New Heights

It's been a busy December, filled with finals and family, but now it's 2012 and I'm back on the bandwagon. I finished my lead climbing class in December, but I still have to take my test to get lead certified. For now, the boyfriend and I are getting back into climbing and we've climbed 3 of the past 5 days.

I'm happy to say that I haven't lost a lot of my ability, and can still comfortably call 10a's. My muscles don't feel quite as strong, but I'm sure that'll change soon.

More excitingly, Vertical World opened up a new gym in Seattle this past month with 60 foot high walls. We went there for the first time today, and it's quite a sight. The bouldering is fairly nice, but limited. The big showcase is the huge lead climbing wall and lots of awesome top roping routes. My first route, there definitely was an intimidation factor, but I just kept pushing and made it to the top without incident. After that, it was much less terrifying, although I'm sure it'll still take a little while before I'm completely comfortable with it. Also, belaying Tom on these routes is certainly interesting when he takes a fall. Several times, we've ended up at the same height, dangling in the air.

Notable accomplishments today are flashing a 10a on a 50 foot wall and getting halfway up a 12b slab route. It is nothing but bright orange chips, sprinkled over the wall. Even the finish hold is just a tiny ledge for finger pads and not very kind.

My left elbow has twinged since I started up climbing regularly again, but I'm hoping this will go away. It isn't affecting my climbing and it isn't super painful, but something to keep an eye on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I ended up climbing once in Rhode Island when I went home to visit family. I have to say that it wasn't the best experience. The routes were really reachy, and I found myself in a bit of a discussion with the guy who was belay testing me. The gym supports only ATC belaying, and as a result, they have a rule that every belayer must anchor in to a daisy chain that's fixed to the ground. I told the guy I wasn't comfortable anchoring in, and he told me that it was policy and that the manager might come over and talk to me if I didn't. I explained that I disagreed with adding hard shocks to the system when Tom takes a fall when I could easily just pop up a couple feet and soften the catch. I'm glad that I stood my ground (pun not intended, but amusing) and decided not to use the anchor. No one ever came over and talked to me, but I was definitely willing to debate the issue if necessary. It's cool to know that I'm learning more and more about the safety of my equipment and can make good decisions.

Also, I wonder if climbers in Rhode Island don't tend to have the same fear of climbing as climbers in Seattle do. There seems to be a different mood over here, where people are training for epic mountains. In RI, it seemed a bit more relaxed and recreational, but maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Just an interesting thought I had while I was there.