My First Climbing Trip with a Toddler

Recently, there was a good weather window at Hueco Tanks- some cool weather in April. I wanted to take advantage of this, but it was my turn to be the primary caretaker over the weekend. So I decided that my nearly 2 year old son, Hans Sven would join me! It would be our first mother-son trip. My husband was nervous to be separated from him, and wondered how would I keep him safe while climbing and hiking. Not afraid of a challenge, I made a plan and was excited to show Hans Sven my favorite place in the entire world!

THE PLAN

My main priority was to make sure that Hans Sven couldn’t easily run off a cliff. My second priority was a short approach because I knew I would have to carry him a significant amount.

For Day 1, the plan was to go to Diaphanous sea and El techo de los tres B. Diaphanous sea is a short uphill walk but the car is easily accessible. There’s no cliffs or giholes around either. El Techo has an even better approach that is stroller friendly and is about 30 seconds from the boulder.

For Day 2, the plan was to hang out in Martini Cave all day. This approach is the longest and hardest, but takes about 10 minutes.

THE EXECUTION

Day 1: I was hoping Hans Sven would hike a portion of the approach to Diaphanous sea, but I had to carry him the entire time. When we got there, he was a bit confused as to what we were doing. He followed me around the boulders and realized that he could run freely. He had never run down a steep hill before, so he did fall and faceplant after gaining too much speed. But he didn’t let that stop him. He continued to run around and ask to climb rocks. In order for me to get climbing in, I would give him the tablet to play his favorite game. This would give me a full 5-10 minutes of climbing. Then he would return to running, jumping, and climbing. I found this to be an acceptable amount of screen time to outdoor play time.

On the hike out of Diaphnous Sea, Hans Sven didn’t want to walk so I had to carry him the entire way. When we arrived at our next destination- El Techo, I was tired of carrying him and wanted to try out the stroller. I honestly don’t know if the stroller was any easier than just carrying him for 1 minute. I also brought the stroller in hopes that he would nap in it, since it’s a familiar place. He did not nap at all. After 5 hours outside, Hans was very tired and the games on the tablet no longer interested him. I tried to entertain him with his favorite snacks but that didn’t work either. He only wanted to climb, which was really cool to see. But that meant I got to climb very little. After about 6 hours, I gave up and we left the park.

Day 2: I knew the hike to martini roof was going to be ambitious, but I thought it would be worth it. Hans Sven did hike 1/4 the way there and even went up the first big hills. Then I heard the dreaded words, “UP”, meaning I would have to carry him, our bags and crashpads up more hills. I carried him in awkward ways, but we made it to our destination. In there, he enjoyed climbing on the small rocks and the top out rock for Baby martini. Even more, he enjoyed hiking outside of the cave, but keeping him out of the huecos proved a challenge. I found that if I placed him on the crash pad that I was using but away from my direct fall zone was the best way for me to climb alone and keep him safe. He wanted to be near me and to be honest, I spend more time laying on the crashpads than climbing anyway. So he sat calmly on the crashpad even while I climbed. The boulder I was climbing was a steep roof (right martini), so my fall was less than a foot to the ground directly on my butt. I didn’t have to worry about landing on him and crushing him. Of course, this day was filled with his favorite snacks and screen time as well. But he spent most of the day climbing and running. On the way back to the car, I was hoping he would walk back himself. He did walk half way until he threw himself to the ground and refused to take another step.

What I didn’t have a good plan for was the ride back. After spending 6 hours outside again outside, I thought Hans Sven would sleep in the car during our 5 hour drive home. Unfortunately, he did not and became very grumpy for the last 45 minutes of the drive and screamed continuosly for the last 15 minutes. For our next trip, I’ll have to figure out how to better entertain him or get him to sleep on the drive. I would to hear about any tips y’all have for road trips with young kids!!