I am new to rock climbing and I live in the north western corner of Alabama where the climbing population is low. I was looking for anyone who is interested in bouldering in the area to get together for a few climbs. Hopefully, you will not have to hold my hand the whole way, but tips are highly welcomed.

I am also looking into sport climbing and traditional climbing but I do not have the equipment now to pursue that endeavor. I am waiting to see how bouldering treats me and then I will step up to the more technically and physically challenging climbs. Sorry, this sounds like a personal ad.lol. I'm just looking for some people to go climbing with or even watch so that I can better my climbing ability.

Thanks,

Tom

Welcome to the forum! You will find a great group of people here with a wealth of knowledge who are eager to share it.

I know that I am within an easy drive of you, I'm in Southeast Nashville, TN and Brad, our resident Super Member, is in our area as well.

Horse Pens, HP40, is a premier bouldering area in Alabama and has tons of great rock.

Although trad climbing is much more technical and definitely requires a higher skill set and plenty of good training before you embark on it, roped climbing can be easier than bouldering when first starting out.

Roped climbing ratings start at 5.5 as being the easiest and go up to a 5.15 rating in difficulty.

Bouldering routes start at V0 being the easiest routes. However a V0 is equal to climbing a 5.10 roped route.

So on your easiest bouldering problem you are climbing at a high intermediate roped climbing level.

If you want to drive up to Nashville sometime I will be happy to meet you at our indoor gym sometime and "show you the ropes" so to speak. Then after that, we can meet at some areas to do some outdoor climbing if you're interested. Foster Falls is between Nashville and Alabama and has some great climbing and then getting over towards Chattanooga there is supposed to be some great climbing as well.

Mike

That sounds like a good plan. What kind of hours does your gym have on the weekend and what time do you prefer to climb? I am over in Decatur for my weekend drill and I usually get out of there fairly early. So a drive up to the gym in Nashville might not be a bad idea if it is open late and that works with your schedule. The following weekend I will be free also, so whichever works with you is fine by me.

I have climbed in a gym but it has probably been close to a year or so but I am in relative decent shape since the rotc has me up and at it at 5:45 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have been reading a lot about some of the work-out tips in the forum and on the site and I will be starting some of those soon. I have even signed up for a yoga class at school for my agility, or lack there of. Any tips on what every beginner should focus on first with climbing strength? Maybe you should give me that advice after we climb, lol.

You will have to excuse my eagerness to get into climbing but ever since I left the NC coast I have been trying to find something that gives me a rush like surfing, and climbing looks like the best bet. The reason I say that is because I get the impression that climbers are like surfers and are a breed of their own.

Yeah, I would agree that climbers are a breed of their own and I find your eagerness refreshing!

Saturdays are 11:00-20:00 and Sundays are 12:00-18:00.

We (there will typically be 3-4 of us together) normally climb on Sundays but are climbing on Saturday this weekend. However, I am usually able to meet you either day you are available to make it up here and I'll just climb 2 days back to back and make one day a light day.

Mike

I will probably just wait till next weekend because I never know what time I will get out of drill. Plus, I will have almost a 2 hr drive on top of that so I will be pushing closing time. I will just come next weekend and make a day of it.

Thanks,

Tom

The rock isn''t going anywhere so we''ve got plenty of time. :)

Let me know.

Mike

Thanks

Tom

They open at noon on Sunday and we normally shoot for getting their around that time.

When you get there you can ask for Mike and Kitten at the front desk and they should be able to point us out and we'll be looking for you.

If you need any more information you can either let me know here or e-mail me directly:

Yes it is; We travel and have climbed at a lot of different gyms as well. It is easily within the top 3 gyms that I have ever climbed at in my life.

Mike

The one in Franklin is still there, it is Cool Springs Climbing Center now.

It is a nice gym as well, although limited by its size. I'm impressed with what they are able to do with their limited space, but climbing there tends to get boring rather quickly because of that.

I think my all time favorite gym is Upper Limits in Bloomington, IL. They took 4 grain silos and turned them into climbing walls. They have 65' indoor leadable routes, a large bouldering area, an outdoor 120' rappel and outdoor 110' climbs. They have a sprinkler system set up and ice it down in the winter so you can do ice climbing as well.

It is a truly impressive setup.

Mike

Mike

Sorry, I did not make it up there. My brother (half my gas fund) had a surprise birthday party to go to and the only person it surprised was my brother because he forgot all about it. I am fairly sure I will be up there next weekend; however, please do not make a special trip to the gym for me because as you can see my schedule varies from one day to the next. I did get some decent bouldering in at colbert heights mountain today. My forearms are shredded and the tips of my fingers barely resemble living flesh. I had a blast!!!