rock climbing is the shit. and yes, climbing outdoors is way better than indoors. i'll take gym during school when all the crags around here are all wet, but the fun and satisfaction from climbing outdoors is so much better.
it's remarkable how easy and relatively cheap it is to get into rock climbing (well, sport climbing and bouldering, not so much trad), so its really easy to do it a lot in the summer, which is what i try to do.
as for the guy going to smith, its fucking sick. busy, and hot, but the routes are money. im eager to go to a lot of different places. top on my list (but far from happening) is going to kalymnos in greece.