick), Arc’teryx and Petzl. The best pick of these will depend on your body type – shorter or longer rise, adjustability, weight, and experience.
• Chalk bags and buckets

Do women make better climbers? Men physiologically have greater upper body strength. Women can be just as strong to pull their own weight. Their smaller muscle mass can be an advantage to women in climbing – a lighter skeletal frame. The gap is not so great between men and women – it is more a matter of skill. There are more men climbers, but women are becoming more interested in extreme sports such as climbing with the advent of the internet and the access to climbing in local climbing gyms.

If you already are a climbing woman, climbing can even be done safely in pregnancy. Boulder and lead climbing are not recommended for pregnant women, but getting climbing exercise while pregnant is healthy. Your first trimester of pregnancy may only become a challenge if you experience tiredness and nausea. Sometime in the second trimester, energy bursts are common and safe climbing is a good outlet. As the pregnancy and body changes increase, there will be balance issues. When these start to occur, this will be the time to take a climbing pause and resume after your baby has come.

Young and older women alike have become enamored of climbing. There are groups of 60+ year-olds climbing and having a great time at it. Your kids can even join in the fun. There are singles groups and all kinds of groups to join. It really is a wide-open world to try. Join in the fun!