Gym Now, Crag Later

Fall Special: The Indoor Climber's Guide to Gear, Training, and Access

Story by Paul Scott. Reviews by Wills Young and Tim Neville. Photography by Ty Downing

Ty Downing

Jason Smith, 22, the third climber to solo—no ropes—The Rostrum (a 5.11c route on Yosemite), grabs a jug in the Mission Cliffs gym, San Francisco

Such a crowd isn't atypical. Crags across the continent are hosting growing populations of beginner and intermediate climbers—thanks in large part to the proliferation of indoor climbing gyms enlightening droves of would-be Spidermen. (There are now an estimated 500 gyms nationwide, up from 200 in 1997, according to the Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America.) Once the domain of ascetics and thrill-seekers, indoor climbing gyms now find minivan owners and their towheaded shorties tying in next to young adults bored with Spinning, empty-nesters with dusty NordicTracks, and singles on the prowl. And why not? After all, it's fun—trampoline-style, kid-again fun.

Ty Downing (2)

Not to play the rust inspector at the Tilt-A-Whirl, but fun is also becoming the great liability of indoor climbing. Learning the ropes takes time, something in which too many novices fail to invest before they step out on a real ledge. "We saw, and still see, people doing so many things that are so dangerous when they go outside, mostly because they left the gym with a false sense of security," says Peter Lewis, a mountaineering guide for the Eastern Mountain Sports climbing school and coauthor (with Dan Cauthorn) of the just-released Climbing: From Gym to Crag—Building Skills for Real Rock (Mountaineers Books).

Lewis earns his lunch money guiding at Cathedral Ledge. After showing me a hoot of a time on a local indoor wall, he has hauled me—an eager novice—75 feet up a slab of granite to point out the not-so-obvious: Climbing outside is very different from climbing inside. Having spent the last 20 minutes scrambling up the rock face, I now stand on a tiny ledge next to Lewis. Several stiff gusts threaten to knock me from my perch (I'm tied in, but somehow it's not that reassuring). I'm acutely aware that there is no permanently affixed top rope, no ascending hashes of colored tape denoting the route, no bolted-on plastic holds to grab. "You can get comfortable on a gym wall, learn a few routes with a difficulty level of 5.9 or 5.10, and decide you're ready to head outside," says Lewis. "Do that, though, and a 5.3 on the outside will have you wetting your pants."

To avoid that sorry predicament, here's a jug-hold-size piece of advice: This winter, head to your nearest indoor climbing gym, and use it for something other than an all-purpose place to goof off. Instead of thrashing at the hardest tape-marked route until you become bored, demoralized, or worse—injured—try this instead: Develop a workout. Come spring, your forearms will last longer, you'll high-step more confidently, and you'll be less prone to injury. We'll help you along with training and technique tips, plus advice on hot new climbing gear, including liquid chalk and shoes that grip like talons. Add a mandatory course of qualified professional instruction on setting anchors and leading climbs, and in a few short months you'll be ready to rock where the view is better and they don't charge by the day. And that, in case you've forgotten, was the whole reason behind indoor gyms in the first place. "Training for climbing is actually a fairly new phenomenon," says Chris Wall, head instructor at the Boulder Rock School and certified personal trainer to climbers. "But because indoor climbing (as training) can be so fun, it's easy to overdo it and become injured. That's why you need to treat it like a weight regimen. Schedule work days and rest days. Come in, warm up, do your program, and leave."

Ty Downing

Chances are you already know some climbing basics: Use your legs and feet, not just your arms; keep your hips close to the wall and your eyes on your foot placements; move with short, precise steps. These skills will generally keep you from looking like a suburban dad scaling a fence to chase kids out of his yard. But the following exercises will help you add strength and endurance—the keys to good technique. Combine structure with variety by alternating the emphasis every three weeks—the first three on endurance, the next three on strength; the exercises that follow are a few good examples of things to include in your workout, while technique should be a constant part of this routine. Aim for three days a week, an hour a day with breaks, or until your skill level begins to deteriorate during a session, making you prone to injury. If you can't pick up where you left off in the previous workout, you're probably not fully recovered; try switching your type of training, or give yourself another rest day.

INSIDE:
• Shoes
• Strength/Endurance
• Technique
• Harness Power
• Chalk Talk
• Five Great Indoor Gyms
• Build Your Own Wall at Home
• Books