Climbing
So when I got home on Friday night, I was just going to chill out at the house. My plans went arwy, however, at the realisation that there was no power whatsoever in my house. Now, it's not beyond me to forget to pay a bill as basic as the power bill, but this was fortunately not the case. Across the street from me, a power wire had fallen down and they'd closed off the street.
So I decided to go climbing with my newfound equipment instead. Only, I needed shoes and a belay device. And rather than going to Prime Climb to get them, I went to the mall. The reasons for this are twofold: (1) I don't know what kind of sizes Prime Climb carries and would definitely like to try the shoes on, and (2) EMS sometimes runs deals and I may be able to hook up with a price cut.
This was the case! They had some Spires that were 90 bucks and fit great, and some Anazazi velcros that totally jammed my big toe but were on sale from 130 to 113. One would think that I would go for the Spires like a normal human being, but the salesman made the valid-seeming point that the shoes would stretch on my feet and would be more comfortable as time wore on. In truth, I didn't have any trouble with their fit *while* I was climbing, and since they've velcros they slip on and off pretty easily. I got size 44 (10.5 mens) and they fit pretty well. I probably should have gotten 43, but . . . *shrug*. I'll probably only notice a difference when I do a heel hook. Also, the Spires are a very entry-level shoe, and VERY common, and hence I didn't want them. I'm not an entry level climber, even though I climb like it now, and my footwork is pretty good. Once I build up strength in my fingers and forearms I'll be back climbing the harder stuff, and these Anazazis will help me out a bit over the Spires.
So I purchased 170 bucks worth of equipment:
the Five Ten Anazazi velcros
the Petzl Reverso
a chalk bag and some chalk. I didn't need the reverso, chalk bag, or chalk, but I wanted them so I got them. And saw that the reverso was 4 bucks cheaper at Prime Climb!
The other piece of climbing equipment that really matters is my climbing harness, which is pictured here:
So I went to Prime Climb, paid for a monthly pass (60 bucks, good deal if I climb more than 4 times in 30 days, or at least once a week), took my belay and tie in test, and went climbing. Since I didn't come with a partner, and most people climbing there had partners, I first went to the bouldering wall. This was my first real humbling experience. You see, I used to climb 5.11c/d, and now I can hardly hold on to the small stuff. I was barely able to make it anywhere on that overhanging wall because of my lack of finger, tendon, and forearm strength. Once I realised I was over my head, I started looking to the slab wall in the same room. There were some people climbing there and somehow they mentioned that one of the routes at the base of this wall was no hands. So I did it, after failing twice. My balance is also somewhat off, but more in-tact than my finger strength for sure! I went off to hit the bouldering cave after this.
Now, this may seem like a crazy thing to do given my realization on the bouldering wall. However, the cave has a roof on it and very large jugs for me to hold on to. These jugs aren't going to be hitting my finger strength so much as my forearm strength, and so I could play there for a little while. I did, with a pair of teens. But in this cave it's very hot and stuffy, and I was sweating pretty good by the end with my forearms kind of pumped.
I went back to the other climbing area (pretty much because I had no where else to go) and was going to hit the boulding wall again over there or climb something else when the pair of people I had spoken to before asked me if I wanted to climb with them. They were both pretty blown and were going to split soon, and I did a climb. There was a 5.7 I was able to do *most* of. At the top, my strength was totally gone and I knew I would never make it to the next hold, maybe 3 feet away from the biners at the top. So I said: "Take" and heard "What?" from below. I just leaned back and let him lower me down. He asked me if I'd like to do another, and I said I was pretty blown but that I could do the slab (as this is not even vertical, it's pretty easy on the arms). We found another 5.7 there that looked kind of crazy. I had to mantle up on a hold, grab the next hold, and then place my foot on the mantle hold. All in all, the climb was actually quite nice: kudos to the route setter.
After this, I offered to belay for him and he said he'd like to do the "crack". This was in the other room. The wall had a bunch of yellow tagged holds, and to the right of it on a tangential wall was a fist-sized crack. He used that in shimmy fashion to get up to the top. After that, we called it a day and I drove home nice and pumped, with very little hand strength left.
