Bouldering – Wild Wanderer

CityRock: Don’t Forget to Clip-in

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I was invited a few days ago to go to CityRock tonight with a group and climb. My first instinct was to say ‘no’ because I don’t really like groups, but then I remembered these were really nice people and I needed to make friends.

Then yesterday I got bombshell news concerning my divorce and our next court date (I’ve been divorced for 6 years, yet it seems we’re always going to court). This news was pretty devastating, and I knew I’d be very occupied for the next few weeks, so I might as well have fun tonight.

Another reason I wanted to go: There was a guy I’d met at a 14er Happy Hour who asked if anyone was climbing at CityRock on Friday. Without thinking I let him know a group of ‘us’ would be there. He messaged me back to make sure it wasn’t a ‘family’ thing, and said he’d be there too. That kind of obligated me to go.

It’d been a busy day so I didn’t get there until 5:30pm. Immediately I noticed the bouldering wall didn’t have any climb holds. I guess they’re re-doing the wall. I was glad I’d successfully climbed that V3, but I was a little disappointed I couldn’t actually show anyone in person tonight.

Jen and Tim were there, and they introduced me to a bunch of their friends. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember who was who, but I’d recognize you if I saw you!!! I did a few auto-belays, and Tim belayed me a few times. I wanted to go over to the lower bouldering wall to get in some practice before my arms got too tired.

As I was heading back down to the climbing area I heard a girl shouting: “Mom! Mom! Mom!” She was about 14 or 15 years old, and at the top of one of the climbing runs. She was frantic, and realized once she’d made it to the top of the run she’d forgotten to clip into the auto-belay! She’d free-climbed all the way up to the top, and had no way of safely getting down.

This was a very scary situation, and one I never actually thought I’d see: There are signs all over the place asking you to check to make sure you were ‘clipped in’. This girl was definitely in danger. She was at least 50 feet up, and if she fell no one would be able to catch her. Several people wanted to climb up and help her, but if she fell she’d take them down with her.

She was scared, and having difficulty holding on to the wall. She tried holding on to the rope next to her, but that didn’t really work either.

Luckily CityRock had a solution: They clipped a carabineer to the auto belay and released it up to her. She was able to clip in and climb back down. She climbed back down, and didn’t jump (I don’t blame her). Everyone let out a sigh of relief when she made it back to the ground. I couldn’t believe how shook up I was, and I wasn’t the one at the top of the wall without security!

The adrenaline rushing though me didn’t let up for a good half an hour, and it wasn’t the good kind of adrenaline, but the kind that wipes you out. I continued to climb, but without the enthusiasm as earlier in the night.

I saw the guy who said he’d meet me there. He climbed a 5.12, and was super proud of himself. Since I hover around 5.9-5.10 I was proud too!

One thing I learned tonight I really don’t understand is that it’s ok to take breaks while rock climbing. I don’t mean it’s ok to just stop, but you can push yourself away from the wall and dangle for a bit and then resume where you left off. This seems like cheating to me. However, I guess it’s how a lot of people successfully ‘work the wall’. I’d feel better about myself if I did it without ‘falling’.

After climbing we went to a taco place downtown. It was small and there were a lot of us so we had a 30 minute wait. The tacos were good, but the party was split up so it was kind of like I was coupled with Tim and another couple. The conversation was good but not really what I’d been looking for. The tacos weren’t all that great either. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t bad, but I’m into this ‘trying new things’ thing and they didn’t have anything that looked good enough to try, so I stuck with the carbonara tacos (pretty vanilla).

CityRock

I didn’t correlate a climbing gym to a regular gym in this way before, but apparently they fill up for the New Year as well with all those resolutioners: CityRock was packed!!! I got there at about 6:30pm, and I could tell it was filling up fast for the night. I checked in and stuffed my gear in the last cubby available.

I really wanted to start my night bouldering, but I could tell by the number of people already there I’d better start with rock climbing (again) because the auto belays were all going to be taken soon and I’d never get the chance to climb.

