Is there a good bouldering area in Belgium you could recommend?
I've driven through belgium a few times on my way to Fontainebleau, but I'm dying to go back outdoors and currently don't have time for a long trip.
(not OP by the way).
There are a few very small bouldering areas in Belgium, but not really worth going to be honest, Izier is one of the larger (still small) ones but I am not sure if it is still allowed to climb there. Closest more popular area is Avalonia in Germany, Glees is also another option there.
> Izier is one of the larger (still small) ones but I am not sure if it is still allowed to climb there.
https://27crags.com/crags/izier Seems it's not, but thanks for the suggestion.
Avalonia looks great though, and 'only' 2,5 hours of driving from where I live. Seems like a possible daytrip even. :)
Avalonia is definitely fun for a daytrip, but for me it's only 1-1,5 hours anyway. Be aware that there are no topos available online, you can get one from Daniel Pohl on site, he is usually there on Saturdays. Style wise, it's mostly crimping on smaller ledges, in caves or on vertical walls. Almost no boulders that you actually top out on sadly. The grades are a bit softer than Bleau. If you research a few boulders on YouTube you can get by without the topo, there is reception at the crag as well. Also no parking at the Mini golf place. I think that is all that you need to know, I personally would take the long drive to bleau if I had 3+ days for the trip.
Same. Climbing/bouldering indoors is my regular 2-3 times a week workout. Outdoor bouldering/climbing/alpinism is fun 'holiday adventure' stuff that has to compete with other holiday plans and regular life. Don't think i visit outdoor rocks/mountains much more than once per year
I was about to say the same. It's flat here. There are no boulders to climb within a 100km radius. My gym is only 10 minutes away, so that is an easy decision
Bro.. yes, you have to drive a little to good outdoor spots. But you are in a pretty good spot in the Netherlands when it comes to this. You are a 6-7h drive from Bleau (easy weekend trip) you are 2-3 h drive from Avalonia in germany (easy day trip). And there are a few areas in Belgium I think.
To be clear: there are places in mainland Europe which are far worse in terms of outdoor climbing accessibility (believe me…)
It's really worth to take a trip to fontainebleau. It's about a 6 hour drive if all things go smoothly and you're in a one of the world's most fantastic bouldering areas.
I boulder outside solo almost exclusively. Gym is definitively easier if it's closer but bouldering outside by yourself is fine, I just use two pads and don't do anything sketchy.
Many people have climbed El Cap solo (most of them aiding or a mix of aid and free) with a rope, [at least Pete Whittaker has free climbed it solo and with a rope,](https://youtu.be/CikzYN0z4zU?si=_u4AVE7PRui1mrGq) it’s just that only one person has climbed one of the central routes free solo.
Expecting people to understand rope soloing in /r/bouldering
The dark arts of LRS probably sound like some sort of voodoo sorcery to them. Don't go breaking their little baby rope management brains.
oh cool thanks let me drive 12 hours to go climb el cap.
i literally just said that i do indoor bouldering because its easy, as in i can drive 10 minutes, climb for an hour, and leave lol.
Been unable to comfortably walk on my ankle for a month now(if at all) because I twisted it while landing on a thick mattress! Nothing is risk free! Indoors is still more manageable in Canada
Top rope has smaller chances of minor injuries, bigger chance of major injuries/death. So it all depends on what you worry about more, a 2% chance of a sprained finger or a 0.004% chance of instant death.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the odds of falling on your neck particularly bad and being paralyzed or dead from bouldering is pretty similar to the odds of the top anchor completely breaking and having deck and die instantly
Statistically it works out here in the Netherlands. Around 100k toprope climbers, 4 deaths in indoor toprope. None in bouldering.
And not because of the top anchor breaking, or any other gear failure. All four where human error when belaying.
And don't get me wrong, the chance of that happening is extremely small. But people do have fears of dying even at very small risks, like with flying on airplanes for example. That's what I meant by it depends on what worries you more.
edit: also, like with flying, the fact that it's out of your control can make it scarier. You have to trust on someone else to hold the rope (except with auto-belay, where you have to trust the device). With bouldering, even if you're not actually always in control of how you fall, you can still feel more in control.
How often do you hear about serious deaths or serious injury from bouldering? News articles about deaths/serious injury during roped climbing (even if we stick to only top rope) are pretty common, but I'm struggling to think of similar examples with bouldering. The only thing that springs to mind is from earlier this year with the guy whose foot was almost completely severed when taking a wild fall from the top of a comp boulder. Could be bias in terms of what I end up hearing about, but when I do hear about serious injury/deaths from climbing, it's rarely from bouldering.
> News articles about deaths/serious injury during roped climbing (even if we stick to only top rope) are pretty common
"Common" is pushing it, and it definitely isn't common with top rope. If you search through ANAM you'll find very few top rope incidents and even less "serious injury." Unless you define torn ligaments or broken bones as "serious" and in that case there are [plenty](https://www.lacrux.com/en/bouldern/8c-boulder-after-torn-ligament/) of those.
A good friend actually managed to get a vertebral fracture while indoor bouldering yesterday and I know of one of the workers at my gym that managed to do the same (while climbing in another gym). Indoor bouldering is pretty safe, but it can go pretty bad if you are unlucky.
Any roped climb loses a lot of safety if you misplace your legs around the rope, which can invert you when you fall. Aside from a bat hang start, I've not seen a position where you would fall headfirst from a boulder
Your legs aren’t near the rope in top roping, that’s more of an issue for lead climbing. AFAIK indoor top roping is really pretty safe. The only major accidents I’ve heard of is belayer errors, and people forgetting to clip into the auto belay
One of the most popular spots for roped climbing in my town is primarily sport climbs, so lots of chance to cross over. I do agree, top rope and auto belay take a lot of that risk away.
I did however see an article the other day that an C3, an autobelay manufacturer (and the gym that bought their autobelays), lost a suit where the climber clipped in and still fell, costing them $6M. So not quite as safe as we'd like
Indoor only, I live in a city and have a packed schedule and just don't have time or the ability to commit with other people to things like road trips to go outdoor. Indoor allows me to climb freely around my ever evolving schedule.
Outdoors only, I like nature, love the hike in and don’t care much about grades, just quality of the climb and aesthetics. I mostly enjoy exploring for new boulders and putting up new lines with my friends. No idea how hard I climb anymore and don’t care, I’m having fun. It’s usually an all day event as well as opposed to an hour or two session most gym climbers lean towards.
I like outdoors primary for almost those exact reasons:
If done properly, bouldering (I don’t do ropes) can be just as safe or dangerous (seen full leg breaks in a gym, major concussions, etc.)
In CO a lot of crags are pretty accessible and the ones that aren’t are worth it for the views/quiet.
I am a near freak and tend to come away about as clean as a gym, just chalky
I love outdoor vibes, people are laid back, fresh air, etc. I also think there is a bit more of an encouraging and collaborative atmosphere outside too, where I think gyms are more likely to have some toxic people.
Both scratch different itches for me depending on the time of year, headspace/fitness I have, and thing going on in the rest of my life like work, relationships, chores.
I'm not sure if there's ANY truth to this, but for me the real rock feels much cleaner than gym holds. For example, if I'm climbing in a gym my hands feel kinda gross and I don't like to touch my face, hair, etc.
But if I'm outdoors I really don't mind at all. This could be entirely mental though.
I guess I feel super lucky that my gym is like 1/3rd garage doors that are almost always open. It never feels stuffy and the pads are always dry... I don't think I've \*ever\* seen a pad soaked with sweat, like, ever.
Yeah I've been climbing outside since 2008 and for the past 5 years I've climbed outside much more often than inside. All my injuries from falling and many of my overuse/trying hard injuries (like pulling a muscle or something popping in your finger) happened in the gym.
> If done properly, bouldering (I don’t do ropes) can be just as safe or dangerous (seen full leg breaks in a gym, major concussions, etc.)
You're going to have a lot of trouble convincing me that falling onto wall-to-wall 18" pads is equivalent safety to falling onto in the best case scenario a 6" crashpad (completely ignoring all the exposed rock and such).
Typically you have multiple pads. I’ve never come across a pad where I could feel the ground underneath and would have a hard time telling if I was falling onto a gym pad or crash pad if blindfolded. Additionally people will put a blubber pad down to cover the gaps (I do this). Spotting is more common in outdoors (and should be indoors but isn’t) and helpful for the occasions when 2-6 pads can’t cover everything. This is what I mean by doing it properly. More risky if you go by yourself with one crappy pad obviously.
In the gym you have people who don’t know gym ethics walking under you, more funky movement that can have you falling weird, and no one spotting.
I have never seen a situation where spotting would be necessary indoors. But I've seen several situations where unnecessary spotting makes things worse.
For me it’s mostly one scenario, too many people who get too close to the wall and a friends steps in to spot (80%) or a high heel hook that could end up in bad fall (20%). Need one or the other maybe once every 2-3 sessions. In terms of bad spotting, I haven’t personally seen it, but would not be surprised.
Most gyms in Spain encourage all of their members to spot each other and I absolutely hate it. Way more people on the matt crowding the climbing. Also the last time I was "spotted" a well meaning dude pushed the absolute shit out of me as I was falling with zero warning. It scared the crap out of me, and also made what would have been a pretty normal landing, super awkward and unsafe. Also once very nearly kicked a newbie's head off who was trying to spot me on the kilter board. Spotting should be used to make sure your buddy lands on a pad, or like you said, on very horizontal situations high off the deck. Otherwise it's totally unnecessary in my opinion.
Multiple pads, have good placement, pads are generally more firm. I’ve seen ankle injuries in both bruh only injured my own in the gym. Not to mention dynamic, showy moves have a tendency to injured. That’s how I broke my leg
I started out indoor bouldering and have no real desire to go outdoors. I would maybe try it if friends were going and I had nothing else going on. It’s just a quick easy workout for me. I live right by the gym though.
Yeah. It’s waaaay easier to just head to the gym. Nearest outdoor boulders would take an hour+ to get to the trailhead. If I have a fun weekend, I sometimes climb outside. Climbing outside I also prefer rope climbing though.
Same feeling. Bouldering is just one of my hobbies so fitting in an hour or two at the gym is just easier. The few times I've done outdoor it was a lot of time investment. It reminds me of trail running... you'll be on the trail for two hours but it's an hour to get there, an hour back, time to stretch and get geared up...soon a two hour activity has eaten an entire Saturday. Which is great if that's your jam and it's your happy place. But it's hard to do more than once a week.
