When you first start climbing outdoors, you usually just climb on whatever type of rock you have available. I cut my teeth on Colorado granite so I quickly fell in love with crack climbing before moving on to Utah’s sandstone towers and enjoying the amazing traction there. You’ll get good at whatever’s available, much in the same way as Coloradoans tend to be amazing at skiing powder while Vermonters master the art of ice skiing.
Once you start to travel for rock climbing, however, you’ll soon discover that different types of rock behave differently and you might find yourself almost back at the beginning as you grapple with surprising slick surfaces, unpredictable crumbly holds or challenging overhangs you haven't experienced before (kind of like a Colorado skier hitting the icy slopes of the northeast for the first time).