It was almost too easy today: I climbed about 6 runs, all between 5.7-5.10- . I climbed some because they were there, and others because I actually enjoyed them. I’m stuck on 5.10- and can’t seem to climb a 5.10+. However, I’m not sure how static those rankings actually are. I feel really solid on a 5.9, and that’s probably where I’ll continue climbing, but there’s a 5.8 I just can’t seem to get! Maybe it’s because it’s on a curved wall? In any event, I usually end up trying that one last, and by that time my arms have given out. Maybe I’ll start with that one next time. The 5.11’s require me to cut my fingernails, and I’m not that committed yet. In fact, I broke a nail tonight and it’s the first one I’ve broken so far since climbing. I’m pretty proud of that!

After getting my fill of rock climbing I headed over to the bouldering area. By this point my arms were a bit sore, but I was able to do the yellow curved V1 without much difficulty. I went to the V3 run I’d done last time, but couldn’t get a good grip. I noticed a kid (probably 13) watching me, and I said “it needs to be cleaned”. He assumed I wanted him to do it, and climbed up just to clean it off. I smiled inwardly: I was just making an observation not asking him to clean it! I forget the power adults have on kids when they make comments…lol!

He looked like a regular who knew what he was doing, so I asked him if he wanted to climb. Nope, he was taking a bit of a rest. So I tried the run again and was successful. The kid watched me the engire time and seemed impressed: he asked me a bunch of questions about how I did the route, and said that one took him forever to ‘get’. It was as if suddenly I was important in his eyes. I don’t know why, but it made me feel good to impress a 13 year old kid. Sheesh! I moved on (and didn’t ever end up seeing him climb anything that night).

I moved back down to the lower climbing area and saw a kid that was supposed to be at Boy Scouts. He sheepishly stated his plans had changed at the last minute (funny thing, his father was at the Boy Scout meeting down the street… I wonder if he knew?). At this point I was seriously tired. I tried the Yellow V1 run again and while I made a valiant attempt and held on for quite a while, I wasn’t able to push myself over the ledge. This happens after you’ve been climbing for a while and don’t rest. I was encouraged by the others sitting down how it was impressive I’d held on for so long. This is a common occurrence at the gym: everyone encourages everyone. I still feel uncomfortable in this sort of environment, so I thanked them and switched climbing areas. I did a few more runs with the auto belays and called it a day after only about an hour of climbing. I need to learn to either take breaks or build up my strength. In any event, it was a successful night of climbing! I didn’t embarrass myself by falling, and there wasn’t a run I’d been able to do before that I couldn’t do tonight. Now to work on those 5.10+ and V3’s!

Rock Climbing with Rebecca

It’s
been over a year since Rebecca’s been rock climbing. We’d planned on all going together this
break,

but it just wasn’t happening, so this morning I woke Rebecca
up at 10:30am and we headed down to CityRock.

As usual, the place was busy. I’ve never been climbing with Rebecca (I’ve
chaperoned, but never climbed with her) so this was fun!

We spent some time on the climbing wall, and I got a selfie
of us both at the top of our runs!

I’ve been climbing for about a month now, and while I can
climb 5.10, I’m extremely comfortable at a 5.9, so I stick there most of the
time (but keep trying the harder ones as well).

We spent some time bouldering too, which I don’t think
Rebecca’s done too much of. She was
fantastic!

There’s a V3 bouldering route I’ve been trying to master for
a while now, and today I was finally able to get it right! (It’s the yellow route in the middle)

This is one I’ve seen many people attempt,
but no one complete. I’ve tried it once
or twice, but was unsuccessful as well. You
see, I’ve never been able to grab one of the holds. Today I tried the run 3 times and just couldn’t
get it, so I decided to clean the hold.

OMG! What a difference that
made! I was finally able to grip it, and
successfully summit! I did it three
times in a row (so it wasn’t a fluke) and finally had Rebecca take a video of
me to prove I’d done it. I was ecstatic!
This video makes it look easy, but it really isn’t: those moves take changes of body weight that
are difficult to manage!

We spent about 2 hours climbing/bouldering, and left happy
and exhausted!

CityRock with the kids

I was particularly excited to go to CityRock tonight because
my kids were going with me. Thomas was a
given, but I had to bribe Emily with pizza.
She was tired because today was her first day of Driver’s Ed (8am-5pm
all week!). We ate pizza as I drove,
parked at First Pres, and walked over to CityRock.

