The Purple Guide to Learning Basic Rock Climbing in 10 Days
A 10-day starter plan to try climbing at a gym, learn the core moves, and decide if it's your next hobby
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
Ten days to try climbing for real: gyms, gear, footwork, and whether you want to keep going.
About this book
You've been thinking about trying rock climbing for a while — maybe you saw a video, heard a coworker talk about it, or passed a climbing gym and felt a pull. But every time you look into it, you're hit with a wall of jargon about cams and crimps, videos of people doing moves that look physically impossible, and advice that assumes you already own shoes and have a membership somewhere. It's enough to make you close the browser tab and go back to the treadmill.
This guide is the opposite of that. It's a 10-day plan written for someone who has never touched a climbing wall, covering exactly what you need to know in the order you need to know it. Day one is literally just showing up — what to wear, what to expect, how to survive your first hour. From there, you'll build up one small skill at a time: how to stand on your feet instead of your arms, how to read a route, how to fall safely, and what to do when you feel stuck. By the end, you'll have a clear answer to the only question that matters: do I want to keep doing this?
No hype, no 'anyone can be a pro' energy. Just a practical, friendly walkthrough from a coach who remembers what it felt like to be new. If you've been waiting for a good reason to try climbing, this is the ten days you've been looking for.
Reader Reviews
Melissa Jones
★★★★★Solid basic guide. I followed the 10 days as written and it did get me into a climbing gym for the first time, which I'd been putting off for months. The first day chapter was accurate about how awkward you feel. Reason for three stars is that I felt a few of the later days could have been more detailed, and the gear comparison table on day three assumes you have a gym with rentals nearby, which isn't everyone's situation.
Karen Mitchell
★★★★★I'm a 45-year-old office worker who's never done anything athletic, and this got me through my first week of climbing without feeling stupid. The footwork chapter was the lightbulb moment for me - I stopped yanking with my arms and started using my legs, which sounds dumb but actually changed everything. Four stars because I wished day eight had a bit more detail on what to do if you can't top the route, since I definitely couldn't.
Joshua Walker
★★★★★Honest guide that doesn't oversell. I appreciated that it doesn't promise you'll be climbing 5.10s in a week. The practical details like 'wear pants that won't bunch behind your knees' were helpful in day one. Took one star off because I'm in a small town without a climbing gym within 50 miles, so day two's framing about regular practice didn't fully apply to me, and the plan didn't have great alternatives.
Jessica Anderson
★★★★★This was exactly what I needed. I've been curious about climbing for ages but every time I looked up beginner videos I got more confused and intimidated. This guide told me what to wear, what to say at the front desk, and how to not feel like an idiot on day one. The warm-up ritual on day six became my pre-climb routine. Ten days later I bought my first pair of shoes and signed up for a monthly pass. Highly recommend for nervous first-timers.
Sharon Johnson
★★★★★As a mother of two who has zero athletic background, I was nervous about starting anything new. The tone of this guide is genuinely reassuring without being fake-cheerful. Day two's checklist about budget and time was a wake-up call for me, and day three's gear tiers helped me realize I could start almost free by renting. I'm four weeks in now and climbing twice a week. Good foundational introduction.
Ryan Garcia
★★★★★Decent, practical, and well-organized. The daily structure kept me accountable, and day four's footwork instruction was genuinely helpful - my arms stopped being on fire. But it's definitely tailored toward people with a climbing gym conveniently available, and the guide doesn't dwell much on mental blocks, which I didn't realize would be my biggest hurdle. Three stars: helpful but not comprehensive.
Anthony Ramirez
★★★★★Useful enough, but I'm not sure it needs to be a book rather than a long blog post. I followed the 10 days and came away with the basics. Don't rely on this for any kind of real technique improvement - it's about toe-testing the hobby, which it does well. The day seven progress expectations were accurate for me. I decided climbing wasn't my thing after day nine, but not because the guide was wrong - just honest self-assessment.