Charley's Passion

First of all I want to let you know that I live in one of the worst places on the planet for rock climbing. the Houston Area. Yes we are right at sea level, we have no rocks, no hills and its too hot or wet most of the time to be outdoors anyway.

Charley doing crack climber's style

Second, I would rather be climbing right now. It doesn't really mater what time it is or what I am doing at the moment, I would rather be climbing. Being a school teacher, I have summers off, so I can be a dirt bag and go climbing for weeks at a time. Both of my kids climb, but my wife is afraid of heights so this is more of a daddy, kids activity in our family.

I do most of my climbing in gyms. If I do go outside, I almost always go to Enchanted Rock. (I like granite) Texas has several other areas to climb in, but they all involve a lot of driving from where we live.

Texas is a geological smorgasbord, so we have climbing on all kinds of rock.

We also have a lot of really nice gyms run by some really great people. There are more gyms in Texas than I have listed, but I am only going to list the gyms that I have climbed.

Texas Rock gym, Houston
This is the gym I climb at two or three times a week. It has 23 foot walls and lot of top rope stations. The lead wall is very over hung and quiet challenging.
Texas Rock gym, League City
I like this gym, and I go climbing there every time my son can badger me into it. Since it is about an hour and fifteen minute drive I don't go very often. The walls are a little on the short side and route ratings are erratic, but the lead wall has a cave roof that really kicks butt.
Boulders, Harker Heights
I love this gym. This is my favorite gym in the state. The walls are about thirty five feet, and they have a lot of character. The gym staff are supper friendly and you can feel at home almost immediately. Good pro-shop and the gym is really well kept. When you get tired you can go across and down the street and eat really good Tai food.

Exposure Rock Gym, Carolton
This gym has a lot of top rope wall. It also has a lead wall, but I have never used it. The gym seemed a little on the disheveled side, but the pro-shop is one of the best in any of the climbing gyms I have gone to.
Summit Climbing Gym, Grapevine
NICE GYM! This is a cool looking gym and has some auto belay stations. The couple of times I have been there it seemed really crowded.
Stone Works, Carolton
WOW! Those walls are tall!!!! TEXAS sized even! Stone Works is built in converted grain silos, so they are over a hundred feet tall. It was way too hot to try out the outdoor stuff the only time I was at the gym (August in Texas is brutal), but you can climb both indoors and out.

Our weather sucks for most of the year, and the summer is very hot, so there is not a lot of point in outdoor climbing in the sun in the summer. There are some shady spots like Lake Mineral Wells (You can go swimming afterward too!!!) and some of the areas in echo canyon at Enchanted Rock. Fall and spring are probably the best climbing seasons in Texas, but they are also the wettest. (Enchanted rock has this gray lichen that turns to snot when it gets wet. Limestone gets all nasty, and Lake Mineral Wells closes when it gets rained on.) Big bend is questionable even in late spring with the temperatures sometimes going into a hundred during late march and early May. Summer temperatures in Big Bend can reach as high as 115 with humidity in the 10% range.

My other Rock climbing related pages.

Pictures of my kids, some of my climbing buddies and me.

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