Climbing Community part I

With the climbing video behind us, I thought I'd give a little backstory.

Not only is this trip a motorcycle trip, we brought down a rope, quickdraws (things that attach the rope to the rock), harnesses, and climbing shoes. Our plan is to stop whenever we can and do a little rock climbing. Sure it takes up around 1 panniers worth of space, but it is worth it.

One of the greatest things about being a climber, is that we can travel anywhere in the world and instantly have a community of people with whom we have something in common. Thailand was a perfect example of this. We went years ago to go check it out and do a little climbing and within a day fell in with the small but amazing climbing community there. We liked it so much we decided to move there for 2 years.

On a trip like what we are taking, it is important to be able to plug into some sort of community. The endless days of driving and touristing are great, but we are only two people and we need to feel more of a connection with the world around us (more on this later). Meeting local climbers helps with that.

Oaxaca actually has what appears to be a pretty cool climbing scene. After doing a little research on where to climb in Southern Mexico we discovered that Oaxaca has a small crag. We didn't have any beta (that's climber terminology for information) on the area more than about where it is. It is nice to know the ratings of the climbs. We scoured the web a bit more looking for anything that might have some info when we stumbled upon the fact that there is a climbing gym near the crag. It is attached to a hostel (which I accidentally used the spanish spelling- hostel-  in the video). We cruised out there to check it out and see what we could see.

What we saw was a very impressive facility run be a guy named Carlos and parents. Carlos was away in Mexico city at a climbing competition but we talked with his sister and parents for a while. They told us exactly where to go (but had not route beta) and so we went. We didn't end up staying at this hostel since we had already booked a place in Oaxaca but next time we will.

We finally caught up with Carlos on our way out of Oaxaca and chatted for a while. He says that there is a great climbing gym community but that people generally don't go up to the crag to climb. This is very indicative of a younger crowd. The convenience and gymnastic aspect of a climbing gym is a sport in itself and doesn't necessarily translate into going outside. It is cool to see that a smallish city like Oaxaca can support such a large facility (apparently there are 3 other smaller ones too). 

We didn't stick around in Oaxaca too long because we are headed up to San Cristobal de las Casas in the State of Chiapas (two days away) where we already have a contact for what seems like an excellent climbing community. I'm excited to meet the crowd and try out another local crag. We are planning on staying in San Cristobal for 3 weeks to study spanish and climb a little. The bonus is that because we are climbers, we will instantly have a community upon arrival.