{"id":45351,"date":"2019-04-03T14:28:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T14:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/?p=45351"},"modified":"2021-08-20T19:18:21","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T19:18:21","slug":"5-ways-to-find-a-belay-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/2019\/04\/03\/5-ways-to-find-a-belay-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Find a Belay Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>A BELAY PARTNER IS NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO ROPE CLIMB. BUT HOW DO YOU FIND ONE?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>By Ryan Halvorson<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve recently signed up for a membership and need to find someone who will tie in with you.<\/p>\n<p><em>-or-<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Your crew prefers to boulder but you\u2019re ready to get on some ropes and nobody wants to join you.<\/p>\n<p><em>-or-<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps your regular gym buddy finally finished her van conversion and is off to travel the country, putting your belaytionship on indefinite hiatus.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the scenario, one thing remains the same: You need a belay partner. And while starting from scratch can be a challenging and potentially awkward endeavor, there are things you can do to simplify the process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>FRONT DESK STAFF ARE YOUR FRIENDS<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>First and foremost, let the front desk staff know that you\u2019re looking for a partner and they\u2019ll get on the PA system to make an announcement, says Mesa Rim Front Desk Supervisor, Matt Gordon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019ve ever been in the gym on a Thursday night, you know there\u2019s no shortage of people to climb with,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cA lot of people who have a belay partner found theirs through a shout-out; sometimes you\u2019ll even find a partner for life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He adds that the front desk staff also make great resources because they essentially manage the gym\u2019s hub.<\/p>\n<p>Gordon says, \u201cWe see several hundred people every day so there\u2019s a good chance we\u2019ll know someone else who\u2019s looking for a regular climbing partner. We may even climb with you when our shift is over!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>CHECK OUT MEETUP.COM<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>If you\u2019ve never used Meetup.com, it\u2019s an online forum that connects people who have similar interests. The site is a good option for climbers looking to make new friends and belay partners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeetup offers a way to meet a partner that alleviates some of the social roadblocks by allowing you to sign up online,\u201d says Keegan Dimmick, Mesa Rim San Diego\u2019s director of operations. \u201cThe meetup hosts are friendly and experienced and can help get you climbing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meeting new people can be uncomfortable, however Meetup acts a bit like an ice-breaker because you\u2019ve already \u201cmet\u201d people from the group and you know who to look for when you head into the gym.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>TAKE A LESSON<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>As a new member of Mesa Rim (and most climbing gyms), it\u2019s required to obtain a certification in order to belay another person. This provides another opportunity to meet other people, says Dimmick; new climbers regularly complete lessons to get up to speed on belay technique.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBelay lessons are a great place to meet because you\u2019ll likely find someone else at your experience level,\u201d he says. \u201cThis eliminates a lot of the insecurities around a new activity, and going through the lesson together gives you the reassurance that your belayer can be trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are also a variety of climbing instruction classes that can help improve climbing technique&nbsp;<i>and<\/i>&nbsp;widen your climber circle.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>COMMUNITY BOARD<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>Many gyms\u2014including Mesa Rim\u2014have a community board where people post about local events, items for sale, and interest in finding a belay partner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Community Board has a belay partner sign-up sheet where you can write down your contact info, climbing level, preferred climbing style (top-rope or lead), and availability,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cWith the belay partner sign-up sheet, all of the logistics are taken care of for you. Just find someone who fits your schedule and give them a call!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The board isn\u2019t just for beginners, Dimmick adds<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis can help more experienced climbers find their peers and use the gym to their maximum potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>JUST SAY HI<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>This might be a bit of an ask for the introverted types, but the bouldering area is full of solo climbers who may be interested in top roping.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you\u2019re resting between climbs, strike up a conversation with another boulderer,\u201d suggests Fern Morales, Mesa Rim community relations specialist. \u201cA lot of times climbers are in the gym alone hoping to top-rope and head to the bouldering area while they listen for a belay partner request. I\u2019ve seen plenty of people find new partners\u2013and new friends\u2013by initiating a chat in the bouldering area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mesa Rim Mission Valley Site Manager, Hunter Moffitt, also suggests looking around the tall walls for potential climbing partners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can look to see if there are any groups of three on ropes that could use an extra belayer,\u201d he says. \u201cThe climbing community is generally super friendly and although it may be a bit intimidating, ask around and you\u2019ll find new belay partners in no time!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Finding a belay partner will require some proactivity on your part, but the rewards for reaching out to others can get you on the ropes with a new friend in no time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A belay partner is necessary if you want to rope climb. But how do you find one?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[81,82,83],"class_list":["post-45351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training","tag-belay","tag-belay-partner","tag-rope-climbing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45351"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49214,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45351\/revisions\/49214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesarim.com\/missionvalley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}