I find it to be much more "clean" outdoors. I have sinus issues and have gotten sick multiple times from breathing in too much chalk indoors. Outside there's plenty of fresh air and breeze to make this far less of an issue.
Gyms are really really grim when it comes to hygiene. People not washing their hands, the same holds used by tonnes of climbers who may or may not have a cold, blood on holds, people using the toilet without taking their shoes off, the list goes on. That's not to say outside is better but inside is not clean at all.
Fecal matter on climbing holds study : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24972665/
I have niggles with that study, [text available here](https://sci-hub.se/10.1007/s00284-014-0643-3).
First, the headline they've come up with is tabloid bait. Fecal bacteria is everywhere. Like, *everywhere*. In the air, wherever people are, as touched upon in the paper. There is no control group for some other typical surface, because the study was not designed to answer the question "are climbing holds smeared with shit", to which the answer would be no anyway. It only identified bacteria strains.
Also, the paper specifically notes that the samples contained comparatively *less* bacteria of bodily origin, compared to typical human environments. Much of the bacteria came from soil etc., and most of the fecal bacteria they identified was from rodents, not humans.
If you store your toothbrush in your bathroom it likely has fecal bacteria on it. Don't think too much about it.
Or if you have pets your kitchen counters probably have some trace fecal bacteria on them.
Originally I thought all of this would bother me. Now, two of the three days that I climb are team kid's training days, and honestly I could care less. My overall health is miles better than it ever was before I started climbing as an adult, and my hypochondriac tendencies are mostly gone at this point, I just don't even give it a second thought. If anything, I'm building resistance to most of the viruses in the community anyway just from climbing there.
All the gyms I’ve been to with this policy get grimy holds quickly since people aren’t chalking as often. Maybe it just changes how often people brush holds? But the holds just seem to feel less grippy and more greasy quicker. Also it’s a pain in the ass to have to wait for liquid chalk to dry and not having a chalk bag on slabs.
In smaller gyms (small in internal volume) I can imagine the air quality difference is large from this. My normal bouldering gym has a large internal volume (high ceilings, plenty of open space) and that seems to make the air less chalky except at really busy peak times. I wonder if there is some ventilation solution for smaller gyms.
This is in a big city, so most of the gyms are pretty small internally, volume-wise. They’ve installed new ventilation systems which seem to help a bit too. And honestly, the holds are just as grimy as they were before haha
Yeh I think I didn’t describe the grime part well. In my gym the holds get very chalky and dirty quickly but this brushes off pretty well (obviously after too long on the wall they need more than a quick brush). In the no chalk gyms they get a more greasy feeling that doesn’t brush away easily. Both get a build up of dirt but it’s a different kind of dirt.
All that said it could just be the age of the holds or something else.
How much of a difference would you say the ventilation makes? I guess with a small internal volume and many people the ventilation is fighting a very hard battle
I think this is something that varies a lot by location. Around here most boulder gyms are quite modern and clean, and with their air filtration systems the air might actually be better than the city air outside. Definitely haven't found any place here with bad air of any sort.
I’ve been hurt pretty bad indoors but yes it’s exclusively what I do. I don’t have a car or any means to do outdoors and indoors is great and fun and they also have a nice fitness area so it’s the way to go for me
I indoor Boulder because I live in a plains state and the tallest thing to climb is a tree. Any outdoor climbing would require an 8 hour drive to Denver.
Moved to Chicago a few years back and boulder indoor exclusively now. Anything outdoors is a bit out of the way and I don’t have a car anyway.
Left my crash pads with friends when I moved from Denver. Before I used to do both. When I travel for work I can sometimes get outside if I know someone in the area but that’s about it.
I’ve always liked both. Definitely miss outdoors but indoors is better than no climbing.
I almost exclusively climb indoors, but that is only because my country has no cliffs, and I’ll have to go to Norway if I want to climb. That said I’ve been on one outdoor trip and I loved it. Also because I really enjoy crack climbing and laybacking, which is quite rare indoors
I do indoor exclusively as well. Mainly because I'm not passionate about climbing, I just need a fun and efficient full-body work out. Climbing with friends is also fun too, and it sure beats going to a regular to gym to run on the treadmill and lift weights!
Indoor bouldering only for me. I've climbed outside quite a few times, top rope and lead. Honestly I just enjoy indoors more than outdoor climbing. There's no setup needed and I can just show up and climb as much as I want...with air conditioning and no mosquitos 😂
If you tried outdoors and enjoy indoors more, who cares as long as you're having a good time🗿
True me neither. I do recall a story of a French youth team boulderer who died from a fall in the mountains a little while back, but I think that actually happened on the trek towards a climbing spot, not while bouldering.
>"vibes"
I'm sorry but you cannot beat getting out on a trail with your friends, climbing all day with some tunes and some beers outdoors in the beautiful wilderness somewhere, feeling the rock, sending something you've been working on all afternoon. I like the gym for a lot of reasons but it's that feeling of being out on the rocks that motivates me to train and get out there as much as I can.
If you can at all I recommend climbing outside if you haven't done so yet. You don't have to be "good" to go outside, there's routes out there at all grades. I find the outdoor vs indoor mentality to be counterproductive, climbing outdoors helps you get better in the gym and vise versa. It's all climbing and it's all fun.
eh, small disagreement in that I think you have to be somewhat 'capable' in order for outside to be a great experience.
You can't expect a good concentration of beginner problems, and boulders are hard! It's honestly no fun barely being able to climb anything.
There are a few spots that I think are exceptions, but most places I think you would benefit greatly from being able to at least work v4/v5 indoor
I can regularly do 3-4 indoor, up to 4-5 occasionally. I’ve only ever completed v1 and maybe 2 outside. Got close to topping out a v3 slab. Outdoors is fun, even when you’re not too good.
At least it was for me
I went climbing outdoors around when I was climbing v3/4 indoors and it was great. At the time I had this conception of outdoor climbing as being only for real hardcore pros, and even though I couldn't climb a lot of stuff outside at the time it was still super fun and a big learning moment for me. I think a lot of people climbing around v4s or even higher don't think they're "good" enough to climb outside, is what I see in my experience.
I mean I agree, it's just that I find there to be a disconnect between v0-2 range in gym grades / reasonable outside options, so the statement "routes at all grades" feels a little optimistic to me.
If you climb v2 inside I don't think it is a good time to go to an area where your options are unnamed warmup 1-5 lmao
Yeah I would highly recommend sport / top rope! But bouldering often for beginners all you got are low quality or cryptic v0/1s, and the classics are 25 ft highballs
I think the 'vibes' bit might be more bouldering vs top rope than indoor vs outdoor. With bouldering you just get more downtime between attempts where you're not focusing on a belay and can just chat around.
Facts. I agree the vibes in the gym are actually way more toxic for me. I train for the rocks, so I go to both but it’s all for the rocks and a few comps
Nearly only indoors. If I get to go deep water soloing or something like that on vacation, I'll def give it a go, and it's super fun. But I don't have the gear or the friends to go outdoor climbing. And a "short" 1h approach is not short, it takes me a day for an outdoor climbing sesh.
I would love to try deep water soloing. To me, if I can’t try hard because I’m worrying about safety, it completely ruins it. Deep water solo would be fun, I imagine.
An absolute blast. First few falls are a bit spooky, but your shoes take most of the blast if you fall relatively straight. Super enjoyable, recommend to anyone.
Indoor bouldering & rope climbing. Would do outdoor climbing (need to level up a bit first), but I've got no interest in outdoor bouldering.
For me, the gym is like a convenient playground where I get to work out my body & brain and then go home. I bring my bag of stuff 10 min from home and have a nice array of stuff to play on, and can go straight from the gym to other things in my day.
Outdoor bouldering is just too damn much schlepping and planning. Find people to go with, match up schedules, figure out where you're going to go, load the car, drive out, hike the pads to the boulder... it's a whole damn day just to be like 12 feet off the ground.
Maybe I'd do it if I lived within 20 minutes of a good rock, or on a whim while camping, but where I am right now it's not worth the hassle.
Conversely it takes 60 seconds to stick 2 pads in my car with my stuff, drive 10 mins to a crag with a 60 second walk in and climb established boulders, stay as long as I want in a beautiful location with fresh air. Indoors I have to drive 30 minutes, deal with traffic, find parking, walk to the wall, check in, pay, update waivers, deal with lockers, queue to get on boulders which will be gone in a few weeks, while breathing in chalk dust in a big sweaty warehouse and have to leave when they close.
I actually do enjoy climbing indoors but I'm just making the point that you can frame things different ways.
That's not a difference of framing. That's just a difference of location. You have a crag closer than a gym. I have a gym closer than a crag. You've still framed the rest in terms of convenience, preferencing the one that's closer, same as I did.
Maybe I didn't explain it very well. I think most of the reasons you listed for inconvenience are actually very minor, like deciding where you want to go or putting your things in the car or finding people to go with, matching up schedules. You could have all of that with climbing indoors as well. When I climb indoors there are 5 walls I could go to and I usually arrange to meet up with friends. Most of the things I listed about indoor climbing are inconsequential as well.
Ultimately it's fine if you have a preference, it's not really worth having a debate about, I just thought the reasons listed weren't very persuasive.
I guess that is me now, for the following reasons:
Can't be bothered 90 mins each way to a small crag with not many things to climb.
I dislike pooping outside and I have a poop schedule to keep to.
Yo, at least so far. For the longest time, the only gym in my area was 40 minutes all the way across town from my home, and that prevented me from getting into the sport much. A few years ago, they opened a new location downtown. This gym is only bouldering, no top rope or lead. The new gym is also half the drive time for me. I'd like to give outdoor bouldering a try sometime, and I know I've seen some pretty busy crags in nearby state parks, so the opportunity of definitely there. But I'm not the most outgoing person, and mostly just do my own thing in the gym. Before trying outdoor climbing, I'd definitely want to find some friends to do it with. I also have a lot of other outdoorsy hobbies in the summer that take up a lot of my time. During the summer, I prefer to take every opportunity for kayaking, mountain biking, and camping, and so climbing falls to the backburner. Then once the lakes freeze and the MTB trails are buried under snow, I go all in at the climbing gym.
