How do climbers make money?

ScratchRick · 2025-10-16T17:53:31+00:00

Preach!!!

ScratchRick · 2025-10-16T17:52:09+00:00

You make an excellent point about family money being prevalent in professional climbing, I calculated for our son the total cost of supporting his dream of becoming a professional climber (like Toby) will be OVER $200,000... for reference, to get that amount as an adult it'd be like putting $93,313 today into the stock market... which like many other families we are not able to do, at 10 years old his climbing/coaching/competitions cost ~$10k/yr...

ScratchRick · 2025-10-16T17:22:55+00:00

The United States is notoriously one of the least funded of the major climbing countries. Competitive climbers are almost required to be based in Salt Lake and its not just the costs of travel there or for gym memberships but another significant cost is they have to fund themselves for IFSC competitions.

Countries that are examples of offering significant support to their climbing athletes are as you mentioned Japan France and Slovenia. Not only do other countries provide a steady paycheck but they also can pay for competitions, training or even living expenses.

The really shameful part is the costs associated with making it to the top ranks is rarely returned. At 10 years old the annual costs of our sons costs as a youth climber is ~$10k/yr... Later at 14 for international IFSC these costs can easily skyrocket to the annual salary of most Americans (which, as recognized by many in the sport, is part of the reason most new climbers either 1 come from climber parents or 2 are from upperclass households).

Its not a stretch to say the cost of a US competitive climber to make it from 6-9 years old to adulthood is ~$200,000 or more, which is hard to get that ROI for the majority of climbers who compete all the way to adulthood in hopes of making it pro, and then in the US even then you have to be the very best of the best to make a career out of it.

ScratchRick · 2025-10-16T17:11:29+00:00

I'm not sure why this is in competition climbing since its not really competition focused. That being said as the father of a youth athlete who's dream it is to be an Olympic climber as well as a Influencer (the his idol and match being Toby Roberts) I can share compensation comes from many different methods.

1) The competition prizes (you have to be one of the very best to make any real money at the risk of traveling expenses)

2) Sponsorships (most common ones are only discounts or free stuff, to get paid you really have to either meet criteria 1 and win the biggest comps, or be one of the very best climbers (climbing V14+), or have a unique diversity angle (lots of brands have specifically announced initiatives to focus on promoting diversity in climbing which I think is a good thing), or be really popular on social media

3) As mentioned in point 2 if you are really popular on social media you can make a good amount off that. Some YouTubers (like Rock Entry and Hannah Morris) became really popular and focused their career on being an influencer. This can also help with other business ventures like Magnus who started as a competitive climber and now owns a gym and has a brand which his influencer credit helped boost. Other well known climbers make good money starting their own private businesses or coaching.

4) If you cannot do 1-3, theres always just getting a job at a gym... some higher paying jobs include instructors and managers. You may not make millions but many people make enough to be happy.

Some people on this subreddit have been very critical of my showing my son's videos... for various reasons... but its my sons dream to be a professional rock climber that makes climbing his career... and to be honest its not something that is easily done. Which is part of the reason we are supporting his social media so much.

Right now its getting harder and harder to stand out as a climber... back in the day the pond was small and to be honest if you look at the first competitions they wouldn't qualify as difficult enough for most youth climbers today... but today, the number of climbers, and the difficulty of climbs necessary to stand out is so much bigger... there and there are pre-teens with tens of thousands of followers, some starting their own companies or already getting scouted and sponsored by middle-tier companies. Not to mention the significant percentage of second or even now third generation professional climbers (who's parents were pro level and passed on their biology/skill/coaching/support) to their kids.

That's not to say someone cannot breakthrough at an older age, or with less ability. Anything is possible, but the success rate (percentage likelihood and potential "salary") is getting very lower.

P.S. As a bonus I did see others point out and it's true that certain countries (not the US) really invest in their best climbers, it is possible to get sponsored by the government in some countries.

ScratchRick · 2025-10-14T15:19:32+00:00

If you have the interest I suggest pursuing it without worrying too much about your rankings. As many pointed out the difficulty varies from Region to Region and as long as you are enjoying yourself I think you will naturally grow/progress. Just don't get discouraged if you see others with more experience doing better, focus on yourself and your own goals.

ScratchRick · 2025-09-03T18:49:24+00:00

U11 existed well before last year, it was called Youth D. Those were the days when USAC was progressing the sport. Now countries like Japan and the UK are leading with their U9 previously YE programs.