Once again, it was packed for a Monday night. I’m not sure when it isn’t packed? I realized when we arrived I’d forgotten my
moleskin again. Oh well, I just prepared
myself to get blisters and put on my shoes.
I got to hold the chalk bag.

Thomas is in Rocky Mountain High, so he has quite a bit of
experience rock climbing. He was
impressed with the belay device we just got, and wanted to try it out. I know he knows his knots (being an Eagle
Scout and all), but it’s really cool to see him just use them. He did a great job! Oh, and I had no problems whatsoever with any
of mine. We’ll see what happens next
week…

We all climbed and Thomas and I belayed. I’m not great at belaying, but no one got
hurt. I need some more practice.

It was funny to see Thomas so serious about using the proper
commands and ensuring we tested the ropes out every time. I’m glad he takes safety so seriously!

Thomas and I raced each other at one point. He won, of course, but in my defense he’s had
more practice, I took the harder route, and he’s taller than I am.

We spent some time on the slackline and climbing rope. I was getting pretty good at walking across
the slackline by the end of the night. Thomas was the only one who could climb this

And balance like this…

I left to do some bouldering, and when I looked for the kids
again I noticed Thomas belaying Emily.
What a nice brother! I decided to
record them and get a view of the gym too, for those of who’re wondering what a
climbing gym looks like.

Remember that run I tried to do last week and failed? The 5.10-?
Well, this time I did it after I’d already successfully done about 4
runs and was successful: so now I can
saw I really was just tired last week!

Yes, I got blisters on my heels, but despite (or maybe
because of?) using chalk I got weird sores on my hands this time. You know when you’re in the pool too long and
your feet and toes get rubbed raw? That
was happening to my fingers and palms. I
seriously need to work up those calluses!
On a positive note, I still have my fingernails…

Towards the end I had Emily take a video of me doing an easy
bouldering wall. We actually spent quite
a bit of time bouldering today. One of
these days I’ll probably just boulder. I
tend to start out rock climbing because the gym gets busy and pretty soon the
belays are all taken, but that means I’m already tired when it’s time to
boulder.

We only stayed for about two hours, ending our night with
traversing. I seriously need to work on
shifting my balance while stationary, but I was able to complete the run
successfully.

One thing I realized was how important the belayer actually
is. Tim was much better at belaying than
Thomas. In other words, Tim was making
me look good (Thomas wasn’t bad, but there was a noticeable difference). It was easier to climb with a good belayer, as
they help lift you up. This must be why the
auto-belays aren’t so popular.

I loved being there with my kids! I’m excited to go back later this week with
all 3!

Climbing Day 3

Before leaving home I gathered my gear and put it all in one
spot so I wouldn’t forget stuff like last time, and then I quickly made dinner
and got changed out of my work clothes and into something I could climb
in. I only had 15 minutes before I had
to take Thomas to Boy Scouts, so I had to be quick. I looked for my moleskin (my climbing shoes
still need to be worked in and I figured I’d take some preventative measures),
but realized it was in my truck and my truck was still in the shop. This whole not having my truck thing is
getting inconvenient! So instead of the
moleskin I put a couple of Band-Aids on my heels and figured that would have to
work.

Tonight I actually didn’t do any bouldering. From the time I arrived until I left an hour
later Tim helped me with climbing. We
started with attaching the rope to the harness with a figure 8 follow through, and
discussing different types of carabineers.
Woohoo! I actually know my knots,
so I was excited to be doing something I considered easy. Well, at first it was, but for some reason I
wasn’t able to tie the knot successfully after that. Actually, I did tie it successfully a few
times, but not on a consistent basis. I
told myself it was because I was holding the rope a different way than I usually
do, and looping it through the harness, but that’s just an excuse, and I hate
excuses. Practice is what I need.

I’m not a good student because I get frustrated easily when
I don’t understand something or when I do something wrong. My defense mechanism is to change the subject
and move on as quickly as possible to the next thing. I’m not used to failing, so this knot-tying incompetency
hurt on a personal level and became a challenge and a focus for me the rest of
my night. The more I focused, the worse I did.
I’m sure my attitude became
challenging as well.

