Rock climbing is awesome. The first time I got introduced to it, I was asked to teach yoga as a substitute at the Planet Granite in San Francisco. They told me that since I was teaching, I could take their "belay class" for free. I had no idea what that was, but I figured, hey, I'm a sucker for anything athletic, and anything free. It would be awesome if the next part of this story was how I instantly fell in love with it, but that didn't happen. I sucked at it, and I have a hard time getting motivated for things that I suck at. So I mostly let it drop; I went back a few times, since I could go for free, but when I stopped teaching there, I stopped going. It was inconvenient and kind of expensive.
But when I came up to Portland, I really wanted to get involved in the outdoors scene. I started mountaineering, and it became clear that a lot of folks who mountaineer also rock climb. Rock climbing isn't a huge part of mountaineering unless you're doing certain difficult mountains, but it is a useful skill. So I made a point of joining up. Now I go at least 2 or 3 times a week. And I love it.
I think, for me, it combines a few things I enjoy. First of all, it's a total body workout, including core, which is difficult for me to motivate myself to do. I find that it makes me feel better; more confident, more able to "occupy my place", as one of my old yoga instructors would say. It also is structured well to reward: you attempt a route, you finish it, you feel good. There are ranks, which is kind of like your "score". It's a sport where it's easy to know how you're doing; nothing vague about it. And, maybe one of the best parts is: you have to have a partner. To top rope, which is a lot of what I do, you need to have a belay partner. And this is nice, because it makes people form a community. You physically can't do it without help.
In particular, I really love Planet Granite. I've tried some of the others here in Portland, and they all are nice, but PG is my favorite. It's clean, and modern, and smells good (this can be an issue with climbing gyms!). They have free yoga classes, and the quality of the classes is excellent. And they offer exercise classes and exercise equipment. Plus, they're only 5 blocks from where I live right now.
If you have any interest in feeling better about yourself through athletics, I recommend giving it a shot. It's a very self-affirming experience, and you'll make some friends.
