Definitely jumping the gun a bit, but my 2 year old daughter keeps saying "I wanna climb a Mountain with Dada!" This summer she hiked up Tumalo Peak outside of Bend under her own power, no carrying... 2 miles and 1300' up. She also tries to climb all the rocks at the bouldering area where I take her. I got her a full body Edelrid harness and she loves swinging around in it. We're going to go TR some mellow (3rd/4th class featured) slabs this weekend. I know it won't be enough and she will just cry when we are done. I have some small summits that have easy (3rd/4th class) scrambles up the backside at Smith that I will take her on for the next step, but I am thinking about something more for next summer and down the road. Anyone got ideas for very mellow but also very safe summits I could get her up? Thinking mellow hike approach, minimal objective hazard, 1-2 "pitches" with big ledges and good anchors. I plan to do the Leo Houlding method where you lead the pitch, fix the line, rap and TR solo with your kid so she doesn't have to deal with any gear. Ideally it would be less crowded so we don't have yahoos trying to go around us. Ideas? Yes, I'm crazy!
I am impressed! Got a two year old we are trying to get on rock, but have had trouble with the attention span. She did one outdoor climb on rock but lots to learn. Oregons tough since most of the peaks require a good trek to get to them. Mt Thielsen would be easy…but a trek to get to and the dealing with shale trying to get up to the climbing would get old. It’s a drive but we climbed rabbit ears in southern Oregon. It wasn’t hard climbing but might be worth looking at. It’s been a while though so not sure on anchors. Not much for ledges tho. Unfortunately a lot of the lesser known peaks are all treks to get to. Enjoy tho. Maybe we will see you out there sometime and that can give some motivation to my daughter!
Kid Friendly "Alpinism"
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I am impressed! Got a two year old we are trying to get on rock, but have had trouble with the attention span. She did one outdoor climb on rock but lots to learn. Oregons tough since most of the peaks require a good trek to get to them. Mt Thielsen would be easy…but a trek to get to and the dealing with shale trying to get up to the climbing would get old. It’s a drive but we climbed rabbit ears in southern Oregon. It wasn’t hard climbing but might be worth looking at. It’s been a while though so not sure on anchors. Not much for ledges tho. Unfortunately a lot of the lesser known peaks are all treks to get to. Enjoy tho. Maybe we will see you out there sometime and that can give some motivation to my daughter!