How to safely start outdoor climbing as a highschooler?

I recently decided to try rock climbing and have fallen in love with the sport! Unfortunately, the area I live in isn't exactly renowned for rock climbing and the nearest real rock is several hours away. I have found a team to join, but it is at a public park with route setting done by hiring within. Despite this, the coaches are still great but are not experienced in outdoor climbing. They are excellent at teaching belay skills and I am trying to learn as much as possible from them. The coaches are very confident in my top-rope belay skills (I'm constantly being called over to belay people  ) and am improving on my lead-belaying far quicker than they expected me to. I am also getting to know the route-setter and possibly in a year, after I'm more competent, I might see if she could teach me self-belaying for tree climbing.

I've yet to ask them their thoughts on how I should attempt to learn outdoor climbing, but I will do that soon. In the meantime, from reading a few various posts in the past, I have seen the following recommendations:

• Buy several books and read up on outdoor climbing
• Get a guide or local group to take you out and teach you
• Continuously climb with experienced climbers to ensure you don't build bad habits

I plan on getting a job this summer, so I should have a couple hundred to spare on gear, some books, and a guide. The problem is, as I'm a minor, regularly meeting with a group of strangers several hours away from home causes some issues with my parents. Plus, I would always be holding up the group as I'm relatively new to climbing. And, I wouldn't have the time to travel that far during the school year.   

I have a friend who is also competent in belay skills and would be willing to learn, so I do have a climbing partner. My main question is, is it practical to safely get into outdoor climbing without being able to regularly climb with an experienced climber? Is it even a good idea as a minor?

Thank you for any help!

I started in high school during covid- getting an experienced mentor just wasn't an option. I didn't even know there was a community of climbers around for the first few months. My buddy and I got some old gear from his grandpa and just figured it out.

Started toproping- generally difficult to mess up if you understand basic redundancy concepts and google your knots and anchors.

Bought a couple pads and got into bouldering mainly. Easy enough to take knowledge from the gym outside and get comfortable on rock if that's your concern. 

Then we put in for a dynamic rope, draws, and new harnesses, and started just going for it on routes we had previously toproped and were comfy on. Again, an understanding of redundancy and basic concepts is crucial. Sure we probably did some sketchy things, but we had enough critical thinking skills to not get hurt. Didn't push too far out of the comfort zone either, until we were ready.

Both of us were really into older films and styles of climbing culture, so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary in our minds. Folks used to go teach themselves to climb with hardware rope, a swami belt, and a handful of bedframe chunks as pitons. Anything we did on ropes with bolts was surely immensely safer. 

I didn't have a community to climb with or teach me anything in person until I went to college, a year after starting... They didn't teach me anything that Youtube hadn't at that point. 

Folks will disagree and say I'm trying to kill you, but just go for it dog. Use your thinking noggin and don't get in over your head. Maybe even wear a helmet.

https://climbingdangers.net/

You might want to add this to your reading list. 

Unfortunately the fundamental fact is that if you live too far from real rock, you won't be able to climb on real rock without someone to drive you out there and teach you. Learn what you can about movement from climbing on plastic, and eventually if you end up living closer to rocks you'll have the opportunity to get outside.

Big Red wrote:

Unfortunately the fundamental fact is that if you live too far from real rock, you won't be able to climb on real rock without someone to drive you out there and teach you. Learn what you can about movement from climbing on plastic, and eventually if you end up living closer to rocks you'll have the opportunity to get outside.

I can get someone to drive me, but not consistently, so regularly climbing with an experienced group is not an option for me. It would just be once a month or so, all of my other training is done at local gyms.

Martin Beck wrote:

I started in high school during covid- getting an experienced mentor just wasn't an option. I didn't even know there was a community of climbers around for the first few months. My buddy and I got some old gear from his grandpa and just figured it out.

Started toproping- generally difficult to mess up if you understand basic redundancy concepts and google your knots and anchors.

Bought a couple pads and got into bouldering mainly. Easy enough to take knowledge from the gym outside and get comfortable on rock if that's your concern. 

Then we put in for a dynamic rope, draws, and new harnesses, and started just going for it on routes we had previously toproped and were comfy on. Again, an understanding of redundancy and basic concepts is crucial. Sure we probably did some sketchy things, but we had enough critical thinking skills to not get hurt. Didn't push too far out of the comfort zone either, until we were ready.

Both of us were really into older films and styles of climbing culture, so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary in our minds. Folks used to go teach themselves to climb with hardware rope, a swami belt, and a handful of bedframe chunks as pitons. Anything we did on ropes with bolts was surely immensely safer. 

I didn't have a community to climb with or teach me anything in person until I went to college, a year after starting... They didn't teach me anything that Youtube hadn't at that point. 

