And boy are my arms tired
A week ago, someone in our rock climbing group said he'd seen someone try to climb one of the easy routes using only his hands. We tried this, of course, but only made it about halfway to the top of the 30-foot climb. We resolved to try it again the following week at the beginning of the evening when our arms would be fresh.
So last night we gave it a go and did much better. Eric, who has only just started climbing, made it an impressive third of the way. Michael and Brad made it almost to the top. I went last and by climbing really fast was able to make it all the way to the top before my arms gave out. Now that one person has shown that it's possible, I'm pretty certain that next time both Michael and Brad will also succeed. They're better climbers than I, but I may have them beat on strength-to-weight ratio. Eric is a natural and once he gets up to speed, I think he'll be able to do it too.
On the next climb (a different route, a class 5.10), only Brad made it to the top. On the climb after that (another 5.10), only Michael made it past the dyno move that requires leaping like a gecko and grabbing a hold with one hand.
It's good to take turns.
Another highlight of the evening was talking a little girl down from the top of the bouldering wall. She discovered that down climbing is much harder than up climbing. She'd make a downward move or two, but then instinctively climb back up to where she could rest an arm over the top of the wall. She eventually made it down far enough that I could reach her and she felt comfortable letting go.
I wasn't worried. I figured that if nothing else worked, we could put a bowl of food on the floor and she would come down when she got hungry.