Moms Who Climb

• Hello- I have a 3 month old son. I'm trying to figure how to logistically get back into climbing. I've gone to the gym a handful of times and took him with me. Outside seems more challenging. Any other mamas out there climb? I'm in Ventura County. I have gear for bouldering and sport climbing. 

My wife and I climb all the time with our 2 year old daughter.  It’s challenging to climb with the little ones but bouldering with groups with kids is the best way to get back into it.  Or maybe single pitch cragging works too.  When they’re real young, sometimes we would even bring the pack and play at crags and let them wiggle around and play with some toys while we’d climb.   

  Trying to climb with young children is like trying to golf with young children ..or ride endurance motocross with small children..  Its no picnic, although people do it. It becomes something else entirely...a distracted activity circus revolving around kids real and imagined needs, while you try to sneak in some routes.  

Why don't climbing gyms offer daycare like fitness gyms?

While we're waiting for that.. a babysitter is a wonderful addition to every mom's sanity.  Give yourself some real sessions with your adult pals on a regular basis. You deserve it.

Find other climbers with their own kids or climbers who like kids to help.  If we go out with a small group of 3-4 people it becomes possible to climb single pitch stuff.  Mild approaches only.  Bring toys (or screens) AND GO to places that are easy to setup a chill spot for the kids without getting into peoples way.  Or endangering your child.  Rockfall, gear drop etc.  

We have brought the crash pad to give them a couch/bed to sit and sleep on.  

Put them somewhere safe with competent supervision and climb on!

Also, we get to climb more if we leave the kiddos at home with grandparents. (BEST option)  

Or hire baby sitter like Maureen says! All moms deserve a day/night out!

Beth Rodden has written a few articles on being a mom in climbing. Also, some gyms now will offer in gym childcare depending on where you are located.

A long time partner of mine had a list of babysitters for when she wanted to climb. After her daughter got older (4 or 5) she would bring her to the crag with a few books, etc. to keep her entertained. She bought kid's climbing gear in hopes that her daughter would show an interest, but that didn't really happen until her daughter was about 15. Until her daughter showed an interest in climbing, my friend relied pretty heavily on babysitters, youth sports programs and after school daycare to get her climbing fix.

Earth Treks in Golden is pretty good about letting non-climbing kids hang out and play next to the bouldering area, and I see baby carriers in the climbing area all the time when the gym isn't crowded. Other gyms aren't nearly as relaxed about that sort of thing.

Hope you have gotten out a few more times since December. It is definitely not easy.

Bouldering is the easiest to do with the young baby, because you can jump off at any moment to take care of the baby;s needs. And bouldering is social, so groups of people are common, and it is not too much of an imposition to ask someone to watch your baby when the baby is happily kicking up his feet and sucking his fist, because the person would know that you'll come running as soon as the crying starts.

Multipitch is out for the foreseeable future, unless you can hire a nanny. Single-pitch climbing is doable, but requires more logistics/preparation than bouldering. You would need two people (ideally you and your partner/co-parent) who are willing to take care of the baby for larger chunks of time, realistically 30-45 min, including doing less-pleasant duties, such as handling/minimizing the crying, feeding, diaper changes, etc., and the 3rd person who is either willing to do the same, or is willing to do extra shifts of belay duty. So there would be a lot fewer willing takers, and that's why parents often seek other parents for climbing. The drawback, of course, is that you end up with a larger (and louder) group that includes multiple kids and quickly becomes the crag nuisance with toys, playpens, and kiddie tents strewn all over the place. Be extra-mindful of that, and If you have any friends who are willing to be the 3rd for roped climbing with babies, treat them extra-!!!-well.

You do have an option of bringing a teenage helper along. It is often much cheaper and less scary to do this, than to find a nanny for a young baby, and leave the baby at home with the nanny for the whole weekend.