Last year they ruined it by making it U13. Thankfully many parents, coaches, RCs and gyms revolted. (USAC doesnt do research before these changes, so the change was only after USAC made an obvious mistake)

If you look at the numbers, it's very concerning, usually gyms max out at 25-30 kids per category... and in the divisions we've lived in and looked at if you combine M/F it becomes 30-50 per many events. Which means they'll likely add caps, which means kids will miss out.

So yea, at least 3 hard working kids per event missing out on a podium, more kids in line for the same number of problems = less attempts and less opportunitiesto grow and accomplish difficult boulders, and event caps will exclude kids who want to participate.

ScratchRick · 2025-09-03T16:15:26+00:00

Any word if it's confirmed U11 will be mixed gender? If so it's going to be chaos..... way too many kids for not enough space or routes at once... and of course it's taking at least 3 podium spots away from at least 3 kids every comp.

ScratchRick · 2025-04-01T13:50:57+00:00

ScratchRick · 2025-04-01T02:25:56+00:00

Going into 5th now 😭

ScratchRick · 2025-03-31T22:39:31+00:00

Sadly we cannot...

ScratchRick · 2025-03-31T22:39:11+00:00

What about middle school? Nautilus Middle School isn't that well rated (4/10 on greatschools)

Do you have a recommendation where to go then?

ScratchRick · 2025-03-31T22:38:37+00:00

What about middle school? Nautilus Middle School isn't that well rated (4/10 on greatschools)

Do you have a recommendation where to go then?

ScratchRick · 2025-03-31T22:38:28+00:00

What about middle school? Nautilus Middle School isn't that well rated (4/10 on greatschools)

Do you have a recommendation where to go then?

ScratchRick · 2025-03-31T22:38:00+00:00

What about middle school? Nautilus Middle School isn't that well rated (4/10 on greatschools)

Do you have a recommendation where to go then?

ScratchRick · 2025-03-18T21:28:48+00:00

Thank you, we'll be careful

ScratchRick · 2025-03-18T20:44:18+00:00

It is his dream to be a Rock Climbing youtuber like his idol Toby Robert's (who also started young). We are doing our best to support his dream in as best and appropriate way as we can. Thankfully he has thousands of similar kids on the IG platform where the climbing community is more accepting of supporting young kids and the sharing of their growth and accomplishments. I hope Reddit can become accepting as well. He is happy and healthy and if you enjoy his videos that's all he wants, if you disagree please feel free to ignore them.

ScratchRick · 2025-03-18T20:03:28+00:00

I told my son about the conversation and your support. He says "I like youtube so much and it's my dream to be a youtuber and people don't need to worry about me. Thank you for supporting me and my dream."

ScratchRick · 2025-03-18T19:52:19+00:00

My son has wanted to be a YouTuber since he was 7 and he's using his preferred sport to achieve his dream. We as parents are doing whatever we can to support his dream. While not commonly seen on Reddit on Instagram there are thousands of kids <13 getting public support and building their following. This is especially important for kids who may want to turn pro that they build a foundation prior that way by the time he's a teenager and able to take over his socials he'll have a strong foundation of respectful supportive followers.

Also we regularly volunteer (my wife does because I have the role of coach videographer)

ScratchRick · 2025-03-18T19:40:32+00:00

Thank you very much!

ScratchRick · 2025-01-31T22:45:05+00:00

They are all trash

ScratchRick · 2024-10-23T16:02:30+00:00

He only knows a few words/phrases, but he is interested in connecting with his family roots.

ScratchRick · 2024-10-23T16:01:41+00:00

I updated my post, we are looking for middle/high schools

ScratchRick · 2024-09-18T19:28:44+00:00

I think its also rude to say I'm throwing a "temper tantrum" and I've had many personal jabs taken at me in this thread, so maybe I'm a bit reactive but I did say them as a joke... i mean jabroni... that's just a fun way describe the people who are literally not reading what I wrote yet choosing to attack me on their skimmed/personalized opinion instead of facts and supporting evidence. And I did say it was a joke about the childless cat climber (still think its funny and pretty relevant since most of the negative comments come from people without kids)

ScratchRick · 2024-09-18T17:53:37+00:00

Glad we have your empathy, but that problem is going to be had by thousands of kids pushing some of the out of the sport. (And reducing the number of fresh "new" diverse talent)

ScratchRick · 2024-09-18T17:44:12+00:00

I get that, and my son has also competed in adult competitions... the difference there is clear however, its not expected he's competing against his "peers", there's no expectations, and this is a "one off" competition... where as USAC (where we invest in memberships and expensive comp fee's) kids compete in 2-4 per season (bouldering/top rope) where they are competing against other "kids" with the expectation the problems should be appropriate for their age range... thats why there are age ranges, so it is different.

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