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Comment by yan | Hacker News Reader

I am a rock climber and have met or seen at least half dozen people on HN who also climb. Can't say enough nice things about it, gorgeous hobby.

edit: I was also curious about this, and created a similar thread a while ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=862139

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Climber here too. It's one of the few things I've done where it can grab 100% of my focus and attention. I can't think of anything else I've done that I can do without distraction or my mind wondering.

I go climbing with a coworker before work 2-3x a week. The problems in climbing seem similar to the problems in programming, so it's a good physical and mental wake-up for the day.

A ton of other programmers I know climb as well (we had an engineering offsite at Planet Granite in SF a few months ago), and I also see a ton of Googlers and other software people at Mission Cliffs on a regular basis.

Is rock climbing something you can do alone? (Indoors rock climbing or something similar, at least? I guess outdoors climbing by yourself would be pretty dangerous =P.) It's something I've wanted to get into, but I prefer solo activities.

Indoor bouldering is the loner's form of climbing. Outdoor is feasible too, but even with the small falls I worry about someone being totally alone. Bouldering does tend to be a little more intimidating and requires more upper-body strength, but just take your time and you'll get the hang of it.

Outdoor bouldering is just climbing small rocks. Find a small rock somewhere and scramble up it. It is as dangerous as you want it to be. If you are concerned about the danger, bring a pad and let people know where you are.

I first got into climbing by scrambling around boulders on the Sonoma coast, mainly by myself. I had so much fun. When I found out that it was an actual sport that other people did, I was hooked.

I boulder 3 times a week. It's nice to visualize a different kind of problem besides programming/computer specific ones.

I used to climb and I'm looking to climb again later this year.

I used to go to Planet Granite in both SF and Sunnyvale and I got to meet a number of startup guys.

I usually do bouldering since I have no regular belay partner.

Anyone in or traveling to the Southern Ontario area is welcome to look me up for a trip to nearby crags or gyms.

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