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Climbing is one of the quickest growing sports in the world and coming from a place like Pittsburgh means there are a ton of gyms nearby for me to climb at. During thanksgiving break I have to continue my training regiment, but the good news is every gym in my area has the equipment necessary so I can also go to all the different gyms I know to climb. Other than my home gym Climb North there are a few that I frequent and have friends at. One of my favorite gyms at home is called Iron City Boulders and it is where most of the high-level climbers that I competed with when I was in youth competitions climb. I always like getting to climb with my friends from home so I will be going here multiple times during my time at home. Iron City Boulders, just like the name suggests, is exclusively a bouldering gym which often drives many away, but for competitions climbers it is the perfect gym. Iron City opened during my final years competing in youth competitions. At this point none of the kids I was coaching was a high enough level to be at these competitions and I didn’t have a consistent coach of my own to help me in these situations. I developed my strong bond with Iron city and their team not because I knew some of the climbers on the team, but because their coach helped me when I was in isolation, which is a time before competitions that climbers warm up away from the competition zone. Having someone tell me how I should warm up and what I should be practicing before I climbed was awesome to have and ever since I have always liked getting to climb at Iron City.

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Another gym that I will visit when I’m home is called Ascend. While Ascend has never been a gym that I felt a real connection with I have practiced with their team multiple times and their coaches are amazing people. They are a gym that offers both bouldering and top roping. They also just opened another gym in the area which offers Lead climbing which is a huge addition to the Pittsburgh climbing scene. Ascend is one of the gyms in the area that always hosts either a local or regional competition for USA Climbing. In the last five years I believe regionals has been held at ascend four times, which some climbers don’t like. However being one of the bigger gyms it is an easy decision.

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The final gym I will probably visit in my area is called FA Climbing or First Ascent. This was the newest gym in the area until Ascend opened up their new gym. I have only climbed here three or four times in the time that it has been opened, but the times that I have climbed there have been very fun. Brand new gyms have a lot of upsides such as new route setters, but one downside is that new holds destroy the skin on your hands. This only lasts for about a month, but almost every time you go to a new gym you can almost guarantee your fingertips will bleed. This doesn’t mean much to a seasoned climber, but I have seen it scare some people away from certain gyms. I am very excited to get home and climb in gyms I’ve known forever and some that I have never seen.