Whole new ways to scare myself witless
omigodomigodomigodomigod, we lead climbed!
At the gym, unsupervised, using our very own rope and gear, memeatron and I each took turns lead climbing a route!
It's the perfect cure for boredom born of complacency, I tell ya. When I get super scared, all my skills scamper away and leave me clinging bent-armed and panicky on the wall. Every handhold seemed impossibly crimpy and every foothold a nightmare of sketchiness. It was like being a brand new climber all over again.
Lead climbing is the ultimate trust exercise.
Gri-gris are autolocking. Your belayer can be half-asleep and you'll be fine. But an ATC takes constant attention, thorough training, and a graceful intuition about rope tension. And the falls are much longer.
(Fun fact: "ATC", the Black Diamond brand of belay device, stands for "Air Traffic Controller." Hilarious. Really.)
There are a million wrong ways to clip into a bolt, ranging from inconvenient to deadly. If you step around your rope wrong, and then fall, you can leave yourself vulnerable to whipping ass over teacup and smashing the back of your skull on the rock. And your belayer is a newbie at this, too.
Then for fun, you switch roles and put the most important person in your life on the end of a string that you're responsible for, and hope that you remember all your training.
By now you're wondering what on earth would make me think this is fun. With practice, it gets less scary. Scaring yourself but then persevering is very satisfying, and makes stupid shit like project plans and public speaking engagements into a cake walk. Testing trust strengthens the relationship. Outside, when the air is crisp and the stone is dry, the view is amazing. It makes your arms look badass. Watching your sweetie climb is totally hot.
At the gym, unsupervised, using our very own rope and gear, memeatron and I each took turns lead climbing a route!
It's the perfect cure for boredom born of complacency, I tell ya. When I get super scared, all my skills scamper away and leave me clinging bent-armed and panicky on the wall. Every handhold seemed impossibly crimpy and every foothold a nightmare of sketchiness. It was like being a brand new climber all over again.
Lead climbing is the ultimate trust exercise.
Gri-gris are autolocking. Your belayer can be half-asleep and you'll be fine. But an ATC takes constant attention, thorough training, and a graceful intuition about rope tension. And the falls are much longer.
(Fun fact: "ATC", the Black Diamond brand of belay device, stands for "Air Traffic Controller." Hilarious. Really.)
There are a million wrong ways to clip into a bolt, ranging from inconvenient to deadly. If you step around your rope wrong, and then fall, you can leave yourself vulnerable to whipping ass over teacup and smashing the back of your skull on the rock. And your belayer is a newbie at this, too.
Then for fun, you switch roles and put the most important person in your life on the end of a string that you're responsible for, and hope that you remember all your training.
By now you're wondering what on earth would make me think this is fun. With practice, it gets less scary. Scaring yourself but then persevering is very satisfying, and makes stupid shit like project plans and public speaking engagements into a cake walk. Testing trust strengthens the relationship. Outside, when the air is crisp and the stone is dry, the view is amazing. It makes your arms look badass. Watching your sweetie climb is totally hot.