Folks will disagree and say I'm trying to kill you, but just go for it dog. Use your thinking noggin and don't get in over your head. Maybe even wear a helmet.

I feel most of the safety is decently basic as you have mentioned, but I do think I might climb with a guide once prior to starting on my own because my parents would be willing to pay for it. Thank you for responding!

https://climbingdangers.net/

You might want to add this to your reading list. 

Thank you! I'll check it out.

Hi Spacehog, having an idea where you live might be helpful for those willing to help you. It might be super helpful to you. Eric. 

I have a friend who is also competent in belay skills and would be willing to learn, so I do have a climbing partner. My main question is, is it practical to safely get into outdoor climbing without being able to regularly climb with an experienced climber? Is it even a good idea as a minor?

Brother, if you want it, you will make it happen. It's that simple.

I did in fact learn the way you propose. It was not ideal, and not the fastest learning curve. They were different times. Had I grown up near a bonafide climbing area I'm sure it would have been very different. But I didn't.

I did not progress like we expect youngsters to progress today; nothing like it.

Frankly I bumbled along as best I could, still I summoned the courage to pack up and leave. California bound, with the ole climbing aching in my heart. Met a couple of local Sierra climbers, and suddenly? I bloomed.

Would I do it differently? Nope. Those were my times, my struggles, my learning, my gumption. I wouldn't trade those experiences for "5.13 in 8-months" in a modern gym, with modern knowledge and training techniques coupled with global exposure to climbing styles. I don't denigrate the modern ways, in fact I admire them and remain astounded as ever, with what determined people can do to coax their human bodies up some impossible climb. Astounded.

As astounded I was as a teenager, seeing some picture of Henry Barber running it out on something I couldn't even conceive trying for myself. 

Astounding.

For my part, I learned other valuable skills through my bootstrap education: path and route finding skills: every route I did as a teenager, every single one, was an FA. But first I had to find a cliff, almost without fail on private property, and then figure out how to climb it while not getting arrested for trespass! Downright sneaky and secretive you might say. To this very day I don't enjoy telling people where or what I am up to, usually nothing more than vague arm-waving. I have to really trust someone to share the inner sanctum stuff, no apologies offered.

But don't let any of that stop you. Make it happen.

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

Brother, if you want it, you will make it happen. It's that simple.

I did in fact learn the way you propose. It was not ideal, and not the fastest learning curve. They were different times. Had I grown up near a bonafide climbing area I'm sure it would have been very different. But I didn't.

I did not progress like we expect youngsters to progress today; nothing like it.

Frankly I bumbled along as best I could, still I summoned the courage to pack up and leave. California bound, with the ole climbing aching in my heart. Met a couple of local Sierra climbers, and suddenly? I bloomed.

Would I do it differently? Nope. Those were my times, my struggles, my learning, my gumption. I wouldn't trade those experiences for "5.13 in 8-months" in a modern gym, with modern knowledge and training techniques coupled with global exposure to climbing styles. I don't denigrate the modern ways, in fact I admire them and remain astounded as ever, with what determined people can do to coax their human bodies up some impossible climb. Astounded.

As astounded I was as a teenager, seeing some picture of Henry Barber running it out on something I couldn't even conceive trying for myself. 

Astounding.

For my part, I learned other valuable skills through my bootstrap education: path and route finding skills: every route I did as a teenager, every single one, was an FA. But first I had to find a cliff, almost without fail on private property, and then figure out how to climb it while not getting arrested for trespass! Downright sneaky and secretive you might say. To this very day I don't enjoy telling people where or what I am up to, usually nothing more than vague arm-waving. I have to really trust someone to share the inner sanctum stuff, no apologies offered.

But don't let any of that stop you. Make it happen.

Thank you for the advice! I think I'll learn as much as I can from my climbing team, find a guide or group to go out once of twice with, constantly be reading, etc,  and then start climbing.

I live in SC for the person who asked.

Spacehog wrote:

Thank you for the advice! I think I'll learn as much as I can from my climbing team, find a guide or group to go out once of twice with, constantly be reading, etc,  and then start climbing.

I live in SC for the person who asked.

Oh shit send me a PM, I'm in the upstate and "learned" to climb at Big Rock. I'll happily go over everything with ya. If the parents have an issue, let 'em know I was the Clemson Club Prez and have instructed for various groups.

That's why I asked about where you lived.

Finding the closest real rock outcrops and a way to get there is important. Gym climbing certainly is helpful, but has become very much it's own thing. The way many routes are set often bears little resemblance to climbing on real rock,  especially traditional climbs. Any real rock time is valuable. Maybe even more so if it isn't great quality. If you don't drive, get a friend in school who does drive interested in climbing. That's what I did, in 1974, or maybe even 1973.

Thank you all, I'll perhaps reach out sometime this summer if I can clear it with my parents.