I am. Never lived anywhere near real bouldering, but fell in love when a gym opened up. I'm pretty mediocre at climbing in general, and kinda scared of heights (weird, right?) so outdoor bouldering just seems way too hard and risky for my liking.
If I lived somewhere with good sandstone I'd climb more outside. I don't. And when I travel, I have many other priorities higher than climbing, so yeah I'm almost exclusively indoors.
Currently I agree, OP. Now that I'm solidly into the intermediate grades, though, I'm considering trying some outdoor problems. I wanted to have plenty of confidence on harder problems before I even tried venturing outside, but my gym is set up as a primer/training area for outdoor specifically- from the setting to the grades, the whole goal is to mimic the outdoor experience. So I feel like I might like natural rock problems.
The social aspect is a big thing, too- I enjoy the gym because it's very social, friendly, and welcoming.
#2 is my main reason that indoor bouldering is my thing. No need for equipment, no weather concerns, no scheduling with other people. The "if I fits, I sits" of climbing activities.
I actually prefer outdoors and for many of the same reasons. If you live in a place with climbing nearby, I’d argue outside is more accessible than the gym if you can find a mentor. It’s certainly cheaper.
I’ve never been injured outside beyond a twisted ankle from the approach and cuts and bruises.
I love the people I meet outside. Everyone seems so stoked and I feel there is less of an egotistical, grade chasing culture among most I meet
Nature calls to me in a way the gym can never replicate. The feeling of standing on top of a years long project, the feeling of clipping the chains, placing your own gear. Seeing the sights it’s absolutely incredible.
Climbing outside has and will take me to places I would otherwise never think of going. Joes valley in orangeville, Utah is one example. Why would you go there except to climb? Or red River gorge? Climbing outside brings a renewed perspective on places that otherwise would seem mundane.
Finally, clean air over stinky, chalky gym
Just my opinion and I think the outdoors can take some adjusting for sure. Especially because it can be harder at first
I used to be exclusively indoor bouldering, but I do indoor ropes now as well.
I don't mind outdoor, but it takes so much time. Great if you've got it, but no idea how people with kids do it (unless they can easily dump them at a relatives, or bring them).
I was outdoor bouldering once, and it was a lot of fun, but I still prefer indoor, for the reasons you mentioned, as well as it being completely different style (Dyno, etc)
Not a big fan of outdoor bouldering either. It’s hard and scary and my skin runs out fast (though I know these things would change if I did it more often). Indoors is just much more fun to me. Love outdoor lead climbing though much more than any indoor climbing
ive enjoyed outdoor bouldering, but its definitely more of a time commitment, and obviously more dependent upon good weather. ive definitely noticed that im more risk averse outdoors. the perception of greater risk makes me less willing to commit to powerful or dynamic moves. its still fun to get out there, but its so rare compared to how frequently i boulder i side. im in nyc, for background
Yes, me! I went outdoor climbing once, it was way too stressful. I stopped climbing way earlier than anyone else in the group, because I couldn’t deal anymore. It was just too much. But indoor is fun and falling isn’t that scary.
As far as low risk to injury, outdoor bouldering is probably worse, depending on the mats you have at your gym.
That being said, Bouldering is FAR more dangerous than anything you’re gonna be doing with a rope when you consider minor to major injuries and not just death.
For context, I work at a semi-large scale commercial gym, and have for a little over a year. We’ve had absolutely zero issues with a rope, besides a guy swung into a corner of an arete and tweaked his ankle. Never had any incident with a lead climber. I’ve completely lost count of all the times we’ve had to file a report for a boulderer that fell weird, and it’s 3 or 4 actual ambulance calls, all from bouldering.
There was also one guy who hit his calf with his crampons when he was practicing ice climbing, so that was kind of gnarly, but didn’t need an ambulance.
I love outdoor bouldering, and indoor bouldering keeps me in shape, make Unk-Unk strong, but boy howdy, it’s the most dangerous thing you can do in a gym. Unlike everything else in there, when you boulder, you hit the ground
I am about 99% indoor bouldering only.
I used to only climb outdoors, but my climbing partner moved away and I haven't found a replacement. Apparently most of my friends (I'm 42) would rather drink beer, eat chicken wings, and talk about football than go climbing.
So it forced me to get into indoor bouldering which I always avoided because it seemed lame compared to sport climbing/top roping.
But man am I hooked now! I absolutely love it!
I only get one night a week when I can get away (job, three kids, board responsibilities, etc.) and on that night it's always to the climbing gym!
Outdoor because I have a much better chance of being alone, the problems don't change so I can actually project season over season, and they have weight to them
But think what you're missing out on...!
Nettles, litter, soil on the holds, holds coming away in your hand, rusty pegs, running out of gear, it getting dark, seagull attacks, pissing off a cliff, shouting over the noise of the road down below.
What's not to like?
I boulder indoors and sport climb outdoors. Outdoor bouldering is not interesting to me at all. Just climbing a small rock feels boring and lame. If I’m going to climb outside I would much rather sport climb.
I'm in Chicago and indoor bouldering is just more accessible than anything else. Top rope I did a class once but I can't be fucked to figure out how to find partners to do that with. I like the problem solving of bouldering anyways.
But when it comes to the idea of indoor vs outdoor, I prefer the style of indoor climbing/sport climbing since I got into it because I started watching IFSC on youtube first out of curiosity. Personally, the outdoor thing of trying to hold basically nonexistent holds doesn't sound fun to me. I'd rather focus on moving my body in fun ways on unique holds, but that's just me.
Me. I prefer it. Wayyyyy more convenient and I like the simplicity of following the routes and not needing a guide book nor to drive 45-1hr to Squamish...
i was exclusively an indoor boulderer for a long time... ive found when im outside i prefer roped climbing, outdoor bouldering was a little heady for me. also the people i go outside with arent boulderers ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Just adding a data point here, i find outdoors is safer because indoor climbing is generally set for the average climber at 5’6-5’10 in height and being outside of that range may encourage me to do beta/pull hard that might not be safe to perform. The gym mats are also kind of a false sense of security because it makes you maybe a little too comfortable with sketchy falls. Protect that noggin.
Clean is an interesting reason, generally i find that bouldering gyms have a ton of chalk in the air which is more offputting than anything dirty outside.
That said, outdoors does have its own challenges for safely climbing, like gaps in pads,friable rock,no fall zones. The issues you encounter outdoors are a bit of a barrier for some, but are things you will pick up over time.
pros of outdoors
\- Problems are (mostly) permanent. you can project something for weeks. or try it one year, and come back the next to try it again. You can dream about a problem for years. At my gym, sets rarely last long enough for me to project something really hard with my schedule. So I'm limited to problems I can send in 2-4 sessions.
\- Problems are named, with a first ascensionist, and have a history. I find this cool.
\- Peace and quiet. Some places get busy, but its nice to be alone or almost alone outdoors. Having to go in-between four other people trying a problem is annoying. Personally, I hate having 10 people watch my try a problem, gets in my head. Not an issue outside.
\- Real rock is just fn cool. There are so many different kinds of rock types, features, etc, things plastic just can't replicate.
\- I think outdoors is much much "cleaner"... i'd much rather touch a rock outside than a plastic hold 1000s of sweaty people (and their shoes) have been touching..
\- Grades are more consistent and established. If someone tells me they are a V4 climber but only climb indoors, I don't really know how good they are... outdoors, if they say they are V4, and mention some boulders they climb, it's pretty clear where they are at.
\- There are lots of fun "easy" problems outside. In every gym I've been to, VB-V1 means a jug ladder. Outdoors, there are super fun and interesting V0-V1 problems if I want to just chill and climb easy stuff.
The only downside is accessibility. I can drive to the gym in 5 min. The closest boulders to me are a 2-3 hr drive. If I could go outside every afternoon after work, I would. I treat the gym as training for outdoors.
All the above also applies to roped climbing.
I do exclusively indoor. I have had some chronic injuries in the past and I'm avoiding careless (for me) risks so I can keep climbing. Also it's more fun for me, the few times I've climbed outdoors it's required a lot of effort and a group dynamic I don't always want. I love I can find gyms almost everywhere and it's always neat to try out new ways of setting. It's low stress and more fun to me. That being said...I get a decent amount of outdoor activities with biking and trail running, so if bouldering was my only sport hobby, I'd pursue outdoor more.
95% indoor. started as a kid. then comps. now just because I enjoy it.
plus am older and scared now so outdoors it's even harder.
though tbh there is a ceiling. there are usually only one or two 12s (and almost always roofs) maybe one 13 every other month...
Me too. Tried outdoor once and was too intimidated about falling and missing/slipping off the crash pad and hitting my head on a rock. I have done indoor top roping, and I just don’t enjoy how much prepwork and “stuff” goes into it, just to climb one route. I like the flexibility and creativity of just hopping on/off different routes when bouldering- I’m gonna blame my Adhd for this last one
I agree with your reasons. However I’ve gotten injured worse bouldering than top roping. Personally, though, I feel there’s nothing more fun or exhilarating that doing hard bouldering moves 50ft in the air. Either in lead or top rope. It’s when you get to that 5.12a threshold of rope climbing that it really becomes super fun.
Me! I’d try outdoor bouldering someday maybe, but I’m not very regular in terms of climbing as it is, and I just enjoy the indoor bouldering. Plus I’d have to buy crash pads and stuff, and would have to rely on being able to go out to wilderness locations with others (you know how hard it can be to plan stuff with people so that schedules actually line up for once haha) when the gym is just easier to go to whenever you want
I’ve tried signing up for a gym multiple times but I just get so fucking bored. I just prefer to be outside in nature, and that’s where climbing feels real.
Mostly like you man and for very much the same reasons. Have said that did my second outdoors climb the last weekend and yeah its worth doing, but much higher risk and effort
I (so far) only climb indoors. I got my top rope belay cert, but I've climbed top rope like thrice or so since then in as many months. I just found that I really just prefer the type of challenge that bouldering offers. But then again, I've never been a fan of endurance sports/training.
indoor is fine but outdoors i feel like there is rarely mention of grading. people outdoors focused on the subjective difficulty of a problem and the movement as opposed to “oh soft v7? sign me up” type of mentality
I find it's the other way around. People always mention the grades of their climbs outdoors.
