l am a teenaged girl and l am saving up to go on a 180 day trip in South American mountains.l have a about a year and a half to prepare.l have limited resources ... l run alot and l lift weights, but l am a tad overweight.But what i'm looking for is how to develop arm strength and endurance that rock/mountain climbers need.Thanks!

Climb the walls at home!

there should be some kind of place with indoor climbing facilities. thoes are awsome.

First off you need to get your lungs in shape. Get an O2 tent and do a lot of bike riding or running. Then when you burn off the extra weight it will be easier to build your arm strength.

Do not forget to build strength in your hands and fingers. Leg strength is very important too. It is good to be able to pull yourself up with your arms, but pushing with your legs is what you will be doing most.

It depends of course, on how technical ur climb will be. Will u be doing alot of rope work? How experienced is ur climbing party? Have u climbed with them before?

l recommend not just running, but running up long flights of stairs (and walking back down). Do not just lift weights, find a climbing wall in a gym somewhere. Find a partner to work out with too. You need someone to belay u while u r practicing ur rope work. If u do not know anyone right now u can probably find someone on one of the climbing websites. You can probably find someone who has been on the same mountains u will be going to. There may even be a club in ur area. Climbers r a pretty tight knit bunch, any one of them will be happy to help. You just have to get out & meet them.

Good luck & enjoy ur trip!

180 days in South America!!!! HA HA HA, do not make me laugh!!!! If you have never been there, do not even try with your age. Trust me. It ai not like the U.S. It is hell down there if you get into the wrong place. Been there many times.

You've got it wrong. We do not need excessive strenght. Endurance yes, u need stamina. Running is a good way for building up stamina throughout ur entire body. Some say swimming loosens ur muscles so stay away from that.

You say you're a dad overweight. Shedding a few pounds will really help. As a rock climber l notice my climbing suffer during the winter, when l tend to stop running & start eating. This year I've started skipping rope though & it is a good way to get a workout inside.

You're going to need to get some gear for this climbing expedition, so if you've not already gotten it they do so now, try getting some good gore tex waterproofs in the post christmas sales & start hitting the hills on weekends.

So in bullet points, in case u decided to skip reading all that crap:
- Start going to the nearest climbing wall & get out on some rock as much as possible, bouldering if u can not do any mulit pitch.
- Try & get as fit & lean as u can. I'd even say do not do too much if any weights, you're a girl, u do not want to become buff just for the sake of doing some mountains when u do not need it.
- Get as much training as is availablt to you, lead climbing courses, First aid courses, night nav courses.
- Learn how to do the figure of eight, figure of eight on a bite, cloves hitch, italian hitch, lark is foot, & butterfly knot.
- Learn to Belay & lead belay. Learn how to abseil.
- Try to imrove ur flexibility, maybe start yoga.
- Try to improve ballance, maybe invest in a slack lining set, they're a fun way to improve this.

Frankly, ur question is too vague to be accurately answered by anyone with alpine climbing experience.

You said you’ll be climbing in South America so (to answer ur question) I’m assuming you’re planning to climb Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest peak in the Americas including Denali/Mt McKinley.

Since it is primarily a non-technical high altitude alpine climb (unless you’re planning to climb its most popular glacier route, Polish Glacier Traverse), cardio fitness needs to be ur primary conditioning focus, including exercising with a weighted backpack.

Beginning climbers (perhaps influenced by Sylvester Stallone movies) believe they need near super-human strength to “pull” themselves up the side of a mountain. In alpine climbing (as opposed to “big wall” climbing), ur legs, heart, & lungs r ur primary means of scaling a mountain.

For conditioning, here’s an excellent resource:
http://amazon.com/Climbing-Training-Performance-Outdoor-Expert/dp/089886898X

Do u live in the Western US? If so, u may want to research climbing one of its glaciated volcanoes, e.g. Mt Rainier in Washington state. Several guide services offer 3-4 day training sessions combined with a summit attempt. Your 6 months in S.A. will be expensive but adequate training beforehand will spell the difference between success & failure.

Following is the book every climber & aspiring climber should own:
http://amazon.com/Mountaineering-Freedom-Hills-Mountaineers/dp/0898868289