Gym Observation

The interviews were conducted to gain a better understanding of the culture of rock climbing. The interview subjects ranged in age from 19 to 23 years old and all were female. They had all been climbing for at least four months, but up to three years. It was found that the participants frequented the climbing gym, all generally going two or three times each week. While at the gym, the participants would tend to stay at the gym for between one and two hours. One common theme when looking at the setting of the gym was that people felt the setting was unconventional, but had a positive atmosphere. One interviewee called the atmosphere of the gym “lively, but unusual… in a good way.” Another described the setting as “kind of motivating, because

“Being on a team has more pressure on it; with bouldering, since I’m not on a team, and nobody’s relying on me, it’s more enjoyable.” They also brought up the aspect of becoming physically more capable, and comparing it to other types of physical activity, one saying: “I do really love the fitness aspect of climbing. I love that I can tell I’m getting stronger, because I can see myself slowly being able to complete higher levels. I like being able to improve my fitness, like balance, strength, and coordination. I like going to the gym and doing weight lifting too, but I do prefer climbing because I’m always doing different things and it’s more creative. It’s never boring.” One climber started to consider why she enjoys climbing, expressing: “I think it’s definitely a combination of mental, physical, and social… like it kind of requires all those things to enjoy it, for me. It’s like the perfect combination of a fun, challenging, puzzle-solving mental aspect, and then physical fitness, and of course the social, friends aspect. It’s like the perfect combination.” This demonstrates that the climbers seem to find that climbing fulfills many of their needs in one recreational