Rock Climbing: A Valiant Effort

Let me preface this post by saying that I have finally found an activity that I truly do not enjoy in the least. However, that certainly doesn’t mean that others don’t greatly enjoy it – and you very well might, too! I’m always an advocate of trying something at least once, so if you’ve never attempted indoor rock climbing, I urge you to try it! Perhaps you’ll fare better than I did …   

Yesterday Dave and I went to Turner Hall, an old building on 4^th Street that has a restaurant and a banquet hall upstairs, and a gymnastics gym and climbing gym in the basement.

We walked in right behind a group of about ten sorority girls who were all first-time climbers. We waited probably 15 minutes while they all signed waivers and got their shoes and harnesses, and then it was our turn. This was the second weekend in a row that I was signing a form that mentioned possible “paralysis or death.”



The climbing gym is open to the public on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on Sunday afternoons from 1-5. The people who work there are volunteers, and the two guys working there, Tom and Dan, were very helpful. We got the impression that it wasn’t usually so crowded and that today was an exception. A family of four came in right after us, and a few more seasoned climbers were already on the walls and looked more and more irked as the people kept streaming in.
A day pass is $5, and a pass with a lesson in belaying is $10. We paid our $10 each and waited until Dan got the family checked in and then we took our lesson with them.

While the sorority girls climbed the walls nearby, Dan demonstrated to us how to tie a figure-eight knot, which secures the climber to the rope. We practiced that a bit, and then we learned how to attach the rope to the person who isn’t climbing, the person who acts as the belay, or “object” that the climber is attached to.



The thought of climbing a wall while only attached to another person – and putting my complete trust in his abilities to hold me up – made me extremely nervous at first, but the hardware really makes it quite safe and sturdy.

We learned how the conversation should go each time someone is ready to climb:

Climber: "On belay?"
Belayer: "Belay on."
Climber: "Climbing."
Belayer: "Climb on."

(This all reminded me of "Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth." Or “Game On!")

Dave climbed first, and it turns out that we had picked a pretty tough spot to start on, so he didn’t make it all the way up. We untied ourselves and moved to a better area. He tried again and this time made it all the way.

A kind woman, who came in with her family after us, offered to take some pictures of us climbing. We wouldn’t have had any photographic evidence if it weren’t for her!



Belaying was easy to catch on to, but not overly easy to physically do. You have to hold the rope above you with your left hand and pull the slack continuously with your right hand. It doesn’t slide easily – otherwise, the climber wouldn’t be very secure. But it got tiresome on the arm pretty quickly.

When it’s time to let the climber down, you hold your right arm at your side and let the rope slide through your fingers, and with your left hand, press down on the hardware you’re attached to, which lets the rope slide easy. You don’t want to let the person down too fast, but you don’t want to stop them in the middle of their descent, either. It took me a few tries to get the swing of it – I jerked Dave to a stop in midair a few times and he came down and said “You do want babies, right?” Whoops.

I’d prefer to skim over the part where I talk about how I climbed. But I won’t.

I made three attempts but I never did make it to the top. I got pretty close the last two times, but I was never able to “kiss the bar” as they told us to. It was really frustrating to not be able to get to the top – I usually can catch on to most things and hold my own, but I pretty much sucked yesterday. I think Dave was disappointed – he told me I gave up too easily. This made me mad – I told him he could be with a girl who can’t even throw a freakin ball. God forbid, I can’t do one little thing.



The hand and foot holds on the walls vary in size, and many of them are really, really small. Barely even worthy of being called a “hold.” Trying to hang onto or get your footing on one of these is hard. Gripping them and using so much finger and arm muscle is something you’re not used to – my forearms were on fire when I came down, and they’re still sore today.

The second time I climbed was the worst – I had like four people on the ground yelling at me, telling me which holds to use and what to do next, and I just couldn’t do it. I wanted to yell “Thanks for trying to help but LEAVE ME ALONE!” But I didn’t. I just came down, defeated.

Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood for rock climbing yesterday. Because when I tried those few times at Laacke and Joys, I made it to the top and I thought it was pretty fun. I think that wall was less challenging than these, though. And I bet it doesn’t help that I’m not exactly in the best shape of my life right now either. (I’m working on it, though! I just ordered new running shoes!)

Dave ended up going up about four more times. He got a bit frustrated at one point when we both just blanked on how to tie the knot, but after about ten minutes, we figured it out. (Yeah, I know, we could have asked for help. But we didn’t.)

When he’d had his fill (or ok, when I said, “I am not belaying for you anymore. The Oscars are almost on"), we left, walking to our car in the falling snow. I was grumpy and sore, but I got over it.

So like I said, if you’ve never tried rock climbing, I recommend giving it a shot. It’s a challenge, so you can be very proud if you can pick it up with ease. I know Dave really enjoys it, and (blah blah) I don’t want him to think I’m a wimp, so I’m sure I’ll try it again.

Eventually.

Comments

[Derek]

Way to go! At least you gave it a try. My wife's been bugging..er, encouraging me to try it too. There is also a wall at REI out on W. Capital. One of these days I'll give it a shot.

[kelly]

I've climbed the wall at REI a bunch of times. I used to go every summer with this leadership camp for teenagers I used to coordinate. There were definitely hard and easy sides of those walls too. I thought I was a hot shot being able to get to the top so fast and easy on the easiest side of the wall...but the hard ones are really hard. I am sure you made a good attempt.

[Mark]

Aww Erin! You sound so bummed about your trip! Thanks a TON for posting this one... I never knew Turner Hall had a climbing gym in it. I'm hiking on the appalachian trail in a couple weeks, so I'm thinkin I know where my Sunday afternoon will be spent.

[David Ernst]

Neat to learn that Turner Hall is still in operation. It was started by German imagrants back in the 1800's. The Germans felt that a healthy body produced a healthy mind and thus stressed physical activity. No couch potatoes in those days!!!!

[Paul]

Hey Erin

Thanks for checking out my site. I like yours a lot so that’s why I put the link. I'm going to go try out this climbing gym sometime soon. It seems fun. I never tried it before, even though I've wanted to.

Ballroom dancing is very fun too. Its cool you’re doing it.

If you ever need a photographer for your site let me know. I'd be glad to help you out.

Paul