Rock Climbing as a Family

Though some might disagree, the Holy Grail of climbing is not Everest
or K2 or El Capitan. The Holy Grail of climbing is a regular climbing
partner who is also your wife, husband, brother, sister, son or daughter.

Climbing couples and climbing families aren't exactly a rarity. The
problem over time sometimes tends to be that some are simply more
devoted to the sport or more gifted than others and a skill gap
develops. It's a little like skiing. You and your spouse might both start
on the bunny slopes together but perhaps she goes skiing more often or
simply picks it up better and enjoys it more. Over time, she'll be running
black diamond routes and you'll be stuck on intermediate slopes. This
means that couples who start climbing together don't always continue
climbing together all the time. On the other hand, there are plenty who
remain life-long climbing partners.

Assuming you and your family members do try climbing together you will all have a great time. The long-term unity is
completely up in the air and dependent on individual interests and your family dynamics. I hope to have made two points here
- 1) Don't expect everybody to take to climbing equally and 2) Yes! Climbing can be a great family experience!

I've climbed with my wife, both my sisters-in-law, one of my brothers-in-law (I'm working on getting the other one to come
out), a couple of my in-law's relatives and my oldest nephew when he was only 5. I don't know how much more family
oriented it can get and I've accomplished all of this as an only child and an orphan! Clearly there's an appeal to this that can
bring families together on outings. I don't even have a family of my own and I've managed to drag along a couple generations
worth of inherited family.

Birthdays or just a special family outing represent a couple great opportunities to get
the kids to the climbing gym for some introductory family fun. Your kids will have a
great time. Fair warning, though, any gym with a reasonable safety record is going to
require you take a mandatory class on belaying before they'll let you belay your kids,
spouse, or anybody else. Such classes can be an hour in length and might require a
cooling-off period and a follow-up belay test to ensure you've retained the information
before you are qualified to belay. We recommend you go alone or with your spouse
and get that initial step out of the way in advance so that you can start your kids up
without them having to cool their heels while you train.

Your wife or husband may not take to the sport with the same enthusiasm as your
children. If they're at least willing to try it, though, it can be a wonderful experience.
You will quite literally be holding your loved-one's life in your hands as you belay

them. We recommend you don't mention that to them until after the climbing is done but, when you do, what an affirmation of
love and trust! My regular climbing buddies are some of my closest friends in the world not because of anything else we have
in common (we have widely divergent interests) but because each of them, at one time or another, has saved my life and I've
done the same for each of them. Even though the process of catching a falling climber becomes very routine and natural,
thinking on it afterwards and recognizing that your belayer was the only difference between a few feet of inconvenient ground
lost and a potentially fatal 60+ foot drop is pretty humbling. It's the kind of realization that strengthens bonds.

If your family is already the semi-outdoors type and you enjoy the odd camping
trip now and again, incorporating some climbing in the outing can feed the ever
growing need for stimulation our teenagers seem to require. In a world of video
games and on-demand indoor entertainment, a trip to the wilderness doesn't
carry the same appeal it might have when you were a child. Assuming you've
graduated from the gym to some real climbing outside, interspersing the fishing
and marshmallow roasting with a little vertical activity might go a long way to
increasing the appeal to your action-starved son or daughter.

Good climbing destinations offer some of the most incredible landscapes you'll
ever see. As a long time East coast resident, I couldn't think of much incentive to
spend a few days camping in a western desert. Thanks to

climbing, though, I've witnessed some of the most incredible terrain I would never
have seen otherwise. These are sites and experiences you and your family will
remember forever! So, yes, emphatically, climbing is a family friendly activity! It's up
to you to decide if it's right for your family.