well, you know how that finishes. It’s the method that can sometimes cause problems.
I’ve been climbing with a friend, for a couple of weeks now, and quite enjoying it. Only lower levels, for the moment (UK 4a, b and some c climbs)... and only top-rope climbs. My friend (one of my cousin’s friends; an Aussie girl, whom I shall call Gordo) usually does some bouldering whilst she waits for the usually-late me to arrive, but I hadn’t tried that… until yesterday.
Gordo and I booked into a basic movement class, to get some tips, and improve our technique (I use the term loosely). The class focussed on bouldering, and of the four students, I was the only one who hadn’t bouldered before. Not such a big deal, I thought. At least, not until we tried a ladder problem.
The climbing gym runs a competition, where they set different bouldering routes, and you have to work your way through them, and figure out how to complete them (up, and down again). I had no difficulting climbing to the top. That was the easy part. It was when I realised that I needed to climb down again, that I struck a bit of trouble.
Top-rope climbing doesn’t involve climbing down. You reach the top, and are lowered down with a rope, by the person belaying you. If you fall, the rope stops you from falling to the ground… which would not be pleasant from those heights.
No rope on the boulder routes. As I hesitated at the top of the climb, and looked down at the footholds below me, my brain started generating the possible scary (and painful) outcomes of a mis-step. My hands started sweating, which didn’t help matters any. Now I had to worry about both my hands and my feet. I can’t tell you how many times I muttered obscenities under my breath.
The silly thing is that, whilst I was having a minor panic attack… I was still worried about making sure I followed the route back down, using only the marked footholds.
What got me down, in the end, was deciding that one way or another, I was going to eventually be at the bottom of the climb… and I finally managed to make the first step of the descent.
What I learnt from this experience was that climbing to the top, before considering the next step, is not at all smart. The rest of the course, I limited how high I climbed. This is not to say that I won’t eventually be climbing to the top. I just need to learn how to climb down, before I do.
It’s hard work climbing, btw. Every movement today reminds me of yesterday. Ouch.