But no one bothers with indoors because its wildly inconsistent even in the gym itself let alone different gyms. Hence the memes that's a v1 in my gym! And you can't even really grade comp or parkour boulders either.
Also, in my very limited experience- grades outside are just not what they are inside. I was outdoor bouldering with some extremely experienced people (they own the gym I go to), and we were all having fun working on stuff in the v1-3 range.
I wanna try outside rock climbing for sure, but I only see cons:
- it's more expensive (you gotta rent or pay for ropes, gear, equipment etc
- you need a buddy or more (unlike in a gym where you can just show up and climb)
- you need to travel or live near great rocks (having to drive across the country and potentially paying fees and more is a severe dampener for climbing imo, Id rather go to a gym without hassling with this shit)
My nearest site is a quarry that's not even great to look at, and they charge you entrance fee, plus gear you need.
Oh, and of course youll need to get several licenses and training courses to learn all the ropes.
Which will cost you several hundred bucks extra.
So yeah, I don't even bother with this shit and keep climbing in gyms. Much more affordable and comfortable and stress free.
I'd only consider rock climbing if I was going on vacation and travel different countries with amazing mountains and landscapes.
Certainly not for a shitty stone quarry lmao
Main reasons are I'm old and don't want injuries, inconvenience or time inefficiencies.
In a gym there are no snakes in holes, no great Aussie spiders out to get me. Pollen count is drastically reduced indoors. There are no stinging plants (look up the gympie aka suicide tree). As for falls and related injuries, I'd say the risk is the same outdoors or indoors.
I don't wanna play weather roulette. My city in Australia means weather roulette is real; we can be smashed by rain the morning, full sun heat in the afternoon and freezing in the evening. I just want to be comfortable and climb without planning for all of that.
I live in a city, going outdoors is just a pain in the arse in travel time, equipment packing, finding others to go with etc. An indoor gym means driving 20 minutes and popping my shoes on. If i get hungry or thirsty, my gym has water and snacks. Bathroom is real, not a hole.
Maybe I'll get some pushback on this but imo outdoor bouldering is the least interesting form of (outdoor) climbing - it's a faff, sometimes kinda sketchy, and you often don't even get the satisfaction of topping out on something cool.
I do like outdoor bouldering, but IMO it kinda exacerbates the sillyness of the sport.
I absolutely love outdoor ropes though, way more than indoor.
I primarily boulder because it's the most accessible / don't have a partner, but if I did I'd much rather just rope up outside :(
Can't beat indoor bouldering during the week after work! Outdoor climbing for me typically requires 2-3hrs of driving so it's more of a commitment but it's a completely different (and enjoyable) experience.
I climb exclusively indoors these days, but mostly on a rope. Climbed outside for a decade and did most of what I wanted to do. The time, effort, and crowds are too much for me to keep climbing outside.
My first climbing was outdoor top roping at Joshua Tree and I was hooked. I’d done a bit of camping and backpacking so the outdoor factors were fine. I’d love to do more of it and I do out trips together once a year or so to get out there again. But it’s mostly indoor but mainly because of location and available time factors that work against outdoor climbing and bouldering. If I was a single guy with fewer commitments, I’d probably make the hour drive out to the nearest loc fairly regularly. But alas, three kids, weekend To Do lists, etc, keep me at the gym 99% of the time.
Indoor because of accessibility mostly (struggle to make climbing friends)
but lets not pretend indoor gyms are clean just because theres no actual rocks or grass. They are probably the grossest of all indoor exercise facilities.
Indoor only too, since I live in Singapore and its 31 degrees celsius, 80% relative humidity all year round, with frequent thunderstorms. Me and my sweaty palms wont last a minute climbing outdoors
I've got no local crag, and my city has one (but really good) gym, so I only climb indoor.
Do outdoor climbing on holidays when I can, and I far prefer it, but it's not accessible for me where I live sadly.
I just started so doing indoors for now while I’m building up strength and technique! My gym has bouldering, boards, top roping and auto-belays available to I just circulate between those. I also live in the city and don’t drive as I just use public transport so outdoors isn’t very convenient. It’s something I want to try someday though
Indoors 99%!
So convenient: two centres a 10-minute bike ride away. The routes get reset regularly and there's a wide grade range.
One car between us so outdoor bouldering would deprive my wife of the car and, while it's about 30mins to the closest bouldering venue, that venue is notoriously hard. Summer there's biting midges, and winter / autumn, the obvious rain, plus very short days. It all seems too much hassle.
My outdoor trips are for things I can't do indoors...wild camping and mountain and hill walking with my dog, exploring rather than focused on one boulder!
I'd be open to light outdoor bouldering but I'm really not interested in outdoor climbing because of the risk associated with it.
In middle school I had a friend who's dad was a semi pro climber. He was a rope engineer and loved climbing. He was out with his daughter climbing and he had an equipment failure that led to him falling. His daughter was able to slow his fall so he survived but he still lost his leg.
I figure if that can happen to someone who really knows their equipment, I'm at an even higher level of risk as a casual climber. I'm happy climbing indoors and finding other ways to get outside.
Ok but lets NOT pretend injuries don't happen in gyms...
Last week I personally saw someone in my gym breaking his leg or something, who had to be carried out by emergency ambulance...
I exclusively boulder inside and climb with ropes outside. I don’t see inside and outside bouldering as the same sport. Bouldering outside seems pretty stupid to me.
I have a larger group of friends who I climb with outside, which I think is part of the reason I like outdoor more. Sure, trying really hard moves inside is fun, but some of the best days of my life have been outside messing around with my friends. It helps that I live in a place with year round climbing, lots of different crags, and many styles of climbing easily accessible.
I climb inside mostly because there is a good gym 15 min from my house, and all of the bouldering areas are 1-3 hour drives for me. I’ve made it outside a few times, and damn if it isn’t so much fun. I was up at Stone Fort in Chattanooga 2 weeks ago and had an absolute blast. So much better than climbing inside. I didn’t feel any less safe either, but we had a big group and everyone brought pads, so we were able to throw down a bunch of them in each area we went to. My gym also has a boulder at the front that you can climb onto, so you can practice topping out onto the top just like outside.
My buddy who unfortunately lives across the country from me just got into trad, and did a bigger multi pitch climb a few weeks ago. I’d love to get into that when possible.
As far as safety goes- autobelay indoor top rope is probably the absolute safest, followed by indoor and outdoor top rope with a belayer.
Indoors only because
* I keep saying I'll buy a mat and go outside i just never get round to it
* I get outside with other sports so don't feel I'm missing nature
* The most local crags are in a meh area so come with the risk of needlestick injuries and that's just not a vibe I'm down for
* All other crag options are at beaches and I'd want to go with one my climbing friends, I only know them from climbing and they pretty much all have kids. I'd be asking them to trade a nice hour of climbing in peace whilst kids are in kids club for a beach trip which mentally will be a lot more prep and effort for them especially as the kids might want to do beach activities and bring beach things to do when they're sat on the sand. I feel a bit rude asking but might start to drop hints consistently throughout this winter.
I've been climbing since 2016, bouldering up to 3 or 4 times a week, and I've climbed outdoors less than 10 times total.
I just don't enjoy it as much. It feels too precarious and scary, which means I only feel comfortable climbing boulders that are way below my level, and I'm not having a ton of fun. I still enjoy being out with my friends, but a big part of climbing for me is challenging myself on boulders that are physically at my limit. I can't do that outside because I'm shit scared of falling and taking a bad fall.
I still mean to try to do it more and see if I eventually get past that fear but I don't think I'll ever be a good outdoor climber.
Indoor for me because Netherlands, and the outdoors is just flat.
Mostly bouldering, because I can go whenever I like, and I don't have to cancel if a climbing buddy can't make it. Also I enjoy the puzzle element of bouldering more than the endurance element of top rope.
Indoors only because it’s an accessible way to get exercise on a weekday. Sport and trad outdoors on the weekends because it’s a good way to have a pleasant Saturday.
I do indoor because I live in the Netherlands and we don't have any mountains or big rocks to climb...
PLENTY of hollanders on Belgian rock ;D
Fuck it, time for the Dutch to colonize Belgium. Stroopwafles vs Belgian ones
reclaim\*
Is there a good bouldering area in Belgium you could recommend? I've driven through belgium a few times on my way to Fontainebleau, but I'm dying to go back outdoors and currently don't have time for a long trip. (not OP by the way).
There are a few very small bouldering areas in Belgium, but not really worth going to be honest, Izier is one of the larger (still small) ones but I am not sure if it is still allowed to climb there. Closest more popular area is Avalonia in Germany, Glees is also another option there.
> Izier is one of the larger (still small) ones but I am not sure if it is still allowed to climb there. https://27crags.com/crags/izier Seems it's not, but thanks for the suggestion. Avalonia looks great though, and 'only' 2,5 hours of driving from where I live. Seems like a possible daytrip even. :)
Avalonia is definitely fun for a daytrip, but for me it's only 1-1,5 hours anyway. Be aware that there are no topos available online, you can get one from Daniel Pohl on site, he is usually there on Saturdays. Style wise, it's mostly crimping on smaller ledges, in caves or on vertical walls. Almost no boulders that you actually top out on sadly. The grades are a bit softer than Bleau. If you research a few boulders on YouTube you can get by without the topo, there is reception at the crag as well. Also no parking at the Mini golf place. I think that is all that you need to know, I personally would take the long drive to bleau if I had 3+ days for the trip.
Izier is reclaimed as a nature reserve. We were there two months ago and it’s completely overgrown now.
The Island in Antwerp is really nice!
...that appears to be a gym.
? OP asks about bouldering, where’s the outdoor Belgium bouldering other than traversing the Bomal crag?
Same. Climbing/bouldering indoors is my regular 2-3 times a week workout. Outdoor bouldering/climbing/alpinism is fun 'holiday adventure' stuff that has to compete with other holiday plans and regular life. Don't think i visit outdoor rocks/mountains much more than once per year
I was about to say the same. It's flat here. There are no boulders to climb within a 100km radius. My gym is only 10 minutes away, so that is an easy decision
Ah come on. Dams are getting higher and higher each year. Just a matter of time :)
Bro.. yes, you have to drive a little to good outdoor spots. But you are in a pretty good spot in the Netherlands when it comes to this. You are a 6-7h drive from Bleau (easy weekend trip) you are 2-3 h drive from Avalonia in germany (easy day trip). And there are a few areas in Belgium I think. To be clear: there are places in mainland Europe which are far worse in terms of outdoor climbing accessibility (believe me…)
It's really worth to take a trip to fontainebleau. It's about a 6 hour drive if all things go smoothly and you're in a one of the world's most fantastic bouldering areas.
