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A new survey from the Climbing Wall Association reveals some interesting shifts in climber behavior and attitudes over the past seven years. One of the most striking findings? There are more climbers interested in indoor climbing only. In fact, the number of respondents who said they are “not at all interested” in climbing outdoors increased by 11 percentage points.
In the previous survey year of 2019, 5% of respondents reported having no interest in outdoor climbing. When the Climbing Wall Association (CWA) reissued its survey this past February, that percentage jumped to 16% (more on methodology later in this story).
But could this stat be on the rise for other reasons than pure lack of interest? The CWA survey also asked climbers who had never climbed outside before what barriers they faced in doing so. According to Garnet Moore, executive director of CWA, “The most common reasons reported in both surveys for not climbing outdoors were lack of equipment, lack of knowledge, and lack of partners—in that order.” Could these barriers also be preventing some of the indoor climbers surveyed from even feeling interested in climbing outside?
The barriers to the outdoors are real. But as someone who started outside and only begrudgingly began climbing indoors relatively recently, I wanted to learn more about this rising cohort of the climbing population. I used to count myself among the climbers who are “not at all interested” in climbing indoors. Five or six years after I first roped up, I went to a couple gyms in Denver, only when invited by friends—and could never understand the appeal. Wasn’t the whole point of climbing to be outside?
Are gyms becoming the “end all, be all” for more climbers?
Rather than declining interest in outdoors, the CWA survey results could point more toward rising interest in gym climbing. In 2019, around 60% of respondents said they visited the gym twice a week or more. This year, that percentage jumped to over 70% of climbers. Moore believes the popularity of climbing gyms in larger cities—no longer the dingy domain of mountain towns—has contributed to this increase. These newer gyms typically offer additional amenities like workout equipment, yoga classes, cafes, and wellness areas, creating “stronger third spaces for their communities.”
In his analysis of the 2026 survey, Moore told Climbing that despite the declining interest in outdoor climbing, climbers remain committed to the sport. They simply view indoor climbing as the end-game activity itself; not merely a rainy-day distraction from the real thing. “[This metric] suggests that, for many participants, the gym is the end goal,” the report states.
Ben Rueck, a pro climber who co-founded Grip Bouldering gym in Grand Junction, CO, has also noticed a small uptick in indoor-focused climbers—mostly college kids who are just getting into climbing or lack “the capacity” to climb outside.
“Indoor climbing has evolved into its own sport,” Rueck observes, citing the still relatively recent debut of climbing in the Olympics and the rise of competitive climbing. “There is an increased interest in just climbing indoors, working on those cordo-problems [coordination problems] and just hanging out with your friends.” He adds that social media plays into it, as more and more people share edits of themselves sending indoor problems in a social, approachable environment. Meanwhile, according to Rueck, “outdoor climbing seems to be this unrelatable space.”
Why are more climbers viewing the gym as the end goal?
According to the CWA report, respondents who wanted to climb outside but had never done so before cited lack of equipment, knowledge, and partners as the barriers keeping them from venturing outdoors. But 20% of climbers who’d never climbed outside said that they simply didn’t care to try.
For me, it was only after becoming a mom that I started going to the gym more frequently. Now, significant time constraints make a gym session more efficient than the faff involved with dragging kids to a crag.
Limited time, however, wasn’t one of the primary barriers Moore mentioned—he cited barriers to skills, gear, and partners from survey respondents. What other factors could be at play?
The cost of going gym to crag
“The cost of going [climbing] outside is quite intense,” Rueck says. “There is a lot of money that is involved with getting gear, travel, and just overall affordability issues.” From owning a car to affording the gas to get it to the crag, travel costs can be an issue even when it comes to climbing close to home.
But cost could also play a role in acquiring the necessary skills to safely climb outside. If someone doesn’t have a friend or willing mentor who can teach them the skills necessary to safely set anchors or lead outside, paying for that education is often the only option. And Rueck says that mentorship in climbing “is at a decline,” echoing a sentiment expressed by Alex Honnold and Chris Noble, the author of Why We Climb, that there aren’t enough mentors to keep up with the growing numbers of climbers. A lack of mentors makes learning the skills to rope up outside harder—and comes at a price.
When I searched online for gym-to-crag clinics and workshops, the cheapest option I could find was à la carte education offered at a gym through the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. For example, learning to set a toprope costs $10, anchor building runs you another $10, and learning to lead costs $25. The whole package amounts to $80.
But most gym-to-crag clinics I could find online cost much closer to $150, like this one offered by a climbing gym in Idaho. Skyward Mountaineering in Boulder, CO, charges $385 for its gym-to-crag clinics, while Timberline Guides in Bend, OR, charges as much as $435 if you don’t have a buddy or two to help bring down the cost.
Fear of outdoor climbing risks
Without access to the original respondents to the CWA survey, I decided to ask climbers who only wanted to climb indoors what kept them from going outside. I posed this question in the r/climbing and r/climbergirls Subreddits and received over 100 responses. Fear and risk were overwhelming the largest detractors.
While indoor climbing comes with some risk—as this recent auto belay accident underscores—it remains “a genuinely low-incident activity,” according to another recent CWA report. Out of an estimated 25 million to 40 million gym visits between 2020 and June of 2025, only 2,400 incidents were reported. Only 200 of those incidents led to insurance claims. This CWA report identified the three riskiest subsets as beginners, boulderers, and climbers using auto belay systems. Meanwhile, the annual accident reporting from the American Alpine Club highlights the often harder-to-control hazards of outdoor climbing, like rockfall, awkward whippers, and routefinding.
