To better understand what Canadian climbers are thinking about during the covid-19 lockdown and reopenings across the country, RockBase Inc. created and shared a survey earlier this season. The results are in and there are some surprising findings.

What is RockBase Inc.? It’s a new climbing app that’s launching in the Toronto area for climbers to connect and to keep track of their climbs. Learn more here about the new app and how you can download it.

Some interesting findings are that 86.8% of respondents built a home climbing wall during the lockdown and that the number one app is Mountain Project.

We’d like to thank RockBase Inc. and Coyote Rock Gym for organizing, developing and analyzing the survey pro-bono to support the climbing community during this time of crisis. For the full results from the survey visit here and for highlights see below.

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A post shared by @rockbaseinc on Aug 6, 2020 at 2:53pm PDT

Canadian Climbing Survey

Demographics

811 Respondents
Provinces/ Territory Respondents Live In: 57% Ontario, 18.4% British Columbia, 14.2% Alberta, 3.9% Quebec, 2% Nova Scotia, 1.8% Other, 1.4% New Brunswick, 1% Manitoba, 0.4% Saskatchewan
Age Group: Most respondents were 16-35 (66.9%)
Years respondents have been climbing: 41.2% have been climbing for 6 years or more 33.7% have been climbing 3 years or less 25.1% have been climbing between 3 – 6 years
Climbing organization respondents were members of: 46.6%. reported that they were not registered with any climbing organizations / 21.7% reported registered membership with the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC)

Frequency of Climbing

Prior to covid-19 lockdown (March 19), how often did you climb? 55.9% of respondents climbed 3-4 times a week 29.8% climbed 1-2 times a week / 7% climbed 5-6 times a week / 6.3% climbed infrequently (less than once a week) 1% climbed daily

Health and Safety

Do you worry about being infected with covid-19? 58% of respondents said Yes to worrying about being infected. 36.4% said No
Please select all the options that apply to your hand hygiene routine: 91% of respondents said they wash their hands every time after using the bathroom 89.8% of respondents said they wash their hands every time upon returning home / 64.2% of respondents said they wash their hands before touching anything they may eat or drink / 50.3% of respondents said they wash their hands every time they touch a surface that may not be clean
Do you feel temperature checks at climbing gyms prior to entry are necessary when reopening? 40.1% of respondents said No to temperature checks being necessary for climbing gyms to reopen / 36.7% said Yes / 23.1% said Do Not Know
Would you accept filling out screening questions about your current health before every entry into a climbing gym? 89.9% said Yes to filling out screening questions about their current health before every entry into a climbing gym / 7.2% said No / 2.7% said Do Not Know
Do you feel wearing a home-made mask at the climbing gym will protect you from contracting covid-19? 46.4% said No to feeling that wearing home-made masks protecting them from contracting Covid-19 at a climbing gym / 33.7% said Yes / 18.9% said Do Not Know
Do you feel liquid chalk effectively sanitizes to prevent you contracting covid-19? 44.7% said No to liquid chalk as an effective sanitizer to prevent contracting covid-19 / 15.9% said Yes
39.3% said Do Not Know.

Outdoor Climbing

Have you ever participated in a climbing activity outdoors? 85.8% of respondents said Yes to having participated in a climbing activity outdoors / 14.2% said No

Indoor Climbing

Before covid-19, how much money would you have spent on personal climbing related expense during an average month? 46.2% of respondents reported spending $46-100 a month on climbing related expenses / 20.5% reported spending $101-200 / 17.9% reported spending $26-45 / 8% reported spending $1-25
Please select all the climbing gym memberships you currently own: 38.7% of respondents reported owning yearly climbing gym memberships / 28.9% reported owning monthly climbing gym memberships / 25.9% reported owning punch pass(es)/ punch card(s) / 15.9% reported owning no climbing gym memberships
Before covid-19, how much money would you have spent on personal climbing related expense during an average month? 46.2% of respondents reported spending $46-100 a month on climbing related expenses. 20.5% reported spending $101-200 / 17.9% reported spending $26-45. 8% reported spending $1-25 /
Please select all the climbing gym memberships you currently own: 38.7% of respondents reported owning yearly climbing gym memberships / 28.9% reported owning monthly climbing gym memberships / 25.9% reported owning punch pass(es)/ punch card(s) / 15.9% reported owning no climbing gym memberships
Do you feel pre-booking time slots at climbing gyms is a good safety measure? 79.3% of respondents said Yes to pre-booking time slots at climbing gyms as a good safety measure / 10.9% said No / 9.7% said Do Not Know /
What is an appropriate time slot for climbing gyms to set per visit? 56.9% of respondents said 2hrs was an appropriate time slot to set per climbing gym visit / 16.8% said 2.5 hours / 13.6% said 1.5 hours / 10.3% said 3 hours / 2.5% said 3 hours or more

Home Climbing Walls

Did you build a home climbing wall as a response to covid-19? 86.8% of respondents reported building a home climbing wall as a response to Covid-19.
How often do you use your home climbing wall in an average week? 77.67% of respondents use their home climbing wall 3 times or less in an average week.
How often do you anticipate using your home climbing wall in an average week if Covid-19 restrictions are lifted? 72.82% of respondents anticipate using their home climbing wall less than two times a week per average if Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Climbing Apps

Please name all the mobile climbing apps you currently use: 1) Mountain Project 2) Rakkup 3) MoonBoard

About RockBase Inc.

RockBase Inc. is a Canadian company launching a mobile app aimed to solution for finding climbing partners. We launch in the Greater Toronto Area for August 2020 and will be rolling out national access afterwards. As climbers building a startup, the struggle Covid-19 presented for the climbing community was readily evident to us.

With our app launch in March delayed indefinitely, we took up rolling out the Canadian Climbing Survey as a means of providing the community with an opportunity to be heard. Whether on the app or off, connecting climbers is our mission and every member of the climbing community is important to us.

About Coyote Rock

Ottawa’s oldest climbing gym, established in 1992. As one of the oldest climbing gyms in Canada, Coyote Rock Gym always aims to put the climbing community first. Giving the climbing community a voice while also providing climbing businesses insight into the situation at large during these difficult times was important to us. This survey was developed to support these goals.