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Advice needed for parent wanting to introduce child to basic rock climbing

GhaMby Eagan · · Heaven · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 385
nolongpork · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 15

I started my daughter at age five in the gym a year ago and she is now a legitimate 5.7 climber. She is also going outside more and more.

+10000 on the full body harness it makes kids feel more secure because kids are much more top heavy.

I show my daughter lots of climbing videos of kids pulling off some crazy moves like Ashima and Brooke rocking 5.13's

I also believed in getting her her own gear as rewards for milestones so she has her own stuff for inside and out. She is dying to lead climb now and we are working on knots. She is now in lessons at the gym and the last time she was bouldering there she had a crowd of six good climbers watching her as she stuck a one handed dyno, matched, heel hooked, and topped the V1+ boulder problem.







The keys for my daughters success is good gear so she does not freeze in the outdoors she uses an adult north face (from back when they did not suck) 0 degree bag, quality rain gear and the like. Also energy management like when to rest and eat.
Case in point;
She totally energy crashed at the top of XY crack and needed to eat and rest NOW!!! one hour later she was back to normal. Kids do not have the reserves or tolerance for suffering adults do.

Where as I remember my suffering starving bivouac on Mt. Adams fondly. My daughter does not like to hang it out that far the fun disappears as the suffer index gets higher, but with good gear and food she still has fun outdoors.

She is getting better exponentially as she goes on as long as the H3(heat hunger and hydration)is managed by me and her "real" outdoor gear correctly.

I remember my first outdoors experience in the pre-gortex years wearing a hefty bag and freezing my ass off eating crap camp food. I stuck with it but vowed if my daughter showed the passion I have for the outdoors she would not suffer like I did. This mantra has paid off handsomely.

Any specific questions feel free to ask.

Thanks
Dan

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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