Tips & Tricks

Tips for success

  1. Viewing climbing videos will develop your skills. Try searching, Climbing for Beginners on YouTube.
  2. Acknowledge staff and climbers. Talk, ask, encourage, and schmooze your heart out. Introduce yourself to strangers.
  3. Warm-up before climbing. Hands get strong fast but tendons take time. Finger injuries are common when people don’t stretch.
  4. After your warmup, climb smart. Start slow with beginner routes. Ask for advice if needed. Practice technique and notice how other climbers attack problems. Don’t get discouraged - ask the strongest climbers in the gym how much they fall.
  5. Try everything. Attempt every route that catches your eye. Don’t worry about failure or spectators. Enjoy yourself. Some gyms don’t grade routes on purpose to encourage climbers to try everything. Go for it. It’s more fun.
  6. Model safety. Downclimb when possible. Don’t stand or walk underneath climbers. Protect your wrists by keeping your arms in when you fall. Refrain from horseplay. Watch out for kids. Look below before downclimbing. Sit on benches, not padding. Tell staff if you see hazards.
  7. Ask, don’t tell. Occasionally, climbers like to tell others how to climb. Some people don’t want advice and like to solve routes on their own. Others want help and wish someone offered. The best way to approach another climber is by asking, "Hey that’s a really tough route - let me know if you’d like help on it."

Learn even more about climbing gym etiquette from our "unwritten climbing gym rules" blog post!