Climbing newbie!

[weirdquark]

rydra_wong reminded me that this community existed when I posted that I was about to use the rock climbing wall for the first time, so here I am.



Lesson One: Terminology.

From my reading thus far: rock climbing and bouldering are not the same; rock climbing requires equipment like ropes and harnesses and bouldering is equipment free unless you count special shoes. So I should use the proper term for each and not use rock climbing when I mean bouldering. I do want to do both, but am actually more interested in the bouldering.

Lesson Two: Communication. Make sure you are talking about what you think you are talking about.

So when I talked to the guy by the rock climbing wall the other day and he told me the rock climbing wall orientation took an hour, apparently what he meant was an hour and forty-five minutes. Since an hour was already a bit longer than the amount of gym my roommates wanted, I asked if the orientation was needed for the bouldering wall. On the upside, when the guy told me that a climbing pass cost $40 for the semester, that's just for the rock climbing wall. If I want to spend all my time bouldering, all I needed was to sign a release form and watch a safety video. So I did that, and then spent 30-45 minutes on the bouldering wall.

Lesson Three: No equipment climbing needs equipment.

Nike Free Runs are great for running and pretty good for lifting. The way the base spreads out is not so great for climbing but I managed reasonably well. By the end of my climbing session I sure needed chalk. There is some in the weight room which is right by the wall, so bringing my own won't be necessary, but would be useful.

Lesson Four: Grip and forearm strength.

Mine actually isn't too bad. Neat.

Lesson Five: Dots that should be helpful are not.

So there's this great chart next to the bouldering wall with dots and what the dots mean in terms of how hard the climb is. One dot is the easiest level -- VB-V1; five dots are the hardest level -- V7-V8. The bouldering wall is marked with colored pieces of tape, some of which have dots, some of which have triangles, some of which have stars, and so on. I have no idea which are supposed to be easier than others unless I try them and see how much the grip is like a cup and how much it is like a ledge. Or a tiny lump.

I never fell, though I came close once, and chose to jump rather than trying to climb down all the way a few times. I made it to the top of the bouldering wall a couple of times, on two different bits of wall. All in all, I'm pretty happy. Good first session.