If you have an option of climbing near your house, and coming back home for the night to sleep in your own bed, it is a million times easier. If you have to factor in a long car ride and camping with the baby, and your climbing outing has to be at least a weekend long, by necessity, the logistics multiply quickly. But it is not impossible. You just need to plan well, and know that the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

And the part about things getting easier the more you do it is true, regardless of what it is you decide to do with the baby. Going climbing once, you may luck out and hit a bad weekend, and think, oh no, I can't handle this, this is horrible, I can't handle the screaming, the colic,or whatever, I got no sleep, I I didn't get to climb anything, it sucked, no way, not worth it. But if you are committed to going regularly, things will start falling into place. The baby will get used to long car rides, and sleeping in a tent, and napping at the crag, you will have your packing down to precise science, you ill figure out the best snacks, and the best toys, and everyone will become more relaxed as things become more routine.

We mostly boulder as well. We have been taking our kids out since they were several weeks old.
Luckily my husband also climbs, so when they were very small, we would just pass them back and forth depending on who’s turn it was to climb.
The older one now has a backpack that he gets to fill with toys to play with outside.
Also, if you have amazon prime, you can download movies that you have bought onto your phone or tablet (for zero service areas).
It is challenging and makes the approach much harder due to all the extra weight, but the kids have fun, I get to climb, and I get to be with them more :)

We love our organic blubber mat that we throw down wherever we go, this way we do not have to worry so much about scrapes on the babies. The sketch pad is perfect for naps.

Juana wrote:

We mostly boulder as well. We have been taking our kids out since they were several weeks old.
Luckily my husband also climbs, so when they were very small, we would just pass them back and forth depending on who’s turn it was to climb.
The older one now has a backpack that he gets to fill with toys to play with outside.
Also, if you have amazon prime, you can download movies that you have bought onto your phone or tablet (for zero service areas).
It is challenging and makes the approach much harder due to all the extra weight, but the kids have fun, I get to climb, and I get to be with them more :)

We love our organic blubber mat that we throw down wherever we go, this way we do not have to worry so much about scrapes on the babies. The sketch pad is perfect for naps.

Are you concerned about rattlers or other critters when the kids are on the mat?

FrankPS, rattlers and other critters tend to shy away from ruckus and prime bouldering temps are not prime critter temps.
Also, we never leave them unattended.

whooa! thanks for sharing the photo. hmmm you are giving me lots of food for thoughts :P

Hi Kelly, I'm a bit late here, but this is probably better advice at this point with your son a few months older. What my friends did when their son was a similar age was go to a crag and get him settle/asleep in a safe area a ways out from the wall. One would belay the other up, they would set up a fixed line on the highest anchor of the wall and rap down. Knowing the route they were leading that was a very limited amount of time for their son to be unattended. Then they would take turns TR soloing routes while the other stayed with their son. Granted this was on weekdays when the crag is empty, so probably not the most helpful advice if you're on a 9-5 schedule. 

Fellow climber Mom here! We have a (4) year old and a (10) month old and had gotten quite comfortable taking them to the crag, as along as we were meeting friends that didn't mind doing a little babysitting in-between climbs! With our friends help, my husband and I could get a few climbs in and all was well in the world...but a few months ago we had a close call and decided the crag is not a place for little children.

Hubby, I and both kiddos were out climbing on a week day, with a friend, and our 4 year old was ready for a change of scenery. I decided to hike him and our 10 month old (in the front pack) out and down to the car. We were cruising along the trail and all of the sudden there had a giant crash behind us. I quickly turned around and a very large branch had been hurled down from high up on the rock face and just missed impaling me and baby. I turned to a party climbing near by, a group of college boys, who looked at us and said, "holy shit, so glad you guys are okay." They proceeded to yell up to the unknown party who had dislodged the small tree that ample warning was not provided to climbers below. I continued down with my brood and sat for awhile replaying the incident, it could have gone very badly, thankfully it didn't. When my husband, kids, and I drove away that evening we decided that the crag isn't the best place for kiddos. We have not gone back as a family and I am not sure that we will for awhile.

So...If you are going to take kiddos with you climbing, I would advise going to an area that isn't super popular and keep kids away from any potential rock/debris fall.  

That's just my two cents!

Lyndsy Gallins wrote: Fellow climber Mom here! We have a (4) year old and a (10) month old and had gotten quite comfortable taking them to the crag, as along as we were meeting friends that didn't mind doing a little babysitting in-between climbs! With our friends help, my husband and I could get a few climbs in and all was well in the world...but a few months ago we had a close call and decided the crag is not a place for little children.