So I decided to go climbing with my newfound equipment instead. Only, I needed shoes and a belay device. And rather than going to Prime Climb to get them, I went to the mall. The reasons for this are twofold: (1) I don't know what kind of sizes Prime Climb carries and would definitely like to try the shoes on, and (2) EMS sometimes runs deals and I may be able to hook up with a price cut.
This was the case! They had some Spires that were 90 bucks and fit great, and some Anazazi velcros that totally jammed my big toe but were on sale from 130 to 113. One would think that I would go for the Spires like a normal human being, but the salesman made the valid-seeming point that the shoes would stretch on my feet and would be more comfortable as time wore on. In truth, I didn't have any trouble with their fit *while* I was climbing, and since they've velcros they slip on and off pretty easily. I got size 44 (10.5 mens) and they fit pretty well. I probably should have gotten 43, but . . . *shrug*. I'll probably only notice a difference when I do a heel hook. Also, the Spires are a very entry-level shoe, and VERY common, and hence I didn't want them. I'm not an entry level climber, even though I climb like it now, and my footwork is pretty good. Once I build up strength in my fingers and forearms I'll be back climbing the harder stuff, and these Anazazis will help me out a bit over the Spires.
So I purchased 170 bucks worth of equipment:
the Five Ten Anazazi velcros
the Petzl Reverso
a chalk bag and some chalk. I didn't need the reverso, chalk bag, or chalk, but I wanted them so I got them. And saw that the reverso was 4 bucks cheaper at Prime Climb!
The other piece of climbing equipment that really matters is my climbing harness, which is pictured here:
So I went to Prime Climb, paid for a monthly pass (60 bucks, good deal if I climb more than 4 times in 30 days, or at least once a week), took my belay and tie in test, and went climbing. Since I didn't come with a partner, and most people climbing there had partners, I first went to the bouldering wall. This was my first real humbling experience. You see, I used to climb 5.11c/d, and now I can hardly hold on to the small stuff. I was barely able to make it anywhere on that overhanging wall because of my lack of finger, tendon, and forearm strength. Once I realised I was over my head, I started looking to the slab wall in the same room. There were some people climbing there and somehow they mentioned that one of the routes at the base of this wall was no hands. So I did it, after failing twice. My balance is also somewhat off, but more in-tact than my finger strength for sure! I went off to hit the bouldering cave after this.
Now, this may seem like a crazy thing to do given my realization on the bouldering wall. However, the cave has a roof on it and very large jugs for me to hold on to. These jugs aren't going to be hitting my finger strength so much as my forearm strength, and so I could play there for a little while. I did, with a pair of teens. But in this cave it's very hot and stuffy, and I was sweating pretty good by the end with my forearms kind of pumped.
I went back to the other climbing area (pretty much because I had no where else to go) and was going to hit the boulding wall again over there or climb something else when the pair of people I had spoken to before asked me if I wanted to climb with them. They were both pretty blown and were going to split soon, and I did a climb. There was a 5.7 I was able to do *most* of. At the top, my strength was totally gone and I knew I would never make it to the next hold, maybe 3 feet away from the biners at the top. So I said: "Take" and heard "What?" from below. I just leaned back and let him lower me down. He asked me if I'd like to do another, and I said I was pretty blown but that I could do the slab (as this is not even vertical, it's pretty easy on the arms). We found another 5.7 there that looked kind of crazy. I had to mantle up on a hold, grab the next hold, and then place my foot on the mantle hold. All in all, the climb was actually quite nice: kudos to the route setter.
After this, I offered to belay for him and he said he'd like to do the "crack". This was in the other room. The wall had a bunch of yellow tagged holds, and to the right of it on a tangential wall was a fist-sized crack. He used that in shimmy fashion to get up to the top. After that, we called it a day and I drove home nice and pumped, with very little hand strength left.
posted by Adam Skinner at 9/12/2004 08:56:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home