Lots of people who climb dream about doing it professionally, but it’s not always easy to see how climbers earn a living. I’ve written the following guide to explain it in more detail!
So, how do professional climbers make money? Sponsorships are the main way that professional climbers get paid. Other income can come from public speaking events, guiding, or books/movies.
Unfortunately for the sport, there isn’t really a climbing ‘league’ in the way that you have organizations like the MLB, NBA, and NHL to pay their athletes. Instead, most climbers earn their money through sponsorships with various brands. The income that they earn will vary based on how popular the climber is; household names like Alex Honnold can pull more than six figures a year, while lesser-known people will earn far less (the average pro climber only makes $5,000, in fact).
How Do Professional Climbers Make Money?
For those who don’t know, a sponsorship is basically where a brand pays you to be a representative of their product. They may do this for a variety of reasons:
- Build trust within a niche: When average, ever-day rock climbers see someone like Adam Ondra using Black Diamond gear, it’s a testament to how high-quality that gear is.
- Build an image: Sometimes brands just want you because to build their own image. A famous example of this would be the Marlboro man, where no-name ranchers were sponsored because they had the right ‘look’.
- Get a message out: Sometimes you’re sponsored simply for the size of your audience, or because you can connect with a certain group of people (like climbers).
Traditionally, it was only big-name companies like North Face or Patagonia who would sponsor climbers. This meant that those climbers would earn decent salaries, but it also made it harder for up-and-comers to break onto the scene.
Social media has changed this in recent years with the birth of ‘influencers’ — people who take on brand sponsorships and share them to their thousands or tens of thousands of followers.
Social media influencers are less likely to have one company paying them a liveable salary and are more likely to get paid by multiple brands on a per-post basis.
The climbing world hasn’t been immune to the injection of social media influencing. I personally know people who are sponsored by various local companies to post pictures with their apparel.
If you’re just starting out your career as a rock climber but you’re not yet big enough to attract the attention of a mainstream, big-name brand, working with smaller companies can be a great way to earn a little income while you slowly build up your name.
What Are Some Other Income Sources?
Aside from sponsorships, pro climbers have a range of other ways of earning income. Some of them are better than others!
Public Speaking
In the past, public speaking was the main source of income for climbers who didn’t have large sponsorships. Athletes could take their stories of survival and perseverance in the wild and craft them into valuable life lessons; individuals or companies will then pay to learn these lessons.
Public speaking can be a great source of reliable income, but it also comes with a caveat: you need a few harrowing, death-defying, life-changing stories for it to work. Your average dirtbag cruising around America in a minivan won’t cut it as a public speaker.
Stunts
Stunts are another great way for climbers to earn a living, although they usually require a pretty high degree of skill. Here, you work with film crew on commercials or movies to film scenes as a stunt double for the actor.
The most recent example I can think of this is the Point Break remake, where Chris Sharma portrays the main character Johnny as he free solo’s up a cliff:
Information Courses
Info courses are more of a product of the internet age, and they’ve been slow to gain traction withing the climbing world. The tides are beginning to turn, however, and I think you could see a lot more of these types of courses coming out in the next few years.
Info courses are basically just a package of information that gets bundled up and sold to you. This is most commonly done in a video format and can cover a wide variety of topics.
An example of this would be Mark Smiley’s video courses
Affiliate Deals
Affiliate deals can go hand-in-hand with information products. Affiliate deals are like a sponsorship, except you get paid on a per-unit-sold basis.
In authoring this website, I’m an example of someone who has an affiliate program (although I’m far from a professional climber). Any time you buy something using a link from this website, I get a (very small) kickback from the company you buy from.
Guiding
Guiding is another way that pros can supplement their income. Not a lot of the big names do it — you’d be far-fetched to find Tommy Caldwell leading an intro to belaying course — but it can still be a great way to earn money for those who don’t have a massive fan base, or simply people who love teaching.
Will Gadd and Adrian Ballinger are two of the big names I can think of who still guide despite being well-recognized and respected within the climbing community.
Writing/Photography/Filmmaking
Finally, lots of climbers will try their hands at other artforms to reach audiences and make a more reliable stream of income. By documenting their adventures, climbers are able to sell the final product without really needing to go out of their way and do too much work (although photography, writing, and filmmaking are still extremely difficult in their own right).
A great example of this would be Jimmy Chin, the famed alpinist and filmmaker who’s created world-class movies like Free Solo and Meru. There are also some very well-known writers, most notably John Kerouac or Gabriele Filippi.
Other Ways to Make Money Climbing
So, that’s about all the ways that professional climbers can earn an income.
However, being a pro isn’t for everyone. Some people (such as yours truly) simply are not, and probably won’t ever be, a good enough climber to make it as a pro.
That doesn’t mean, though, that you can’t make a career out of rock climbing. Below, I’ve listed some of the other ways that you can make a decent living while still staying within the rock climbing world!
Work at a Climbing Gym
The first, and probably the most obvious answer, is to work at a climbing gym. If you’re manning the front desk, this is more of a temporary gig to pay your bills.
Climbing gym employees, though, can end up making a decent living. If you transition into teaching courses or even routesetting, you could find yourself making a decent salary while spending all of your time in the gym.
Be a Marketer
Marketers probably make the best salary of anyone in the climbing world, although they do have to work for it. As a marketer, you spend most of your time travelling, visiting outdoor retail stores and pitching them on your products.
Marketers can make close to $100,000 a year, although it’ll take about ten years in the industry and lots of 60-hour weeks to get there — plus lots of time on the road (without having spare days to check out the local crags).
Become a Digital Marketer
Do you like writing and/or filmmaking? Want to make some money while also learning about the climbing world? Do you enjoy shouting into the void and not getting any response back for almost a year?
If so, digital marketing may be for you. Writing informative online content in exchange for ad revenue, affiliate deals, and the odd lead gen is a good way to earn side-hustle money while teaching yourself about climbing, and if you really hit it big, it could (theoretically) provide you with a full-time income.
Work in Retail
Probably the simplest and least-inspiring climbing-related job is retail. By working the floor of your local Atmosphere, REI, or other department store, you’ll get to learn lots about gear, help people make the life-changing decision to buy their first pair of shoes, and maybe land some sweet employee discounts.
Making a decent living wage off of retail can be hard, but if you’re a college kid or you’re just looking for a way to pay the bills, it could be a good option.