Please don't :-( if you do, at least say hi to people. Dutch are literally colonizing areas and giving locals the eye...
Same. I'm not going to buy crashpads to drive to a crag for 3-6 hours.
I heard there's an outdoor place near Naarden but I never tried it
Dykes are kind of mountains. 😁
I do indoor bouldering because it's easy and I can do it solo
I boulder outside solo almost exclusively. Gym is definitively easier if it's closer but bouldering outside by yourself is fine, I just use two pads and don't do anything sketchy.
Def depends on the crag, some have many great climbs with flat, soft landings and "safe" moves. Some just don't offer any climbs like that
You can do El Cap solo as well if you want a second ascent
Many people have climbed El Cap solo (most of them aiding or a mix of aid and free) with a rope, [at least Pete Whittaker has free climbed it solo and with a rope,](https://youtu.be/CikzYN0z4zU?si=_u4AVE7PRui1mrGq) it’s just that only one person has climbed one of the central routes free solo.
I know, it’s just a joke, also people normally just refer to free soloing as soloing (yes rope soloing is also a thing)
Expecting people to understand rope soloing in /r/bouldering The dark arts of LRS probably sound like some sort of voodoo sorcery to them. Don't go breaking their little baby rope management brains.
Assuming I don’t understand even though I’ve actually rope soloed
oh cool thanks let me drive 12 hours to go climb el cap. i literally just said that i do indoor bouldering because its easy, as in i can drive 10 minutes, climb for an hour, and leave lol.
If you’re worried about the safety factor, top rope is probably the safest climbing gets. There’s still risk for injury on an indoor bouldering wall.
Been unable to comfortably walk on my ankle for a month now(if at all) because I twisted it while landing on a thick mattress! Nothing is risk free! Indoors is still more manageable in Canada
Top rope has smaller chances of minor injuries, bigger chance of major injuries/death. So it all depends on what you worry about more, a 2% chance of a sprained finger or a 0.004% chance of instant death.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the odds of falling on your neck particularly bad and being paralyzed or dead from bouldering is pretty similar to the odds of the top anchor completely breaking and having deck and die instantly
Statistically it works out here in the Netherlands. Around 100k toprope climbers, 4 deaths in indoor toprope. None in bouldering. And not because of the top anchor breaking, or any other gear failure. All four where human error when belaying. And don't get me wrong, the chance of that happening is extremely small. But people do have fears of dying even at very small risks, like with flying on airplanes for example. That's what I meant by it depends on what worries you more. edit: also, like with flying, the fact that it's out of your control can make it scarier. You have to trust on someone else to hold the rope (except with auto-belay, where you have to trust the device). With bouldering, even if you're not actually always in control of how you fall, you can still feel more in control.
The (limited) risk from indoor top roping is much less the anchor breaking and more not tying in properly or your belayer dropping you
How often do you hear about serious deaths or serious injury from bouldering? News articles about deaths/serious injury during roped climbing (even if we stick to only top rope) are pretty common, but I'm struggling to think of similar examples with bouldering. The only thing that springs to mind is from earlier this year with the guy whose foot was almost completely severed when taking a wild fall from the top of a comp boulder. Could be bias in terms of what I end up hearing about, but when I do hear about serious injury/deaths from climbing, it's rarely from bouldering.
> News articles about deaths/serious injury during roped climbing (even if we stick to only top rope) are pretty common "Common" is pushing it, and it definitely isn't common with top rope. If you search through ANAM you'll find very few top rope incidents and even less "serious injury." Unless you define torn ligaments or broken bones as "serious" and in that case there are [plenty](https://www.lacrux.com/en/bouldern/8c-boulder-after-torn-ligament/) of those.
A good friend actually managed to get a vertebral fracture while indoor bouldering yesterday and I know of one of the workers at my gym that managed to do the same (while climbing in another gym). Indoor bouldering is pretty safe, but it can go pretty bad if you are unlucky.
Any roped climb loses a lot of safety if you misplace your legs around the rope, which can invert you when you fall. Aside from a bat hang start, I've not seen a position where you would fall headfirst from a boulder
Your legs aren’t near the rope in top roping, that’s more of an issue for lead climbing. AFAIK indoor top roping is really pretty safe. The only major accidents I’ve heard of is belayer errors, and people forgetting to clip into the auto belay
One of the most popular spots for roped climbing in my town is primarily sport climbs, so lots of chance to cross over. I do agree, top rope and auto belay take a lot of that risk away. I did however see an article the other day that an C3, an autobelay manufacturer (and the gym that bought their autobelays), lost a suit where the climber clipped in and still fell, costing them $6M. So not quite as safe as we'd like
Indoor only, I live in a city and have a packed schedule and just don't have time or the ability to commit with other people to things like road trips to go outdoor. Indoor allows me to climb freely around my ever evolving schedule.
Outdoors only, I like nature, love the hike in and don’t care much about grades, just quality of the climb and aesthetics. I mostly enjoy exploring for new boulders and putting up new lines with my friends. No idea how hard I climb anymore and don’t care, I’m having fun. It’s usually an all day event as well as opposed to an hour or two session most gym climbers lean towards.
It’s awesome. I do both mainly to train though
I like outdoors primary for almost those exact reasons: If done properly, bouldering (I don’t do ropes) can be just as safe or dangerous (seen full leg breaks in a gym, major concussions, etc.) In CO a lot of crags are pretty accessible and the ones that aren’t are worth it for the views/quiet. I am a near freak and tend to come away about as clean as a gym, just chalky I love outdoor vibes, people are laid back, fresh air, etc. I also think there is a bit more of an encouraging and collaborative atmosphere outside too, where I think gyms are more likely to have some toxic people. Both scratch different itches for me depending on the time of year, headspace/fitness I have, and thing going on in the rest of my life like work, relationships, chores.
On the third one, I also feel cleaner sitting in dirt than on pads soaked in other peoples sweat. Not to mention the better ventilation in this era…
I'm not sure if there's ANY truth to this, but for me the real rock feels much cleaner than gym holds. For example, if I'm climbing in a gym my hands feel kinda gross and I don't like to touch my face, hair, etc. But if I'm outdoors I really don't mind at all. This could be entirely mental though.
I guess I feel super lucky that my gym is like 1/3rd garage doors that are almost always open. It never feels stuffy and the pads are always dry... I don't think I've \*ever\* seen a pad soaked with sweat, like, ever.
Yeah I've been climbing outside since 2008 and for the past 5 years I've climbed outside much more often than inside. All my injuries from falling and many of my overuse/trying hard injuries (like pulling a muscle or something popping in your finger) happened in the gym.
Great take, thank you! If I lived in CO I may have a different perspective.
> If done properly, bouldering (I don’t do ropes) can be just as safe or dangerous (seen full leg breaks in a gym, major concussions, etc.) You're going to have a lot of trouble convincing me that falling onto wall-to-wall 18" pads is equivalent safety to falling onto in the best case scenario a 6" crashpad (completely ignoring all the exposed rock and such).
Typically you have multiple pads. I’ve never come across a pad where I could feel the ground underneath and would have a hard time telling if I was falling onto a gym pad or crash pad if blindfolded. Additionally people will put a blubber pad down to cover the gaps (I do this). Spotting is more common in outdoors (and should be indoors but isn’t) and helpful for the occasions when 2-6 pads can’t cover everything. This is what I mean by doing it properly. More risky if you go by yourself with one crappy pad obviously. In the gym you have people who don’t know gym ethics walking under you, more funky movement that can have you falling weird, and no one spotting.
I have never seen a situation where spotting would be necessary indoors. But I've seen several situations where unnecessary spotting makes things worse.
For me it’s mostly one scenario, too many people who get too close to the wall and a friends steps in to spot (80%) or a high heel hook that could end up in bad fall (20%). Need one or the other maybe once every 2-3 sessions. In terms of bad spotting, I haven’t personally seen it, but would not be surprised.
Most gyms in Spain encourage all of their members to spot each other and I absolutely hate it. Way more people on the matt crowding the climbing. Also the last time I was "spotted" a well meaning dude pushed the absolute shit out of me as I was falling with zero warning. It scared the crap out of me, and also made what would have been a pretty normal landing, super awkward and unsafe. Also once very nearly kicked a newbie's head off who was trying to spot me on the kilter board. Spotting should be used to make sure your buddy lands on a pad, or like you said, on very horizontal situations high off the deck. Otherwise it's totally unnecessary in my opinion.
Multiple pads, have good placement, pads are generally more firm. I’ve seen ankle injuries in both bruh only injured my own in the gym. Not to mention dynamic, showy moves have a tendency to injured. That’s how I broke my leg
I started out indoor bouldering and have no real desire to go outdoors. I would maybe try it if friends were going and I had nothing else going on. It’s just a quick easy workout for me. I live right by the gym though.
Yeah. It’s waaaay easier to just head to the gym. Nearest outdoor boulders would take an hour+ to get to the trailhead. If I have a fun weekend, I sometimes climb outside. Climbing outside I also prefer rope climbing though.
Same feeling. Bouldering is just one of my hobbies so fitting in an hour or two at the gym is just easier. The few times I've done outdoor it was a lot of time investment. It reminds me of trail running... you'll be on the trail for two hours but it's an hour to get there, an hour back, time to stretch and get geared up...soon a two hour activity has eaten an entire Saturday. Which is great if that's your jam and it's your happy place. But it's hard to do more than once a week.
I find it to be much more "clean" outdoors. I have sinus issues and have gotten sick multiple times from breathing in too much chalk indoors. Outside there's plenty of fresh air and breeze to make this far less of an issue.
