Climbing Update: Lead Climbing!

Just a quick update today.

I got back into climbing regularly in October and was really nervous about starting again…more like scared.

A month later, I was excited about climbing again. I was climbing harder routes, trying new things, and even showing Alex up on some routes!

5 months later and I’m now back to scared…with a dash of excitement. Alex wanted to try lead climbing in the gym and signed us up for classes to get certified to climbing at our gym. This is the type of climbing where you bring the rope up the wall with you and clipping into the protection on the wall as you go. It’s different than top rope climbing because top rope climbing has the rope already on the wall with an anchor set at the top…it’s like somebody’s done the job for you (top roping) versus doing the work yourself (lead climbing).

What’s so scary about that?

The falling.

I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of the falling. I hate that stomach dropping feeling that happens on roller coasters or even when there’s a dip in the road so falling 10 feet (in the case where I climb past my anchor on the way to the next one and fall off the wall) is my nightmare. The first time I took a fall during class I screamed so loudly that the entire gym stopped. Embarrassing is an understatement.

I froze up during my test when I was required to take a big fall because the night before I saw somebody flip upside-down as he fell off of an overhand (so so so scary!) and a woman injure her foot really badly during her lead climbing test (she was belaying without shoes on and ended up hitting the wall because her climbing partner is heavier than her…she sliced her foot open on a climbing hold and there was so much blood).

I passed the test and ended up re-taking the test to help a friend from the climbing class pass his test. Alex asked me to partner with the other guy so I could practice taking another fall…I refused at first but knew he was right that I needed to take another fall in order to (slowly) get over my aversion for it :)

Next up: Learning to lead trad climb and sport climbing outdoors at Red Rocks Rendezvous at the end of the month! I’m also hoping to sneak away to Joshua Tree in April for some bouldering in the quiet desert.

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