When it comes to climbing outside, single-pitch climbing is what most people will be doing. Whether it is sport climbing or trad climbing is unlikely to make a massive difference in terms of how your blood sugars respond, but it is worth remembering that trad climbing on average takes longer than sport climbing does.

 

The first thing to think of when single pitch climbing is how far is the crag from where you have parked? There are some crags that you can climb from the car park and others where a considerable walk in must be factored in. When needing to walk in it is worth considering if is the walk is uphill or flat and the time it is likely to take to complete, as this will all have an impact on your blood sugars. For more information on how this might impact your blood sugars and key considerations to be made, please see the page on hill walking.

 

Once you reach the crag, it is time to start thinking about the climb itself. How you manage this will depend on a few factors: the height of the climb, the time it will take to complete, whether it is a trad climb or sport climb and how hard you personally are likely to find the climb.

 

These will find it will all work together to have an overall effect on your blood sugars. Time taken will be directly impacted by both length and difficulty, but while length is likely to have a more predictable effect on blood sugars (the longer you climb for the more energy is needed, the more glucose is used up and the lower your blood sugars will become), the difficulty of the climb can be less predictable, with individual exertion levels coming into play. An easy climb will often be an aerobic effort and so is more likely to bring blood sugars down. A harder climb is more often an anaerobic effort and so more likely to push blood sugars up. Again, like all things with diabetes, this is a guide only and everyone will have their own individual reactions.

 

There is also a significant difference between trad climbing and sport climbing in terms of blood sugar management. Sport climbs at single pitch venues include a climb up and immediately back down. This means it's easy enough to leave blood sugar meters and food on the ground as you will be returning to the same spot once you have finished the climb.

 

For a trad climb you must also investigate how you are going to get back to the bottom of the route and how long it will take for your second person to climb the route and decide if you need to bring a blood sugar meter/phone and some food up with you. If you feel this is needed, the next question is where to keep these things when you are climbing so that they stay out the way. Chalk bags, running back packs and pockets can all be used depending on what is most convenient to you. I prefer not to put things in my chalk bag as it has no extra pocket and I don’t want my phone to get coved in chalk! When wearing a jumper, I find pockets are a good option but a small running backpack (1-3 litres) will also work well for this purpose.

 

It is also important to think about what food you are taking with you. As always, hypo cure sugars are a must. But what other food you pack will depend very much on what you are doing. Having a few low carb snacks tends to be useful in case you want to eat but your blood sugars are running a bit higher, and you don’t want to have to take a correction. But that aside, climbing is relatively easy to pack for in a single pitch environment as taking insulin after any food is unlikely to cause a sudden and dangerous low.