I recently returned to the realms after a long absence (for like the 6th time) and I've found that I neglected climbing and swimming on my last character I was playing. He's a survival-heavy Barbarian and I know I was hoping to keep climbing and swimming caught up with combat skills so that I could get into certain hunting areas, but apparently I gave up because they're both in the mid-40's while my combat skills are all around 90-100.

I remembered that I just hate training them. I guess because you can only train them reasonably well in a few different spots and it's usually out of the way.

Anyway, I know that they're being combined Soon, so I guess I only need to backtrain one. Which one would be easier to catch up, and how can I do it efficiently?

I would be very grateful for any useful tips. I'm very proud of my perception, skinning, foraging, hiding, stalking, and first aid on this Barbarian, all of which are even with my combat skills or higher, but I'm sad about my climbing/swimming. :(

>>Anyway, I know that they're being combined Soon, so I guess I only need to backtrain one. Which one would be easier to catch up, and how can I do it efficiently?

Climbing's probably easier. The tree in Arthe Dale should crawl you to a few more ranks; alternatively, I would recommend this if you use Stormfront:

http://elanthipedia.org/w/index.php/Marmic_Climbing_%28script%29

Start at the NE gate and it loops you through various climbing attempts.

I've always found Swimming to be easier, just because there is no timer.

That said, I have trained Climbing using Kraelyst's climbcrossing script from 0-350 ranks. You may have to tweak it here and there for younger characters (due to fatigue). Otherwise, the only issue with climbing is finding enough climbs to attempt in a given period. 5+ is usually the sweet spot. Blood wolves in Theren would likely work for you, and you may be able to eke out some more combat ranks there too.

GENT