Hubby, I and both kiddos were out climbing on a week day, with a friend, and our 4 year old was ready for a change of scenery. I decided to hike him and our 10 month old (in the front pack) out and down to the car. We were cruising along the trail and all of the sudden there had a giant crash behind us. I quickly turned around and a very large branch had been hurled down from high up on the rock face and just missed impaling me and baby. I turned to a party climbing near by, a group of college boys, who looked at us and said, "holy shit, so glad you guys are okay." They proceeded to yell up to the unknown party who had dislodged the small tree that ample warning was not provided to climbers below. I continued down with my brood and sat for awhile replaying the incident, it could have gone very badly, thankfully it didn't. When my husband, kids, and I drove to away that evening we decided that the crag isn't the best place for kiddos. We have not gone back as a family and I am not sure that we will for awhile.

So...If you are going to take kiddos with you climbing, I would advise going to an area that isn't super popular and keep kids away from any potential rock/debris fall.  

That's just my two cents!

I’m very glad that you and the kids are ok! But to play a devils advocate, this sort of thing could happen anywhere... wouldn’t you ever take your kids on a hike? A rock can easily be thrown or accidentally dislodged by a hiker walking the trip above you... the trees fall in a forest all the time, too.

For that matter, it could happen at home. The closest my daughter and I ever came to dying from an object falling from heights was at home. I was sitting in an armchair and nursing my baby, when, for no apparent reason, the ceiling light fixture came crashing down barely a foot from where I was sitting. There were sharp spikes on that chandelier... It was very scary, sure! But...

Thank you all for the responses. I somehow last track of this thread and it's nice to read about fellow crag mamas. My son is now 14 months old and I've tried camping and climbing, bouldering and sport with different friends and yes, day trips to bouldering areas seems to make the most sense. My husband is not a climber so will babysit sometimes when I want to go, but it has been causing tension in our marriage. So I still bring him to not burn out my husband. Luckily I have a good friends that love being around him, but it's still mentally hard to totally focus on climbing without worrying about him hitting his head or something now that he is walking! 

I have done a bunch of toprope setups and belaying with my infant in a child carrier on my back. I was at a climbing park in town, with grass and no dangerous areas. Honestly, for me, its wayyy easier to find a babysitter than it is to try and watch my 5 year old and 1 year old when I need to be paying attention to my belay. But I realize that not everyone has this opportunity. I have a large baby gate/ring thing that I tried to put the littles in while belaying one time. It didn't last long. Also, the approach and base of most crags (at least around here) are NOT safe for young children, consider rock fall, and how easy it is to lose your footing on talus/ loose dirt. Just my opinion.

Kelly Annin wrote: My husband is not a climber so will babysit sometimes when I want to go, but it has been causing tension in our marriage. 

Parenting is a two-person job. He should babysit so you can do stuff (climb, have a drink with friends, go get a haircut, etc.) sometimes and vice versa without him being butthurt about it. 

Dan Daugherty wrote:

Fixed it for you.

Ha! +10000000 

Dan Daugherty wrote:

Fixed it for you.

yessss this! so for Christmas my husband finally came around and his gift to me is 1 climbing/camping trip per month and he'll take care of our son so I can climb. I also get 1 gym night per week. I'm stoked!

Autumn Meadows wrote: I dont regret saying no to climbing on days where being a mom was more important, all it did was make my desire to climb that much stronger. I also dont regret taking them when I had to get out. Hire a sitter, boulder, make it work and when it doesn't, stay at home and practice knots. Be patient, when they get bigger youll laugh when they send stuff you struggled on. - mom of 7

yes they are little for such a short time in the long run right? I try to keep that in perspective 

mamas I'm loving this thread. it's so validating. here's another question... have you grown apart from climbing partners you had pre kids? I notice I cant keep up with my previous buddies' climbing intensity nor level. I notice since becoming a mom, I'm unable to take as many risks and my mind game isnt as strong I guess. I'm just naturally climbing with other moms who have an understanding that just getting to the crag is an accomplishment and it's no longer the quantity or level that matters.