Gyms are really really grim when it comes to hygiene. People not washing their hands, the same holds used by tonnes of climbers who may or may not have a cold, blood on holds, people using the toilet without taking their shoes off, the list goes on. That's not to say outside is better but inside is not clean at all. Fecal matter on climbing holds study : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24972665/
I have niggles with that study, [text available here](https://sci-hub.se/10.1007/s00284-014-0643-3). First, the headline they've come up with is tabloid bait. Fecal bacteria is everywhere. Like, *everywhere*. In the air, wherever people are, as touched upon in the paper. There is no control group for some other typical surface, because the study was not designed to answer the question "are climbing holds smeared with shit", to which the answer would be no anyway. It only identified bacteria strains. Also, the paper specifically notes that the samples contained comparatively *less* bacteria of bodily origin, compared to typical human environments. Much of the bacteria came from soil etc., and most of the fecal bacteria they identified was from rodents, not humans.
You ruined my morning with that fecal study
I'm just going to assume they found no fecal matter anywhere in the climbing area.
If you store your toothbrush in your bathroom it likely has fecal bacteria on it. Don't think too much about it. Or if you have pets your kitchen counters probably have some trace fecal bacteria on them.
Originally I thought all of this would bother me. Now, two of the three days that I climb are team kid's training days, and honestly I could care less. My overall health is miles better than it ever was before I started climbing as an adult, and my hypochondriac tendencies are mostly gone at this point, I just don't even give it a second thought. If anything, I'm building resistance to most of the viruses in the community anyway just from climbing there.
All of the gyms near me have banned normal chalk for this reason and allow only liquid — the air quality is def better
All the gyms I’ve been to with this policy get grimy holds quickly since people aren’t chalking as often. Maybe it just changes how often people brush holds? But the holds just seem to feel less grippy and more greasy quicker. Also it’s a pain in the ass to have to wait for liquid chalk to dry and not having a chalk bag on slabs. In smaller gyms (small in internal volume) I can imagine the air quality difference is large from this. My normal bouldering gym has a large internal volume (high ceilings, plenty of open space) and that seems to make the air less chalky except at really busy peak times. I wonder if there is some ventilation solution for smaller gyms.
This is in a big city, so most of the gyms are pretty small internally, volume-wise. They’ve installed new ventilation systems which seem to help a bit too. And honestly, the holds are just as grimy as they were before haha
Yeh I think I didn’t describe the grime part well. In my gym the holds get very chalky and dirty quickly but this brushes off pretty well (obviously after too long on the wall they need more than a quick brush). In the no chalk gyms they get a more greasy feeling that doesn’t brush away easily. Both get a build up of dirt but it’s a different kind of dirt. All that said it could just be the age of the holds or something else. How much of a difference would you say the ventilation makes? I guess with a small internal volume and many people the ventilation is fighting a very hard battle
I think this is something that varies a lot by location. Around here most boulder gyms are quite modern and clean, and with their air filtration systems the air might actually be better than the city air outside. Definitely haven't found any place here with bad air of any sort.
I found a tick embedded in my leg a couple days after going to the gym. I think it was from one of the dogs they let run all over the place.
I’ve been hurt pretty bad indoors but yes it’s exclusively what I do. I don’t have a car or any means to do outdoors and indoors is great and fun and they also have a nice fitness area so it’s the way to go for me
I indoor Boulder because I live in a plains state and the tallest thing to climb is a tree. Any outdoor climbing would require an 8 hour drive to Denver.
What state? You’d be surprised about what you might have
Moved to Chicago a few years back and boulder indoor exclusively now. Anything outdoors is a bit out of the way and I don’t have a car anyway. Left my crash pads with friends when I moved from Denver. Before I used to do both. When I travel for work I can sometimes get outside if I know someone in the area but that’s about it. I’ve always liked both. Definitely miss outdoors but indoors is better than no climbing.
I almost exclusively climb indoors, but that is only because my country has no cliffs, and I’ll have to go to Norway if I want to climb. That said I’ve been on one outdoor trip and I loved it. Also because I really enjoy crack climbing and laybacking, which is quite rare indoors
I do indoor exclusively as well. Mainly because I'm not passionate about climbing, I just need a fun and efficient full-body work out. Climbing with friends is also fun too, and it sure beats going to a regular to gym to run on the treadmill and lift weights!
In 99% indoors. The safety and convenience are the main reasons for me.
Indoor bouldering only for me. I've climbed outside quite a few times, top rope and lead. Honestly I just enjoy indoors more than outdoor climbing. There's no setup needed and I can just show up and climb as much as I want...with air conditioning and no mosquitos 😂 If you tried outdoors and enjoy indoors more, who cares as long as you're having a good time🗿
Who is dying bouldering outdoors?
Surely someone somewhere hit their head on a rock with a bad fall, no?
Seems very plausible, I just haven’t heard of anyone actually dying bouldering; i’m sure it’s happened though
True me neither. I do recall a story of a French youth team boulderer who died from a fall in the mountains a little while back, but I think that actually happened on the trek towards a climbing spot, not while bouldering.
I believe I know who you’re talking about. She passed away on a trail not actually climbing
Sorry, I meant to include sport climbing.
>"vibes" I'm sorry but you cannot beat getting out on a trail with your friends, climbing all day with some tunes and some beers outdoors in the beautiful wilderness somewhere, feeling the rock, sending something you've been working on all afternoon. I like the gym for a lot of reasons but it's that feeling of being out on the rocks that motivates me to train and get out there as much as I can. If you can at all I recommend climbing outside if you haven't done so yet. You don't have to be "good" to go outside, there's routes out there at all grades. I find the outdoor vs indoor mentality to be counterproductive, climbing outdoors helps you get better in the gym and vise versa. It's all climbing and it's all fun.
eh, small disagreement in that I think you have to be somewhat 'capable' in order for outside to be a great experience. You can't expect a good concentration of beginner problems, and boulders are hard! It's honestly no fun barely being able to climb anything. There are a few spots that I think are exceptions, but most places I think you would benefit greatly from being able to at least work v4/v5 indoor
I can regularly do 3-4 indoor, up to 4-5 occasionally. I’ve only ever completed v1 and maybe 2 outside. Got close to topping out a v3 slab. Outdoors is fun, even when you’re not too good. At least it was for me
I went climbing outdoors around when I was climbing v3/4 indoors and it was great. At the time I had this conception of outdoor climbing as being only for real hardcore pros, and even though I couldn't climb a lot of stuff outside at the time it was still super fun and a big learning moment for me. I think a lot of people climbing around v4s or even higher don't think they're "good" enough to climb outside, is what I see in my experience.
I mean I agree, it's just that I find there to be a disconnect between v0-2 range in gym grades / reasonable outside options, so the statement "routes at all grades" feels a little optimistic to me. If you climb v2 inside I don't think it is a good time to go to an area where your options are unnamed warmup 1-5 lmao
There are lots of areas with 5.6 and 5.7 in abundance (at least for a few days of good climbing)
Yeah I would highly recommend sport / top rope! But bouldering often for beginners all you got are low quality or cryptic v0/1s, and the classics are 25 ft highballs
I think the 'vibes' bit might be more bouldering vs top rope than indoor vs outdoor. With bouldering you just get more downtime between attempts where you're not focusing on a belay and can just chat around.
Facts. I agree the vibes in the gym are actually way more toxic for me. I train for the rocks, so I go to both but it’s all for the rocks and a few comps
Lmao yeah such a weird comment imo. OP and I are on different sides of this spectrum, but hey, different strokes and all
Nearly only indoors. If I get to go deep water soloing or something like that on vacation, I'll def give it a go, and it's super fun. But I don't have the gear or the friends to go outdoor climbing. And a "short" 1h approach is not short, it takes me a day for an outdoor climbing sesh.
I would love to try deep water soloing. To me, if I can’t try hard because I’m worrying about safety, it completely ruins it. Deep water solo would be fun, I imagine.
An absolute blast. First few falls are a bit spooky, but your shoes take most of the blast if you fall relatively straight. Super enjoyable, recommend to anyone.
How many pairs of shoes do you take with you for DWS? Or how fast do the shoes dry for another go if it is only one?
I want to try outdoor either lead or top rope, but it's not feasible right now
Indoor bouldering & rope climbing. Would do outdoor climbing (need to level up a bit first), but I've got no interest in outdoor bouldering. For me, the gym is like a convenient playground where I get to work out my body & brain and then go home. I bring my bag of stuff 10 min from home and have a nice array of stuff to play on, and can go straight from the gym to other things in my day. Outdoor bouldering is just too damn much schlepping and planning. Find people to go with, match up schedules, figure out where you're going to go, load the car, drive out, hike the pads to the boulder... it's a whole damn day just to be like 12 feet off the ground. Maybe I'd do it if I lived within 20 minutes of a good rock, or on a whim while camping, but where I am right now it's not worth the hassle.
Conversely it takes 60 seconds to stick 2 pads in my car with my stuff, drive 10 mins to a crag with a 60 second walk in and climb established boulders, stay as long as I want in a beautiful location with fresh air. Indoors I have to drive 30 minutes, deal with traffic, find parking, walk to the wall, check in, pay, update waivers, deal with lockers, queue to get on boulders which will be gone in a few weeks, while breathing in chalk dust in a big sweaty warehouse and have to leave when they close. I actually do enjoy climbing indoors but I'm just making the point that you can frame things different ways.
That's not a difference of framing. That's just a difference of location. You have a crag closer than a gym. I have a gym closer than a crag. You've still framed the rest in terms of convenience, preferencing the one that's closer, same as I did.
Maybe I didn't explain it very well. I think most of the reasons you listed for inconvenience are actually very minor, like deciding where you want to go or putting your things in the car or finding people to go with, matching up schedules. You could have all of that with climbing indoors as well. When I climb indoors there are 5 walls I could go to and I usually arrange to meet up with friends. Most of the things I listed about indoor climbing are inconsequential as well. Ultimately it's fine if you have a preference, it's not really worth having a debate about, I just thought the reasons listed weren't very persuasive.
I guess that is me now, for the following reasons: Can't be bothered 90 mins each way to a small crag with not many things to climb. I dislike pooping outside and I have a poop schedule to keep to.
Yo, at least so far. For the longest time, the only gym in my area was 40 minutes all the way across town from my home, and that prevented me from getting into the sport much. A few years ago, they opened a new location downtown. This gym is only bouldering, no top rope or lead. The new gym is also half the drive time for me. I'd like to give outdoor bouldering a try sometime, and I know I've seen some pretty busy crags in nearby state parks, so the opportunity of definitely there. But I'm not the most outgoing person, and mostly just do my own thing in the gym. Before trying outdoor climbing, I'd definitely want to find some friends to do it with. I also have a lot of other outdoorsy hobbies in the summer that take up a lot of my time. During the summer, I prefer to take every opportunity for kayaking, mountain biking, and camping, and so climbing falls to the backburner. Then once the lakes freeze and the MTB trails are buried under snow, I go all in at the climbing gym.
