Friday post of glee

[rydra_wong]

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

It can be a new achievement or adventure, or just that you climbed and had a good time; it can be that your favourite climbing wall is expanding or that you bought new rock shoes or that you found a cool ice-climbing vid on YouTube. No glee is too small -- or too big.

Members are encouraged to cheer each other on and share the squee.

To enhance the glee this week: free climbing documentaries! Messner (about the great mountaineer) and Beyond Gravity (featuring Lynn Hill and baby!Katie Brown, among others) can be watched online at Snag Films.

Comments

[dira]

I went climbing for the second time today! I just messed around on the bouldering wall and made a couple of tries each on a couple of top-rope routes, but I decided it's not wimping out to leave before I can't actually work my fingers anymore. :)

[jumpuphigh]

You need to be gentle with your fingers. Screwed up tendons are not fun.

[dira]

Duly noted! I have cranky tendons in both wrists, I don't really need the condition to spread. *g*

[jumpuphigh]

Get somebody to show you how to properly tape. You can tape wrists and fingers (usually people just tape the first two fingers as they take the most beating).

[rydra_wong]

Is the problem that your fingers are scraped/blistered/sore? It takes a while for your skin to toughen up to begin with, and even then, skin loss is an occupational hazard. We had a hand care post a while back:

http://disobey-gravity.dreamwidth.org/12303.html

But what jumpuphigh said if you ever get any twingy pains or achiness, especially in the joints -- that's a big warning to back off and take it easy on your tendons.

If the issue is that your forearms feel swollen and burning and your fingers have stopped being able to grip things, don't worry, that's completely normal. *g*

[dira]

No, no, just that last one. *g*

[rydra_wong]

In that case, congratulations! You have officially achieved your first "pump"! *g*

As your muscles adjust and get stronger, you'll be able to climb for longer before getting to that point. I've found that warming up slowly also helps a lot.

But if you hear climbers talking about being "pumped", that's what it means.

[dira]

I have to admit, I was kind of impressed when I looked down and discovered that an entire other muscle appeared to have popped out on my forearm, Popeye-style. \o/

And, thanks for the lingo tip. *g*