I’m not sure what was wrong with me, but I kept messing up
the knot, and it’s a really simple one!!!
When Tim asked me if I had any rope to practice on at home I tried not
to laugh: My basement is pretty much a
knots and lashing practice area for the girls, with a large 50 gallon bucket full
of ropes of all thicknesses and sizes. Yes,
I’d be practicing (probably as soon as I got home).

Seriously though, I do need some practice. I want to be able to tie the knot without
thinking, and I suppose that was the problem tonight: I was thinking too much about it.

Tim had hurt his shoulder (or so he says) so he belayed
while I climbed. I was able to successfully
complete three runs without falling, although it felt a little weird to just
lean back and have him control my descent.
They gym was crowded (although not as packed as it had been the previous
two weeks) and I didn’t want to hit the climbers below me, so I kept grabbing
at the holds on the wall to push myself away from the other climbers. Apparently this is frowned upon. I’m just supposed to fall backwards, pushing
back from the wall with my feet, but this simple act was difficult for me to
do. Another thing to work on!

The climbing shoes weren’t as uncomfortable as I’d thought
they would be, although they were stiff.
They fit well, but were bulky in the front (once again, similar to a tap
shoe). I think they’re supposed to be
like that, and after a few minutes I got used to them. However, I couldn’t help thinking how much
easier it would be to just climb barefoot (traction wise).

Climbing actually gets more difficult the longer you do
it. Well, to be fair, I wasn’t taking
breaks, which was probably the problem:
I was wearing myself out. After
the 4^th run my forearms started feeling tight. I’ve never experienced that before and it was
really a cool feeling. I could have done
without the veins showing though

On the 5^th run Tim gave me some advice: Stop for a second and rest. Ha! Obviously
he doesn’t know me very well. Stopping
and resting are two words not in my vocabulary.
I wasn’t able to stop (unless I was stuck), but he also told me to shake
out my arms and angle them down when they got sore, which worked amazingly
well! Something so simple gave me extra
strength. This must have something to do
with blood flow.

I tried a new kind of run today: He gave me advice on angling my arms to get
leverage that really helped! (Manteling?) I do push-ups, but will need to do more to
work on my upper body strength. He also
showed me how to dropknee, but I’m not convinced yet it will give me more
height (but theoretically it should). I
was just too tired by that point to try it successfully.

I also need to work on planning out my route. I just kind of go with it and look for the
right color holds. This often means
back-tracking a bit. It would do me well
to stop and plan a few holds ahead instead of just clambering towards the top. I
should use more chalk too. Several times
my hands just kept slipping no matter how many times I tried to reposition them,
and I think more chalk would have helped:
that must be why climbers attach chalk bags to their harnesses and don’t
leave them in their cubby with the rest of their gear…

The last run I did was brutal towards the end. I just didn’t have the strength left in my
arms to lift myself up that last bit, and I wasn’t patient enough to just sit
and wait for the strength to come back (I wasn’t sure it would tonight
anyhow). I ‘fell’ three times, and
finally just yelled down to Tim to let me come back down. I think I’m supposed
to say something like “Lower off” but that made me uncomfortable and sounded
weird: kind of like failure. I was only one hold from the top, and it was
the only run I didn’t complete tonight.
I think I can do it though, so if they don’t change the holds I’m going
to try it first next time to see if it was just an ‘I’m exhausted’ thing (and
not an ‘I can’t do this’ thing).

When I made it back down I decided to try and practice that
knot again. The hour passed very
quickly, and before I knew it it was past time for me to go: But I wasn’t done practicing that figure 8
follow through! I wanted to be able to
do it with my eyes closed, and consistently every single time I tried it. But
that wasn’t going to happen tonight. Oh
well. I have all week to practice!

Before I left Tim lent me a book to read Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. It’s all about climbing, and full of clarifying
illustrations. I have no time to read,
so it looks like I’m going to have to make time because there is a lot of really
great information in this book and I’ll feel bad keeping it until I give it
back to him (another area for growth… this list keeps getting longer and longer…lol!).

