I grew up getting dragged along on climbing trips, also competed briefly (my father as most of his friends were mountaineers). It's a great sport and community.

I grew up getting dragged along on climbing trips, also competed briefly (my father as most of his friends were mountaineers). It's a great sport and community. Most significantly, that you can climb with a relative stranger and trust them to belay you (even if it's just top rope) is a wonderful thing I think most people never experience (I'm rationalizing in retrospect now) - still I think this is part of the underlying basis which makes the community so much more trusting and friendly. Also the outdoors, physical exertion etc. Do you have a link for the study?