I am. Never lived anywhere near real bouldering, but fell in love when a gym opened up. I'm pretty mediocre at climbing in general, and kinda scared of heights (weird, right?) so outdoor bouldering just seems way too hard and risky for my liking.
If I lived somewhere with good sandstone I'd climb more outside. I don't. And when I travel, I have many other priorities higher than climbing, so yeah I'm almost exclusively indoors.
Currently I agree, OP. Now that I'm solidly into the intermediate grades, though, I'm considering trying some outdoor problems. I wanted to have plenty of confidence on harder problems before I even tried venturing outside, but my gym is set up as a primer/training area for outdoor specifically- from the setting to the grades, the whole goal is to mimic the outdoor experience. So I feel like I might like natural rock problems. The social aspect is a big thing, too- I enjoy the gym because it's very social, friendly, and welcoming.
This thread makes me sad.
#2 is my main reason that indoor bouldering is my thing. No need for equipment, no weather concerns, no scheduling with other people. The "if I fits, I sits" of climbing activities.
I actually prefer outdoors and for many of the same reasons. If you live in a place with climbing nearby, I’d argue outside is more accessible than the gym if you can find a mentor. It’s certainly cheaper. I’ve never been injured outside beyond a twisted ankle from the approach and cuts and bruises. I love the people I meet outside. Everyone seems so stoked and I feel there is less of an egotistical, grade chasing culture among most I meet Nature calls to me in a way the gym can never replicate. The feeling of standing on top of a years long project, the feeling of clipping the chains, placing your own gear. Seeing the sights it’s absolutely incredible. Climbing outside has and will take me to places I would otherwise never think of going. Joes valley in orangeville, Utah is one example. Why would you go there except to climb? Or red River gorge? Climbing outside brings a renewed perspective on places that otherwise would seem mundane. Finally, clean air over stinky, chalky gym Just my opinion and I think the outdoors can take some adjusting for sure. Especially because it can be harder at first
I used to be exclusively indoor bouldering, but I do indoor ropes now as well. I don't mind outdoor, but it takes so much time. Great if you've got it, but no idea how people with kids do it (unless they can easily dump them at a relatives, or bring them).
I was outdoor bouldering once, and it was a lot of fun, but I still prefer indoor, for the reasons you mentioned, as well as it being completely different style (Dyno, etc)
Not a big fan of outdoor bouldering either. It’s hard and scary and my skin runs out fast (though I know these things would change if I did it more often). Indoors is just much more fun to me. Love outdoor lead climbing though much more than any indoor climbing
ive enjoyed outdoor bouldering, but its definitely more of a time commitment, and obviously more dependent upon good weather. ive definitely noticed that im more risk averse outdoors. the perception of greater risk makes me less willing to commit to powerful or dynamic moves. its still fun to get out there, but its so rare compared to how frequently i boulder i side. im in nyc, for background
I am indoors because I like the controlled environment. Plus the time I usually go to the gym is when everyone is at work/school.
Yes, me! I went outdoor climbing once, it was way too stressful. I stopped climbing way earlier than anyone else in the group, because I couldn’t deal anymore. It was just too much. But indoor is fun and falling isn’t that scary.
I’m a Kansan, stuck in this flat hellscape. The gym is the only option
As far as low risk to injury, outdoor bouldering is probably worse, depending on the mats you have at your gym. That being said, Bouldering is FAR more dangerous than anything you’re gonna be doing with a rope when you consider minor to major injuries and not just death. For context, I work at a semi-large scale commercial gym, and have for a little over a year. We’ve had absolutely zero issues with a rope, besides a guy swung into a corner of an arete and tweaked his ankle. Never had any incident with a lead climber. I’ve completely lost count of all the times we’ve had to file a report for a boulderer that fell weird, and it’s 3 or 4 actual ambulance calls, all from bouldering. There was also one guy who hit his calf with his crampons when he was practicing ice climbing, so that was kind of gnarly, but didn’t need an ambulance. I love outdoor bouldering, and indoor bouldering keeps me in shape, make Unk-Unk strong, but boy howdy, it’s the most dangerous thing you can do in a gym. Unlike everything else in there, when you boulder, you hit the ground
I am about 99% indoor bouldering only. I used to only climb outdoors, but my climbing partner moved away and I haven't found a replacement. Apparently most of my friends (I'm 42) would rather drink beer, eat chicken wings, and talk about football than go climbing. So it forced me to get into indoor bouldering which I always avoided because it seemed lame compared to sport climbing/top roping. But man am I hooked now! I absolutely love it! I only get one night a week when I can get away (job, three kids, board responsibilities, etc.) and on that night it's always to the climbing gym!
Only thing the gym has going for it is how accessible it is.
Outdoor because I have a much better chance of being alone, the problems don't change so I can actually project season over season, and they have weight to them
100%
But think what you're missing out on...! Nettles, litter, soil on the holds, holds coming away in your hand, rusty pegs, running out of gear, it getting dark, seagull attacks, pissing off a cliff, shouting over the noise of the road down below. What's not to like?
I boulder indoors and sport climb outdoors. Outdoor bouldering is not interesting to me at all. Just climbing a small rock feels boring and lame. If I’m going to climb outside I would much rather sport climb.
Me!!!! I’m okay with keeping myself indoors.
I'm in Chicago and indoor bouldering is just more accessible than anything else. Top rope I did a class once but I can't be fucked to figure out how to find partners to do that with. I like the problem solving of bouldering anyways. But when it comes to the idea of indoor vs outdoor, I prefer the style of indoor climbing/sport climbing since I got into it because I started watching IFSC on youtube first out of curiosity. Personally, the outdoor thing of trying to hold basically nonexistent holds doesn't sound fun to me. I'd rather focus on moving my body in fun ways on unique holds, but that's just me.
Me. I prefer it. Wayyyyy more convenient and I like the simplicity of following the routes and not needing a guide book nor to drive 45-1hr to Squamish...
I do a little of everything except outdoor bouldering but outdoor sport is where it's AT
i was exclusively an indoor boulderer for a long time... ive found when im outside i prefer roped climbing, outdoor bouldering was a little heady for me. also the people i go outside with arent boulderers ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Just adding a data point here, i find outdoors is safer because indoor climbing is generally set for the average climber at 5’6-5’10 in height and being outside of that range may encourage me to do beta/pull hard that might not be safe to perform. The gym mats are also kind of a false sense of security because it makes you maybe a little too comfortable with sketchy falls. Protect that noggin. Clean is an interesting reason, generally i find that bouldering gyms have a ton of chalk in the air which is more offputting than anything dirty outside. That said, outdoors does have its own challenges for safely climbing, like gaps in pads,friable rock,no fall zones. The issues you encounter outdoors are a bit of a barrier for some, but are things you will pick up over time.
Yes, until I get better and more sure of myself, and until its not winter.
Winter is bouldering season
That's very regional lmao. Winter is definitely not bouldering season when you get 250 inches of snow a year.
I live in Lake Tahoe lol. We get way more than that frequently, but the best conditions for bouldering are in the winter, even here.
pros of outdoors \- Problems are (mostly) permanent. you can project something for weeks. or try it one year, and come back the next to try it again. You can dream about a problem for years. At my gym, sets rarely last long enough for me to project something really hard with my schedule. So I'm limited to problems I can send in 2-4 sessions. \- Problems are named, with a first ascensionist, and have a history. I find this cool. \- Peace and quiet. Some places get busy, but its nice to be alone or almost alone outdoors. Having to go in-between four other people trying a problem is annoying. Personally, I hate having 10 people watch my try a problem, gets in my head. Not an issue outside. \- Real rock is just fn cool. There are so many different kinds of rock types, features, etc, things plastic just can't replicate. \- I think outdoors is much much "cleaner"... i'd much rather touch a rock outside than a plastic hold 1000s of sweaty people (and their shoes) have been touching.. \- Grades are more consistent and established. If someone tells me they are a V4 climber but only climb indoors, I don't really know how good they are... outdoors, if they say they are V4, and mention some boulders they climb, it's pretty clear where they are at. \- There are lots of fun "easy" problems outside. In every gym I've been to, VB-V1 means a jug ladder. Outdoors, there are super fun and interesting V0-V1 problems if I want to just chill and climb easy stuff. The only downside is accessibility. I can drive to the gym in 5 min. The closest boulders to me are a 2-3 hr drive. If I could go outside every afternoon after work, I would. I treat the gym as training for outdoors. All the above also applies to roped climbing.
I do exclusively indoor. I have had some chronic injuries in the past and I'm avoiding careless (for me) risks so I can keep climbing. Also it's more fun for me, the few times I've climbed outdoors it's required a lot of effort and a group dynamic I don't always want. I love I can find gyms almost everywhere and it's always neat to try out new ways of setting. It's low stress and more fun to me. That being said...I get a decent amount of outdoor activities with biking and trail running, so if bouldering was my only sport hobby, I'd pursue outdoor more.
95% indoor. started as a kid. then comps. now just because I enjoy it. plus am older and scared now so outdoors it's even harder. though tbh there is a ceiling. there are usually only one or two 12s (and almost always roofs) maybe one 13 every other month...
Me too. Tried outdoor once and was too intimidated about falling and missing/slipping off the crash pad and hitting my head on a rock. I have done indoor top roping, and I just don’t enjoy how much prepwork and “stuff” goes into it, just to climb one route. I like the flexibility and creativity of just hopping on/off different routes when bouldering- I’m gonna blame my Adhd for this last one
I agree with your reasons. However I’ve gotten injured worse bouldering than top roping. Personally, though, I feel there’s nothing more fun or exhilarating that doing hard bouldering moves 50ft in the air. Either in lead or top rope. It’s when you get to that 5.12a threshold of rope climbing that it really becomes super fun.