Oh, and lucky me, no blisters! I celebrated by putting my logo on the shoes,
branding them as officially mine 🙂

Bouldering Day 2

OK, so I’m a little embarrassed about this one. Emily didn’t want to climb today (she’s
thinking once a month sounds about right for her), but she did agree to go with
me and sit in the lounge area and draw.
I think it had something to do with getting pizza on the way…

When I was about half way there I remembered I’d left my chalk bag on
the counter. Whoops! I was also hoping to wear my new rock
climbing shoes today, but I still don’t have them. They came in the mail (twice) but each time
they were the wrong size (more on that once I actually fix this situation). So I rented some very well-fitting shoes and
headed straight for the climbing wall.

Once again there were a lot of people there tonight, and I wanted to
get some practice in before there weren’t any lines left available.

I was doing pretty good today. I
started with a 5.5, and then went on to 5.6, 5.7, & 5.8. Each time I’d successfully make it to the top
(using the correct color routes, of course) I’d try something a little
harder. I was doing great until I got to
5.9: I was two holds away from the top
when I lost my footing and fell. Luckily
I was on a pulley, so I didn’t fall too fast, but I did hit someone on the way
down. He was pretty close to where I was
on the wall next to me, and as soon as I fell I knocked into him (I didn’t have
time to realize what was going on before colliding). He was obviously a much better climber than I
as he was on a pretty difficult run. He
didn’t fall, but I could tell I had jostled him a bit. I apologized profusely, blamed
it on being a novice, and figured that was probably enough rock climbing for
today.

On to bouldering! The runs (I’m
not even sure if that’s what they’re called?) had been changed since last week,
so everything was a bit different.
However, this time I knew to follow the same color run, so I felt a bit
more confident. The lower wall was more
difficult to climb today than it had been last week (and I don’t think that run
had changed?) I decided to skip it and
take the stairs (side note: I came back
to it later and was successful).

My hands were slippery and I had several blisters already (once was
cracked and bleeding) and I’d forgotten my chalk, so I tried to “steal” chalk
from the counters by covertly wiping my hands across them where chalk had
settled from others. I know, I’m
pathetic. Next time I’ll offer some of
my chalk for free to someone to make up for it.

Once again I started with the easiest runs and worked my way up. 5.0-5.4 were easy and I was racing up each
run, over the wall, and back down to try the next in line. There were fewer people bouldering than
climbing, and it was easy to keep advancing without waiting for those around me
to climb.

Then I came to a run that was a bit more difficult. I don’t remember the class, but I was one
hold from the top when I lost my balance and fell. No, I didn’t fall away from the wall like you’re
supposed to, ad I didn’t anticipate the fall.
This time was worse than the first time because I was sideways when I
fell, and my arm hit a couple of holds on the way down. I landed on my backside, not seriously hurt
because of the mats below me (I fell about 10 feet). I didn’t look at my arm when I landed, but I could
tell I’d bruised it pretty well. It felt
like a nasty rug burn.

I looked around and no one seemed as embarrassed as I was about my
fall, so I picked an easier run, climbed just to prove to myself I could, and
then made my way back down to the lower climbing area to lick my wounds where
no one would know what I’d just done.

This time it actually hurt worse than it looked (usually it’s the
opposite). I asked the lady at the front desk if she had
any Vaseline and she looked at me like I was crazy. I guess my type of injury isn’t common.

I made it back down to the lower area and found a couple I’d met earlier
who offered to let me climb with them when they found out I was alone and new
to climbing. I’m really uncomfortable
making friends when I can’t reciprocate, so I didn’t take them up on their
offer to let me climb while they belayed, but I did stand and watch them for a
bit. This is something I need to work
on, but I know it will take me a while to accept help/friendship. I’m slow to
warm, but working on it!

Climbing Gym

I’ve been thinking about joining a climbing gym for a few
months now, but the closest one is about 30 minutes away from my house. It’s about $60 a month to join, which didn’t
seem too appealing since I just discontinued my actual gym membership. They did offer free yoga classes and one free
massage a month with the membership, which was really appealing, but I didn’t
like the distance. Plus if I were paying
$60 a month to climb I’d be there several times a week, which would mean an
added cost in gas as well. Did I mention I’d have to pay to park too? Ugh! But I really need to develop my rock climbing
skills for my 14er challenge: I need to
feel safer out there while climbing, and that’s only going to come with
practice.

