Money and climbing and how do you do it

The way to find out how to do it is to just go and do it.

Unfortunately for the OP, he has dependents and is living a consumerist lifestyle; that uses money. But even so....

How many pairs of pants in the closet, and pairs of damned shoes? What sorts of doodads in/on the car? Cars???!!! Fancy cel phone? Lunches at work from the restaurants downtown? It all adds up.

One possible first step is to write down every - every - financial transaction. Amounts that haves come in and source, and amounts that have gone out and where. Down to the whatever it costs for a pack of gum. Being aware help you to...be aware. And decide whether you really want to spend another X amount on restaurant meals(or whatever) this week(or month, or year).

Look Steve, I'm not here to flame you or anybody else for that matter. The simple fact is, if you pay that much for a flight to Santiago (which you haven't, is that correct?) then you didn't a) get the international flight well enough in advance, b) book the flight on a day when flight fares are significantly lower (I.E. Tuesday mornings), c) fly out of the right airport (May I recommend Miami International for sudoamerica), d) look at flying soley by standby status (a lot of work and uncertainty- a lot of savings), fly using separate service providers (rather than just trying to figure out your trip all at once like a regular transnational flight).. the list goes on and on. Gas prices or not, seats need to be filled all the time. I lived in Santiago for a period of time- flying into Santiago is NOT THE CHEAPEST OPTION. EVER.

PS. Gas prices aren't the same as 5 years ago or whenever these trip reports you read were. The people paid that price because they were flying in to do "touristy mountains" such as objectives in the Cordillera Blanca or Aconcostya (aka Aconcagua, which I am assuming where you will be going if you are doing stuff out of Santiago) and like good, mortal and unsponsored mountaineers, they make travel arrangements to be concrete and within smallish time constraints. Such things will almost always mean higher (yet more secure) airfare.

If you would like some good beta on eats and drinks in Santiago de chile, feel free to reach out to me. Hope this helps.

Remember, traveling abroad is a whole other ball game in comparison to transnational flights. Some people have it wired, best to seek these guys out and get the run down on them. Many hippie study-abroad students have an idea or two about how to do it right.

this thread just inspired me to break up with the gf. hopefully I climb super hard now. thanks MP

Glad i was able to help someone break up with their girlfriend. Now if i could just find a way to get out of this great paying monotonous job that pays my bills.

Mike Lane wrote:I know a guidebook author who has probably climbed an average 3 days/week for over 35 years, takes 2-3 week-long or better roadtrips a year, occasionally takes a 45 day vacation to go climb something big that is described in meters, installs at least 40 routes a year, AND pulls in six figures, lives in a million dollar house that is paid off, manages a large system from near the top, and somehow manages a non-climbing wife with all that. What it boils down to is how much you had your shit together waaay back when you were in school. And organizational genetics.

mattnorville wrote:this thread just inspired me to break up with the gf. hopefully I climb super hard now. thanks MP

The problem is really clear here. You have a job. You probably have a lawnmower too, right? How do you expect to find time to climb?

For me it's all about balance ... definately don't climb as much as I would like, but get out with the wife and do lots of things together like last weekend, we went to Moab for road riding. I have only 3 weeks off this year, two of them will be spent on climbing trips and one with my partner. This is sorted out way in advance.

We budget ever year and I have my own "recreational" bank account where I save for trips, gear, bike parts, racing fees, etc. It took a lot of time to build up a big wall rack buying one cam a month, but now I've got plenty.

If I do some extra work or get a bonus, etc., it goes straight into my bank account, it doesn't become an extra mortgage payment, etc.

We don't have cable tv and we brown bag lunches, etc. Living close to good recreation helps and we have both travelled a lot in the past so don't have that need.

Maybe moving to a place that has good weekend climbing would help?

John McNamee wrote:For me it's all about balance ... We budget ever year and I have my own "recreational" bank account where I save for trips, gear, We don't have cable tv and we brown bag lunches, etc.

John McNamee wrote:Living close to good recreation helps and we have both travelled a lot in the past so don't have that need. Maybe moving to a place that has good weekend climbing would help?

I flew last fall from Toronto Canada to Peru with layovers in Colombia and El Salvador for $850 Canadian. It was a great trip. Has anyone climbed Mt Kilimanjaro without a guide or porter? Flights aren't bad but for a guided group it’s almost $4000.   

Easy...hopefully you have a skill that they need in Europe. 20+ days of guaranteed vacation a year backed up by social safety nets means your euro goes quite a bit further than the dollar. And with literally thousands of routes in all styles, often times within close distance of cultural sites and cities, you will never run out of fun to have.

TravisJBurke wrote: Easy...hopefully you have a skill that they need in Europe. 20+ days of guaranteed vacation a year backed up by social safety nets means your euro goes quite a bit further than the dollar. And with literally thousands of routes in all styles, often times within close distance of cultural sites and cities, you will never run out of fun to have.

You just replied to a thread that's older than some climbers.

What is a dirtbag?  

Do they really exist or is it a romanticized concept that left with Fred Beckey?

9 years. What is the record for reviving necro threads?

Mike Lane wrote: 9 years. What is the record for reviving necro threads?

Well that's tempting...

Christie Darlene wrote: I flew last fall from Toronto Canada to Peru with layovers in Colombia and El Salvador for $850 Canadian. It was a great trip. Has anyone climbed Mt Kilimanjaro without a guide or porter? Flights aren't bad but for a guided group it’s almost $4000.  

The park requires you to have a guide.

No one has mentioned getting  job in which climbing is an element.  Such jobs do exist.  I had a great career in the National Park Service as an archaeologist, not a core member of YoSAR (which would be ideal), but still got in a lot of job related climbing and other occasional fun assignments.  There are not a lot of opportunities, but they do exist.

Another thing that has not been mentioned is using credit cards effectively. I have a friend that just did a month long trip to Thailand on a credit card with no interest for 13 months. He has a good paying job and he lived frugally for the month and spent I think under 5k. He will easily pay that off in the next 13months. I have been able to travel a wee bit on points and also using cards that have no interest for a set period of time.

Fair warning: This can get you in a world of hurt if you can not pay off the card before the time period. I recommend having savings equal to the amount you are charging, if you lose your job hold onto enough funds to pay that sucker off before it starts piling up interest. I know my cards are at around 20% interest.

A few avenues of doing this ranked from most realistic to least (based on my ugly ass's experience):

Avenue A:

Step 1: be hot (preferably)
Step 2: learn to bartend
Step 3: move to a ski town
Step 4: rake in the cash
Step 5: Travel full time in the "off season" to climb

Avenue B: 

Step 1: marry rich (preferably climber)
Step 2: use said spouses money to travel and climb (hopefully with said spouse)

Avenue C:

Step 1: Be born into a trust fund
Step 2: Do whatever the F you want you lucky bastard

Old lady H wrote:

You just replied to a thread that's older than some climbers.

If it shows up on the main page, I consider it fair game! Hahaha!