You want me to get there how???

Last Saturday, I did indoor climbing for the first time. My friend Jesse, whose been doing indoor climbing for nine months, invited me to her gym for some indoor climbing. Game for pretty much anything athletic, I accepted her invitation.

While we waited for Jesse's friend Hannah to join us, Jesse helped me get into my harness and showed me how to make a figure eight loop with a rope. When Hannah arrived, we were ready to head for the climbing walls. My first climb was a 5.5 climb. All of the walls have various climbing routes that are marked by colored tape. (Rather than try and explain the rating system, I've copied and pasted Touchstones' explanation: "Roped routes use the Yosemite Decimal System, in which every number is preceded by a '5' to indicate technical climbing - followed by a dot - followed by a number from 1 to 14 which indicates increasing difficulty. Hence, a climb rated 5.3 is relatively easy while a 5.13 is the domain of the elite.")

I was a bit nervous getting up the 5.5 route and noticed that my palms got sweaty relatively quickly (I attribute that to my nerves). I can't recall if I made it to the top of my first route but I do remember doing it twice.

We then proceeded to a 5.6 climb and, though I struggled with it, I made it to the top.

Throughout my climbs, Jesse and Hannah kept reminding me to use my legs more than my arms but my instinctive reaction was to use more arm power than leg power. There were times when I got stuck in the middle of a route because the next step seemed almost impossible to make (e.g., I had to extend my right leg far to the right and stand on that leg so I can reach for the next climbing hold above me.) There were times when Jesse and Hannah had to yell out directions toward the next climbing hold because the holds were hard to see from my vantage point. I remember looking over my left shoulder and seeing how far away the ground appeared to me. Damn, that made me nervous!

Although I did make it to the top of most of my climbs, there was at least one wherein I just couldn't reach the top. When I got to the middle of the route, I froze! I was scared to get around the "ledge". Jesse and Hannah yelled at me to move my left leg to a particular hold above me but my leg would not budge out of fear. At one point, I slid off the wall. That's when I realized that I was going to be o.k. because I was securely fastened to my harness and I had confidence in Jesse's belaying skills. (A belayer is the person who controls the rope fed out to the climber.)



Towards the end of our two and a half hour workout, Jesse and Hannah and encouraged me to climb the bouldering wall. The bouldering wall is about 12-15 feet high, with routes of varying difficulties. While this wall is not as high as the other walls, you climb it sans rope. So, if you fall, there's no harness to protect you (although there is a mat immediately below the wall to cushion your fall should you fall.) I was a bit scared and failed to climb to the top on my first attempt but I did make it to the top on my second attempt.



At the end of my indoor climbing experience, I realized that indoor climbing is as mentally taxing as it is physically challenging. Although you have routes laid out for you, you still have to make decisions as far as what's your next best hold. Should you go for that hold to your far right or go for that hold above you on your left?

I also learned that indoor climbing is great for working on any trust and or fear issues you may have. You have to trust the person below you who is feeding you your rope and you have to trust yourself to know that you can take that next step. As far as the fear, you have to get past it to make it to the top of your climb.

The next time I go indoor climbing, I hope to be less nervous and more daring.

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Oh yeah, it's measurements time:

QUADS: 56 CM (damn, this isn't the type of consistency I want!)
CALVES: 37 cm
BICEPS: 28 cm