Rock Climbing, Getting Stronger

Those of you who have read my blog may know that I've only really been climbing since July.   July 23rd was the day I learned how to belay and actually started technical (with safety gear, ropes, harness, etc) rock climbing, it hasn't even been quite six months, yet.

If you know the grading scale for rock climbing you'll know a 5.10 is a fairly difficult climb, one that definitely takes quite a bit of technique and strength.  While I've done a couple of 5.10a's and a 5.10b or two in the past tonight I topped out on my first 5.10c.*

Back in August or September I was shadowing an Intro to Climbing class, the teacher was having the lone student belay me for practice, he suggested I get on a 5.10b or c, saying it was his favorite climb in the whole gym.  Not knowing the grading scale very well still I hesitantly agreed.  After a dozen or more falls getting under half way up the wall I quit.  Had I known then that climbs only stay up for 12 weeks or so I would've made more effort to get up that one.  On the other hand, I'm glad I didn't spend a lot of time on that.  I bouldered a lot in my first couple months, which helped build up strength that I need for all rock climbing, I'm not sure I'd be where I am if I hadn't spend so much time bouldering.

I do believe that working at Monkey Trunks help me get over my heights fear enough to get me rock climbing successfully.  Plus the autobelay I tried once or twice while setting up the rock wall there gave me a little taste.  Another thing that made it easier for me was dance.  Movement-wise I make more interesting moves with more high feet, and pressing off lower holds with my hand rather than pulling myself up ever if possible.  The flexibility I earned from dancing all these years definitely helped me progress faster than I would have otherwise.

Overtime I accomplish something new while climbing I think one step closer to my goals.  I climb a slightly harder route than I've done before, and I become more and more inspired to get better and go to the next step.  The next step for me is ice climbing.  Which I will post more about when it happens!

Now I am able to do every type of climbing Salt Pump offers; Bouldering, Top Roping, and Lead climbing, all within six months of climbing.  My fingers, and forearms still get sore after a couple days in a row of climbing, but I feel stronger after every session.  I have a couple of friends who I climb with often now, I'll be moving outside soon for some winter climbing, and then outdoor rock climbing this spring.  I've got a wonderful support group of people who want to get better, and want me to get better.  The rock climbing community remain some of the most supportive, friendly people I've met, possibly the most supportive and friendly community I've ever been involved in.  If it's available to you, I highly recommend climbing, even if you don't have the strongest upper body, or if you're scared of heights, or any other reason you might have for not climbing.  There are rocks pretty much everywhere, go climb some.


*For those of you who don't know: 5. means fifth class, it's part of the "Yosemite Decimal System" the grading scale we use in the USA.  The second number tells you how hard it is.  Once you get to 5.10 they add letters, just to make it way more confusing.  5.11a is harder than 5.10d but easier than 5.11b.  Once it gets to d it goes to the next number grade.

Sense of Adventure

Ever since I was little I've had a strong sense of adventure.  There are a couple of things I remember wanting to do as a career, such as:

• Storm Chaser/Meteorologist
• First person to walk on Mars
• Oceanographer/Marine Biologist
• Employee of the Australian Zoo (Steve Irwin was my hero, RIP)
• Archeologist

I can remember making lists of all the careers I'd wanted to have, the most I remember was 18, I had them in order of what I wanted to do first, also! 

Now, of course, my goals are a bit different, but I seem to have kept, or rediscovered, the adventurous spirit I've had through most of my life.  It drives me to achieve new goals everyday.  It's the reason I work at a high ropes course, and a climbing gym, the reason I wouldn't settle for just whatever job I could find.  The reason I'm not going to college, and instead I'm working to save money to hike the AT.  The reason I'm writing this blog in the first place.

I went to an Oceanography summer camp a few summers ago, because when I was 15 or 16 I had decided to become a Marine Biologist, my favorite animals were sharks, and I had to pick a career at some point, so why not just work with sharks?  It was thanks to this camp that I rediscovered how much adventure meant to me.

I earned four college credits for the camp, I enjoyed the course work, and it seemed like I would be content following that line of work for the rest of my life.  Then, we went snorkeling, and hiking, and dock jumping (which I'd never done, and didn't really end well, but I'm glad I did it), and after those two short weeks everything had started to click.  Within a year I'd started making my list, and shortly after that this blog was born.

Hard work went into that camp, I saved over $600 for it in under six months by teaching dance and babysitting, and I wrote an essay about why I wanted to be a Marine Biologist for a $500 scholarship.  "Just imagining  all the weird, creepy, beautiful, or just amazing creatures that may be lurking in the depths of unexplored caves, or sea floors, or reefs fill me with a kind of excitement that is easily compared to 'a kid in a candy store'" - A quote from my original, unedited essay.

A lot of my friends have a strong sense of adventure also, and I guess that was the inspiration for this post.  Many people lose their sense of adventure or passion for a certain subject because of things like job security, or just general wage differences.  I know people who are going into certain fields just because they'll make a lot of money, and not necessarily because they enjoy that work.  I also know people who will talk passionately about the field they are entering that will not earn them much money, just because it's what they enjoy doing.  The latter are my favorite kind of people.

I hope you all still have an adventurous spirit, even if your adventures aren't things like climbing the tallest mountains in the world, even if they just involve writing fantasy novels, or driving school buses for a living.