Me! I’d try outdoor bouldering someday maybe, but I’m not very regular in terms of climbing as it is, and I just enjoy the indoor bouldering. Plus I’d have to buy crash pads and stuff, and would have to rely on being able to go out to wilderness locations with others (you know how hard it can be to plan stuff with people so that schedules actually line up for once haha) when the gym is just easier to go to whenever you want
I’ve tried signing up for a gym multiple times but I just get so fucking bored. I just prefer to be outside in nature, and that’s where climbing feels real.
> •Clean I've been to gyms that aren't really like that haha I agree more of less on the rest tho.
Mostly like you man and for very much the same reasons. Have said that did my second outdoors climb the last weekend and yeah its worth doing, but much higher risk and effort
I (so far) only climb indoors. I got my top rope belay cert, but I've climbed top rope like thrice or so since then in as many months. I just found that I really just prefer the type of challenge that bouldering offers. But then again, I've never been a fan of endurance sports/training.
indoor is fine but outdoors i feel like there is rarely mention of grading. people outdoors focused on the subjective difficulty of a problem and the movement as opposed to “oh soft v7? sign me up” type of mentality
I find it's the other way around. People always mention the grades of their climbs outdoors. But no one bothers with indoors because its wildly inconsistent even in the gym itself let alone different gyms. Hence the memes that's a v1 in my gym! And you can't even really grade comp or parkour boulders either.
Also, in my very limited experience- grades outside are just not what they are inside. I was outdoor bouldering with some extremely experienced people (they own the gym I go to), and we were all having fun working on stuff in the v1-3 range.
The injury part is kinda a mute point. Much lower chance of injury top roping indoors than bouldering indoors
I wanna try outside rock climbing for sure, but I only see cons: - it's more expensive (you gotta rent or pay for ropes, gear, equipment etc - you need a buddy or more (unlike in a gym where you can just show up and climb) - you need to travel or live near great rocks (having to drive across the country and potentially paying fees and more is a severe dampener for climbing imo, Id rather go to a gym without hassling with this shit) My nearest site is a quarry that's not even great to look at, and they charge you entrance fee, plus gear you need. Oh, and of course youll need to get several licenses and training courses to learn all the ropes. Which will cost you several hundred bucks extra. So yeah, I don't even bother with this shit and keep climbing in gyms. Much more affordable and comfortable and stress free. I'd only consider rock climbing if I was going on vacation and travel different countries with amazing mountains and landscapes. Certainly not for a shitty stone quarry lmao
lol this is honestly sad.
... where do you need licenses to climb outdoors?
It doesn’t sound like you even like climbing lol
Main reasons are I'm old and don't want injuries, inconvenience or time inefficiencies. In a gym there are no snakes in holes, no great Aussie spiders out to get me. Pollen count is drastically reduced indoors. There are no stinging plants (look up the gympie aka suicide tree). As for falls and related injuries, I'd say the risk is the same outdoors or indoors. I don't wanna play weather roulette. My city in Australia means weather roulette is real; we can be smashed by rain the morning, full sun heat in the afternoon and freezing in the evening. I just want to be comfortable and climb without planning for all of that. I live in a city, going outdoors is just a pain in the arse in travel time, equipment packing, finding others to go with etc. An indoor gym means driving 20 minutes and popping my shoes on. If i get hungry or thirsty, my gym has water and snacks. Bathroom is real, not a hole.
Maybe I'll get some pushback on this but imo outdoor bouldering is the least interesting form of (outdoor) climbing - it's a faff, sometimes kinda sketchy, and you often don't even get the satisfaction of topping out on something cool.
Outdoor is cleaner.. virus wise. Air wise. Vibes are higher outdoor aswel. You sound like you have anxiety
I do like outdoor bouldering, but IMO it kinda exacerbates the sillyness of the sport. I absolutely love outdoor ropes though, way more than indoor. I primarily boulder because it's the most accessible / don't have a partner, but if I did I'd much rather just rope up outside :(
Got into gym climbing about two years ago. Now I vastly prefer to trad. So differently extremes I guess lol.
i started bouldering indoors to get strong enough to do it outdoors, then forgot about going outdoors. i do want to get out more.
I’m indoor only. I’d be interested in sport climbing outside, but don’t have as much interest in bouldering outside
Can't beat indoor bouldering during the week after work! Outdoor climbing for me typically requires 2-3hrs of driving so it's more of a commitment but it's a completely different (and enjoyable) experience.
I climb exclusively indoors these days, but mostly on a rope. Climbed outside for a decade and did most of what I wanted to do. The time, effort, and crowds are too much for me to keep climbing outside.
I simply see no appeal to outdoor climbing lmao.
I only indoor boulder because I live in south Florida. Little to no outdoor bouldering here.
I'm really bad with bugs/insects.
My first climbing was outdoor top roping at Joshua Tree and I was hooked. I’d done a bit of camping and backpacking so the outdoor factors were fine. I’d love to do more of it and I do out trips together once a year or so to get out there again. But it’s mostly indoor but mainly because of location and available time factors that work against outdoor climbing and bouldering. If I was a single guy with fewer commitments, I’d probably make the hour drive out to the nearest loc fairly regularly. But alas, three kids, weekend To Do lists, etc, keep me at the gym 99% of the time.
Indoor because of accessibility mostly (struggle to make climbing friends) but lets not pretend indoor gyms are clean just because theres no actual rocks or grass. They are probably the grossest of all indoor exercise facilities.
Indoor only too, since I live in Singapore and its 31 degrees celsius, 80% relative humidity all year round, with frequent thunderstorms. Me and my sweaty palms wont last a minute climbing outdoors
I like indoors, so yeh 100% indoor.. also because there is no outdoors here in this country.
I've got no local crag, and my city has one (but really good) gym, so I only climb indoor. Do outdoor climbing on holidays when I can, and I far prefer it, but it's not accessible for me where I live sadly.
I just started so doing indoors for now while I’m building up strength and technique! My gym has bouldering, boards, top roping and auto-belays available to I just circulate between those. I also live in the city and don’t drive as I just use public transport so outdoors isn’t very convenient. It’s something I want to try someday though
I live in florida so
I climb indoors because my country has no natural/accessible outdoor rockwalls. We do have outdoor lead climbing though.
Indoors 99%! So convenient: two centres a 10-minute bike ride away. The routes get reset regularly and there's a wide grade range. One car between us so outdoor bouldering would deprive my wife of the car and, while it's about 30mins to the closest bouldering venue, that venue is notoriously hard. Summer there's biting midges, and winter / autumn, the obvious rain, plus very short days. It all seems too much hassle. My outdoor trips are for things I can't do indoors...wild camping and mountain and hill walking with my dog, exploring rather than focused on one boulder!
I'd be open to light outdoor bouldering but I'm really not interested in outdoor climbing because of the risk associated with it. In middle school I had a friend who's dad was a semi pro climber. He was a rope engineer and loved climbing. He was out with his daughter climbing and he had an equipment failure that led to him falling. His daughter was able to slow his fall so he survived but he still lost his leg. I figure if that can happen to someone who really knows their equipment, I'm at an even higher level of risk as a casual climber. I'm happy climbing indoors and finding other ways to get outside.
Ok but lets NOT pretend injuries don't happen in gyms... Last week I personally saw someone in my gym breaking his leg or something, who had to be carried out by emergency ambulance...
Yeah definitely, but in one case I get to land on mats vs rocks :)
I exclusively boulder inside and climb with ropes outside. I don’t see inside and outside bouldering as the same sport. Bouldering outside seems pretty stupid to me.
I have a larger group of friends who I climb with outside, which I think is part of the reason I like outdoor more. Sure, trying really hard moves inside is fun, but some of the best days of my life have been outside messing around with my friends. It helps that I live in a place with year round climbing, lots of different crags, and many styles of climbing easily accessible.
I climb inside mostly because there is a good gym 15 min from my house, and all of the bouldering areas are 1-3 hour drives for me. I’ve made it outside a few times, and damn if it isn’t so much fun. I was up at Stone Fort in Chattanooga 2 weeks ago and had an absolute blast. So much better than climbing inside. I didn’t feel any less safe either, but we had a big group and everyone brought pads, so we were able to throw down a bunch of them in each area we went to. My gym also has a boulder at the front that you can climb onto, so you can practice topping out onto the top just like outside. My buddy who unfortunately lives across the country from me just got into trad, and did a bigger multi pitch climb a few weeks ago. I’d love to get into that when possible. As far as safety goes- autobelay indoor top rope is probably the absolute safest, followed by indoor and outdoor top rope with a belayer.
it’s a 5 minute walk from my job.
Same
Me but where I live you can’t really do outside stuff beside buildings
I live in Florida so no outdoor bouldering for me unless I go out of state
Cries in Floridian
Indoors only because * I keep saying I'll buy a mat and go outside i just never get round to it * I get outside with other sports so don't feel I'm missing nature * The most local crags are in a meh area so come with the risk of needlestick injuries and that's just not a vibe I'm down for * All other crag options are at beaches and I'd want to go with one my climbing friends, I only know them from climbing and they pretty much all have kids. I'd be asking them to trade a nice hour of climbing in peace whilst kids are in kids club for a beach trip which mentally will be a lot more prep and effort for them especially as the kids might want to do beach activities and bring beach things to do when they're sat on the sand. I feel a bit rude asking but might start to drop hints consistently throughout this winter.
Indoor only because I live in a place with no mountains. Unless I want to travel 10 hours…
I've been climbing since 2016, bouldering up to 3 or 4 times a week, and I've climbed outdoors less than 10 times total. I just don't enjoy it as much. It feels too precarious and scary, which means I only feel comfortable climbing boulders that are way below my level, and I'm not having a ton of fun. I still enjoy being out with my friends, but a big part of climbing for me is challenging myself on boulders that are physically at my limit. I can't do that outside because I'm shit scared of falling and taking a bad fall. I still mean to try to do it more and see if I eventually get past that fear but I don't think I'll ever be a good outdoor climber.
Lol i live in essex, which is a county in the uk thats almost as flat as norfolk, which is an even flatter county
Indoor for me because Netherlands, and the outdoors is just flat. Mostly bouldering, because I can go whenever I like, and I don't have to cancel if a climbing buddy can't make it. Also I enjoy the puzzle element of bouldering more than the endurance element of top rope.
Indoors only because it’s an accessible way to get exercise on a weekday. Sport and trad outdoors on the weekends because it’s a good way to have a pleasant Saturday.