One climber, a 28-year-old from Milwaukee who asked to remain anonymous, described how witnessing a fatal accident in March of 2018 at Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin impacted her relationship with outdoor climbing: “A young woman, Savannah Buik, was leading (trad) the route next to me and took a ground fall. I had a difficult time following the accident.” She said that since the accident, she has come to “identify as a gym rat” who thrives on the routine of indoor gym workouts. Other Reddit climbers also referenced life-changing injuries, accidents, witnessing fatal falls, or experiencing past trauma with ex-climbing partners as reasons that they now stick to plastic.
Most comments, however, centered upon concerns over the higher risk factor of the outdoors. Carrie Graeff, a 40-year-old climber based in Boulder, CO, started roping up outdoors in 2018, but mostly switched to gym climbing due to her risk tolerance. “I tried outdoor bouldering and found it far too risky, to the point of being unenjoyable,” Graeff told me. She cited the number of pads required to make a problem feel safe, unstable landings, ankle rolls, and high falls. While she enjoys lead climbing at the gym, she doesn’t lead outdoors due to the level of “inherent danger” compared to indoor climbing. She also avoids outdoor climbing because of the largely unavoidable risks like rockfall or avalanches (with ice climbs), as well as “sketchy downclimbs.”
But convenience is also a factor for Graeff—as well as being “anti-car.”
Crag commute woes
Aside from Graeff, several other climbers who responded to my Reddit question noted that the driving distance to a crag is what keeps them from touching rock. A few also mentioned lacking the vehicle or transportation to get there in the first place.
Julie Bray, a 53-year-old climber of over 20 years from Michigan, said that the nearest “real place to climb” for her is the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, which is a six-hour drive away. As a working mom, that commute just isn’t in the cards. Meanwhile, her nearest climbing gym is just 15 minutes away, with two more gyms about an hour’s drive from her home. “They are easy to get to,” she said. “I don’t have to plan a trip. I don’t have to find friends to go if I don’t want to.” Bray explains that this reduces “the mental load” of climbing—less planning, more climbing.
With rising fuel costs and lack of non-vehicle transportation options like those that exist in parts of Europe—think bike paths and trains—the challenges of getting to the crag are real and not getting any easier.
More interesting reasons climbers stay inside
Over a dozen Reddit climbers attributed their lack of outdoor climbing to time or efficiency. “Too much of a hassle,” wrote one climber.
As a working mom with too many pets and a “fixer upper” log cabin, I can relate. My free time is rare. Finding three or more hours to leave my kids in someone else’s charge to climb outside is a major challenge. And if the kids tag along? I’m lucky to get a couple pitches in.
More unexpected lines of logic also lurk behind the rising indoor-only statistic. At least two climbers on Reddit mentioned arachnophobia, with one user explaining that she was “genuinely terrified of the thought that I might be climbing dozens of feet up a cliff and encounter a spider.”
A couple others mentioned weather—you never have to cancel a day at the crag or bail due to conditions when you’re climbing with a roof above your head. Someone else said that they had a disability and needed access to a bathroom.
Lastly, one climber simply declared: “I love my colorful plastic holds.”
What does this all mean for the future of climbing?
As we’ve seen, there are many reasons for the rise in indoor-only climbers. Some are positive, like the inspirational rise of competition climbing right up to the Olympic level. But others I find downright depressing. With the apparent decline in mentors and the high cost of gym-to-crag education, some climbers clearly feel like getting outside just isn’t an option for them. The lack of partners is another barrier that seems like a sad, climbing-specific case in point of the loneliness epidemic.
What is this survey actually telling us?
It is worth pointing out, however, that we might take the results of this survey with a grain of salt. While fewer climbers took the survey in 2026 (5,500 respondents) compared to 2019 (12,000 respondents)—and fewer gyms served as survey collection points—the methodology, questions, and distribution methods remained the same. CWA worked with Dr. David Carter, the director of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Utah, to design their survey and methodology.
Since the survey was administered by an indoor climbing organization through climbing gyms, one might also wonder whether the data is skewed. Isn’t the sport growing overall, bringing in more outdoor-dedicated and indoor-focused climbers alike? According to the 2025 Outdoor Industry Association Trends Report, participation in outdoor climbing continued its upward march from 2023 to 2024, while the number of people taking up indoor climbing slightly declined. This offers an important distinction; the CWA survey doesn’t mean fewer climbers are interested in the outdoors, but rather points to a growing community of climbers interested only in the indoors.
The next CWA survey year
In three years, when the CWA intends to re-survey climbers, we’ll see if the growth of this indoor-only subset continues. The association generally surveys every three years, and had planned to do so in 2022, but Moore explained that COVID disrupted their surveying abilities and climber habits.
If all goes to plan, the survey year will be 2029 and the third Olympic Games featuring climbing will be in the books. By then, will indoor climbing definitively be viewed as its own sport, entirely divorced from the domain of rock and ice? Or will organizations, gyms, and individuals take to heart the data from this survey and manage to chip away at the barriers to touching rock?
Correction June 29, 8:30 p.m. MT: Previously, this story stated that the number of climbers who said they weren’t interested in the outdoors increased by 11% from 2019 to 2026. We have corrected this statement to clarify that the increase was 11 percentage points.
Correction July 2, 1:02 p.m. MT: A previous version of this story stated that the survey asked the 16% of respondents who said they weren’t interested in outdoor climbing which barriers they faced. The question about barriers to outdoor climbing was actually posed to respondents who said they’d never climbed outside, not to those who said they weren’t interested in going outside.
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