It's an inherently dangerous activity... but not as much as most people think, for instance I consider skiing or even mountain-biking more dangerous, because yo

It's an inherently dangerous activity... but not as much as most people think, for instance I consider skiing or even mountain-biking more dangerous, because you have no safety at all. With climbing safety is part of the game, I fall on a regular basis (If i'm doing sports climbing I will actually intentionally climb to the point of failure and fall, because it's extremely safe to, and part of mental acclimatisation). We use ropes for a reason (except when we don't, but that's another topic). When you're outside the danger does depend a lot on style, you can stick to sports climbing (bolts set in the wall just like indoors), which is the safest. Trad climbing admittedly takes a long time to get to the point when you know it's safe to fall on gear, and even then it's a probability you are constantly calculating in your head - and part of trad is also knowing when you cannot fall - these are actually part of the challenge that can be enjoyable, although I realise that's hard to understand for many people. This is a topic that has been discussed to death over the years and I could go on, but I'll just leave it here: there are many styles, you can pick the safest, it's a personal choice. I can't compare the pricing on climbing gyms to regular ones, because I can't remember the last time I went to a "regular" one, I don't think they are unreasonable but that may depend on the country. Here in the UK the number have grown a lot over the last couple decades so that there is healthy competition between them. Another aspect is that once the climbing gym is a supplement and you can go outdoors, it doesn't feel so pricey.