So I did some research, and found a much cheaper option: A ‘punch pass’. I pay up front, get 10 visits, and can use
them for anyone I choose (I can bring a friend with me, etc.). I was trying to justify time for using the
pass when I remembered Thomas has scouts Monday nights directly across the
street from the climbing gym. Duh! I could just go with him to scouts and while
he’s there walk across the street and get in some climbing practice instead of
sitting there at the meeting knitting hats.
Brilliant! Why did it take me so
long to figure this out?

Anyway, tonight was my first attempt at this whole climbing
thing. I’ve been to this gym several
times, but I’ve never actually climbed here.
I’ve always been a chaperone taking scouts or for birthday parties. I’ve never climbed in any gym before, but I
have been rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon a few times.

Emily went with me.
We dropped Thomas off at Boy Scouts and then walked together to the
gym. I bought the punch pass and we used
two immediately. They let us use a
harness and shoes for free (the harness is always free, the shoes were to make
up for the fact we had to fill out liability forms again).

It was Monday night at 7pm, and this gym was packed! There were tons of climbers there!

I found the last cubby open to store our stuff and we put on
our climbing shoes and harnesses. Normally
when I’m attempting something new I stand around for a bit and watch everyone
around me to see how it’s done, but there were so many people I figured it was
best to just jump right in and find a place to climb.

I found an open area and attached the carabineer to my
harness. This was actually a lot more
difficult than I’d thought it would be:
It wasn’t a simple push down and turn like I’d expected, and despite
trying my best I never quite got the hang of it. I was able to eventually clip in, but I’m
sure I looked like I had no idea what I was doing, even toward the end of the
night after doing it several times.

Climbing was much easier than I’d anticipated! I made it all the way to the top in no time
at all, and was quite pleased with myself.
However, I wasn’t ready to just jump off and let the pulley carry me
down, so I ended up climbing back down the way I’d climbed up, and told myself
I was practicing because while outside I’d need to climb back down the way I
went up (yes, I was lying to myself, kind of).

OK, this was fun! I
was actually able to climb to the top without stopping, and on my first
try! I went to find Emily (she’d been in
the bathroom taking care of a bloody nose) and challenged her to climb with
me. We did a couple of runs together,
and she convinced me to jump backwards and fall all the way down. From the top of a climb I took a leap of
faith and jumped backwards, letting the pulley slowly carry me back down to the
floor. It was actually quite fun! Just make sure you’re actually secured and
clipped in first…

Now on to bouldering, because this was why I was actually
here. This scared me more than climbing
because I wouldn’t be clipped in. Once
again, this was easier than I’d anticipated, and I was able to quickly catch on
and climb up and over the wall(s). I
went to take a break and find Emily. She
was climbing the same area we’d been climbing before, and it was here I realized
something: when climbing the walls you’re
supposed to stick to one color of holds as you progress up. Whoops!
No wonder everything seemed so easy!
I’m going to have to spend some time learning about different classes
(etc.) of climbing.

OK, so I felt a bit silly about my climbing optimism (no
wonder it’d been so easy!) and decided to try it for ‘real’. I took a few runs, sticking to only one
color, and while it was more challenging I was able to climb them all successfully
except one. I kept trying that one over
and over again, but instead of getting easier it was just getting more
difficult. I was getting tired! I knew what I needed to do, but my arms were
worn out. We’d been at the gym for about
an hour, and I’d been climbing almost continuously. Now even runs I’d done successfully earlier I
wasn’t able to climb. I told myself to
stop now because I was wearing myself out.

I went down the slide one more time (I can’t remember the
last time I went on a slide!) and we changed out of our gear.

All in all I learned a LOT tonight. Everyone was pretty friendly, and even though the gym was packed it didn’t feel too crowded. I want to eventually learn how to belay (including putting on the ropes, etc) and I need to get better at bouldering. I think it will just come with more practice.