Entertain me for a few minutes and I'll answer your question.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of encountered something like one of the following:

Me: Man, those road cycling races sound super fun, have any advice on how to start?

"Do you have thousands of dollars to throw away at a bike, shoes, outfit, diet, gear...?"

That’s not what I asked for.

Me: I'd love to get into shooting, any tips on where to start?

"I know an ex spec ops dude who said you need a $6000 optic and a few thousand spent on courses, definitely join this Facebook group and ask – there is a ton of folks with knowledge there."

That’s not what I asked for.

Me: Those tough obstacle races sound pretty fun. Have you done one wanna do it?

"Oh man, those are for pussies, you need to do XYZ they're elite – me and the guys who do them love making fun of everyone else.. do you want us making fun of you too!?"

That’s not what I asked for.

So you want to go climbing...this might not be what you asked for so pull up a bowl to vomit in just in case.

If you don’t have a large budget, go to a climbing gym and rent some shoes for a few hours and try bouldering and talking to the climbers that are there ( yes its that social ) and ask them face to face how to learn the ropes.

If you have a larger budget, buy some climbing shoes and a chalk bag and hit up the climbing gym…. Do as suggested above.

Here is the thing. I believe you need to learn skills hands on. Not by reading a long top ten list and trying to buy the worlds greatest equipment. I have gotten good at many skills doing just this. I am confident it will work for you too.

Look for groupon opportunities to hit up a climbing gym or course at a gym.

There are some groups I have seen like “meetup” and “active-something-or-others (I cant remember the groups actual name.. but it was obvious what was happening)” at gyms climbing together; the interesting thing here is some know how to climb and others don’t.. that’s the idea – learn by doing.

But but but I heard so and so moved to Yosemite and spent ten years climbing full time to learn how to be a stone-master. Yea, you can do that too.

Heres the thing. The world has more climbers than ever before. The world has climbing standards continually climbing with no real ceiling or barriers solidifying in terms of where its headed, its going to the Olympics, technology is always shaping the development of gear and indoor walls. Why? Because of gyms. So put the excuses into some facebooger group and try my advice. In a few months hit me up and tell me I was wrong – I dare you.