Eight Lessons to Help New Climbers Climb a Snow Couloir Safely

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My kids are in a hurry to grow up. I try to tell them to not be. I try to tell them how much they should cherish the journey of growing up. Of course they don’t get it. I didn’t get it at their age, either. I remember being frustrated by all the things I couldn’t do. Too short to ride the amusement park rides; can’t wait to grow up. Too young to stay home alone; can’t wait to grow up. Too young to drive; can’t wait to grow up.

I get it. Being young and small is often a barrier to the things you are allowed to do. But that doesn’t make me wrong when I try to convince them to savor their time being young. It does, however, probably make my efforts futile ;)

That being said, I do try to give my boys the responsibilities they can handle. In fact, I try to give them responsibilities that stretch them just a little bit. No stretch, no growth. Too much stretch, bad things can happen. That’s one of the fundamental balancing acts of being a parent.

So, on the one hand, I take my kids couloir climbing. That’s a lot of responsibility. On the other hand, I ease them into it. As I mention in the video, we did some low-angle summer couloirs until they had the body size to fit the boots that make more traditional, moderate-angle couloirs a possibility.

When I instruct and/or mentor adult climbers who are also new climbers, I get a lot of the same vibes: they want to race through the rock grades, or get on the highest peaks, or drive to technical mixed climbing, or ice leading, or whatever. The effect is the same: being in a hurry. But the motivation is different. For adults, it’s often “lost time.” ‘I’m getting into this too late; I want to take on these goals before I get too old.’

It’s hard to shortcut experience. Experience takes time. Trying to rush to climbing that is “too much of a stretch” can lead directly to those bad outcomes I was mentioning. That being said, reframing the goal from difficulty to longevity seems to be the key. I want to climb hard (hard for me, not for world class climbers) for as long as that is possible. That makes my climbing career a marathon, not a sprint. Multiple seasons can stack up to build my fitness over the long haul. Knowledge and skills can take time and stack on each other, building deeper and more expansive competencies.

A lot of my videos talk about how I introduced my kids to a climbing style, like couloir climbing or lead climbing or the like, in stages. I try to take the time to ensure that each “next step” they take in their climbing progression is an appropriate level up, not an overly-risky level up. Yes, that takes time, but it’s safer…

… and we should be enjoying the journey, anyways.