The rock climbing community has seen a spike in popularity recently thanks to social media trends, Alex Honnold free-soloing a skyscraper and its upcoming appearance in Long Beach for the 2028 Olympics.
Modern rock climbing has been around since as early as the 20th century, with England, Germany and Italy all having a hand in revolutionizing the technology that would evolve into present day climbing equipment.
Despite its long lifespan, in recent years rock climbing has seen a massive growth in community, especially in metropolitan areas where indoor climbing gyms become a necessity to those who don’t have the time to drive to their nearest outdoor wall.
Amid rock climbing’s popularity spike, local gyms have seen an influx of new members joining.
LBCC alumni and Hangar 18 climbing gym employee Lucas Vandruff shared his observations since he started climbing.
“Ever since I got into climbing in 2019 I started following it more closely. I definitely think it’s growing in popularity, I’ve only seen more people coming into the gym as time goes on.” said Vandruff.
With its popularity on the rise, rock climbing has become more intertwined with pop culture in many different ways.
A crowd watching a climber at the Hangar 19 Climbing Gym on Oct. 29. The gym has new boulder routes every Tuesday, making it the busiest day of the week. (Dayne Uyehara)
“I definitely think in recent years climbing has been popularized by people like Alex Honnold. I kind of think of it like skateboarding where it’s intertwined with fashion and culture. A lot of young people try it because they see their friends do it. It’s not as niche as it used to be and that’s a good thing most of the time,” LBCC student and Hangar 18 employee Kieran Smith said.
Smith referenced climber Alex Honnold who is famous for free-soloing, a rare and very dangerous form of climbing where someone climbs a route with no ropes, no harness or protection.
Honnold is one of the most prevalent free-solo climbers with his famous ascents being Yosemite’s iconic “El Capitan” mountain, and more recently the Taiwanese skyscraper “Taipei 101,” which was livestreamed January 25th on Netflix.
Rock climbing’s pop culture impact has been felt in the fashion world as well, with the aesthetic known as “Gorpcore,” which sees people adopting outdoor clothing as streetwear, popularized by brands such as Arcteryx and Kawa Club.
However, some people in the community aren’t fond of the recent attention rock climbing has been getting.
“I hope it doesn’t become mainstream. Maybe it’s a selfish thing to say but like I don’t want gyms to get over-exploited. I don’t want climbing spots like Joshua Tree and Yosemite to get ran through,” CSULB student Gabi Prior said. “They just want to climb so they can say they climb. From what I see, the demographic of people coming to climb is people who want to climb just for the look of it, not just for sport”
Rock climbing is slated to be one of the featured sports in the LA28 Olympic Games, with all three events including lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering being held at the Long Beach Climbing Theater, a temporary outdoor venue outside of the Long Beach Convention Center.
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