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April 30, 2003
On Belay
Tristen took me climbing today, sort of. I knew she did a lot of climbing, and took her up on an offer to teach me some of it. We quickly ran through the rope basics, knots, terminology, and safety mechanisms. She went through them like a pro, right up until I said I'm left handed. Then she had a few problems, but they were easily sorted out.
The top rope climbing took only a few minutes to accomplish, and frankly my first climb was an easy one (5.5 or 5.6). I had made it to about one hand hold away from the top before I lost my grip (my foot slipped off while I was dependent upon it). I subsequently spent a few minutes afterwards working on getting a strong grip with my toes on non-existent holds at base.
Afterwards, Tristen and Emily (another girl at the wall) started doing bouldering. Essentially, they free climb (no ropes) and would place a hand somewhere. This hand pattern had to be continued and extended by each player. I get suckered into it, and started off okay. Not nearly as agile as they I picked the worst hold I could find, but they worked around it. I never could get past it after that. It was interesting to watch Tristen and Emily work the wall though, as you could see in their technique they have been doing this for sometime. It was impressive to watch as they would time their swings to provide optimal foot movements and hand gripping moments. I'll probably try to keep doing this over the summer, but it looks like one more expensive hobby right now. I do suggest trying it if you get a chance. It was a nice stress relief from the rest of the day/week/month.
Posted by Dan at April 30, 2003 01:21 PM