General Outdoor Fun DiscussionWhether you rock climb, kayak, snowboard, hike or hang glide, if you play outside and you play hard, come talk about it in here.
So the bif day cam eand went. Shannon and I took our first introduction to climbing course at the university here.
The course started at 8am with waivers being signend and trying on climbing shoes which we were told should fit like snug socks. After deciding that they were by design going to be somewhat uncomfortable and everyone showing up we were taken down to the climbing area.
They passed out climbing harnesses and showed us how to put the harness on before moving into the actual climbing area.
They took a few minutes and showed us some basic moving skills on the wall and hot to spot for bouldering. They then sent us onto the wall to do a little bouldering and get a feel for the "rock".
The climbing gym at the U is a fairly small room, maybe 20' by 30 or 40'. 3 of the 4 walls are climbing surfaces. The right wall is a straight vertical face with couple of overhangs at the top. The front wall, maybe 20' wide is a slight incline, not straight vertical. The left walls are some full verticals as well as some bottom inclines with upper straight verticals.
The walls are solid concrete with some of the typical plastic handholds as well as rocks set straight into the surface. They also have cracks formed into the concrete as well as most of the walls come out a little from the wall so you have edges to work on as well.
Once we had finished with the bouldering we went on to tying in and belaying.
First they taught us how to tie the figure 8 follow through and check it on our harness.
The first device they showed us the grigri belaying device and showed us how to set the rope into it and clip it into the harness. They let us climb and belay for a half hour or so before calling us back in and showing us the ATC belaying device. Alot of us moved over to this device simply because it was a far cheaper device, worked absolutley fine we were told it could be used to rappel as well. Not that that meant anything to us at that point in time.
Shannon and I worked on a vertical section till lunch break belaying and climbing. We probably made it up half way on that vertical wall. Most of the class had chalk, although we didn't so the sweaty hands were a bit on an issue when it come down to it.
After lunch we were given an ATC device and length of small diameter climbing cord. We were directed to climb the ladder to the top of the wall and wait for them to teach us how to rappel down the wall. I don't much like ladders and so climbing an aprox 30meter ladder to essentially jump off the bad boy sorta made me nervous.
The instructors showed us how to set our ropes up and how to stack them and make sure they were in good shape and how to clip them to the ancor point at the top of the wall. They showed us how to set up the ATC device to rappel with both the ropes. Once they were set up we used the small cord to tie a knot arounf the rappel lines to our harness to hold the break line in.
Once set up and checked out by the instructors over I went, and slowly rappeled down the wall. No trouble. I waited for Shannon to come down and then we climbed up and came down again.
Once we were done we took a wall and climbed for the last 30 minutes of class. Shannon and I took one of the slight incline walls and she attempted the climb. She made it about half way up a few times and then came back down.
When it was my turn I went up just over half way and came back down. Wasn't sure where to go. On my second attempt the group next to us had packed up and I had the whole wall to myself. I climbed up to about where I had before and felt more comfortable moving laterally and then back up. Whew. I was pretty much ready to say "TAKE" and then begin my descent when I looked up....
Wow I was pretty close to the top..Screw this. I can make it. I pushed on and made the "summit" slapped the top, and called for Shannon to "TAKE". Done. She took up the slack and I lowered down the wall. Only one total ascent, but one more that I really thought I would get.
The exprience was awesome and they gave us a card to give us the free Belaty test at their facility as well as a free climbing session for about a $7 value.
The centre rents everything fairly cheaply. Rope, harness shoes, carbiners, shoes, the whole thing for under $15 easily.
Although I knew I was expending energy, I wasn't prepared for how much I had. At the lunch break I was starving and I was starving after we were done at 2 as well. I think I attribute this largely to the activity as well as stress reactions from being on a wall and being slightly nervous about falling.
All in all it was cool and Shannon and I are probably going to do our belay test next weekend. They need us to watch a video, tie in with the followthrough figure 8 knot as well as show we can safely belay with either the grigri or the ATC device.
ODB, the only thing holding me back from a roadbike is the price. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I like the bike and I like my mountain bike, but I think a road bike would be pretty cool as well! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
The other climbing gyms I looked at price wise are about $13 for the day + rental. One of the places charged $10 for a whole kit which is pretty reasonable. I note they also have a tueday night social/free adult belay test type evening to help people find partners and such. That's pretty cool.
Top rope belay tests look to be about $5 across the board. We are planning on heading back on the weekend to do our belay test at the U.
Shannon is complaining her arms are all sore and desperately wants mine to be sore as well. But fortunately for me I have started lifting regualrly again and am past the point where I get intense DOMS. YAY ME!
Wow that looks like the one I used to climb at.. Its a blast, glad you enjoyed it Og.. you'll have to update on your experiences esp if you go outdoors [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
I love indoor climbing, but I've lost all my partners over the last few months. I'm hoping I can find someone else who is interested in it so I can start going again. I used to go 2-3 times per week and was starting to get decent at it. I've been itching to go back. Our place here in dayton isn't too bad, it cost about $125 for a 3 month membership, but members were given the rental gear for free as part of the package, so as long as you went about once a week you saved money. I want to go again!
Sweet that's cool about the free rental gear with the package.
One of the gyms here has an adult belay service on Tuesdays. From what I can tell it's aimed at guys like you without a partner to come in and climb and meet new climbers and hopefully hook up with a partner.
Seems like a good thing to do for the climbing crowd.
Have you checked out "the crux" its sorta in the NE. by far the best wall in Calgary! its huge and the same price as anywhere else (actually their lead courses are the cheapest I hear).
KAISER.. I've never climbed at all.. I just found it by googling on Montréal indoor facilities. We do have a first try planned soon.. was going to be on March 25th but my boyfriend has a volleyball tournament, so now it's set for April 1st.. hope it won't be an april fool's joke !
JENNMEDIC.. I'm sort of scared of climbing because of my shoulder and elbow problems.. I'll let you know how it goes though.. and if you come by this way.. we could go to Horizon Roc together
Upper Limits has something for everyone. We have a huge main climbing area with approximately 10,000 square feet of sculpted climbing surface. Our numerous climbs range from beginner climbs to routes that will challenge the most advanced climbers.
• Tons of bouldering and a training area. • At 35' tall, the main climbing area includes slab, aretes, roofs, dihedrals, cracks, and two massive arches. • The upper climbing area is 20' tall and is a great place for beginners start. This area can also be rented by groups for private functions. • Facilities include showers, lockers, soda/sport drink and snack machines, lounge area, rest rooms, world-class pro shop, and complete gear rentals. • Plenty of free parking at the rear of the building.
• Classes and programs are available for every age and type of group.
Man we had a blast. We got in there about 1, 51 bucks for a class, all our gear, and climbing for the rest of the day. They close at 8, but we only lasted till like 6:30 or so.
They taught us how to tie in, and how to belay. They have a few of the auto belay systems, but we pretty much stuck to the ropes. I will say that I am glad there were 3 of us. My shoulders got pretty tired working the rope at the bottom, while my back and forearms were hurting from the climbs. With the extra person, we got some breaks.
My son actually belay'd me quite a bit. They had anchors for him to use since there is a big weight diff there. He was a demon on the wall. He couldn't always reach a good hold, so he had to make due. But he would never give up. It might take him 5-10 min just to go up a few feet. I've never seen him so determined to do anything ever. It was a neat thing to watch.
Here are some pics. Pay special attention to my stylish green rental shoes. Felt like I was in a bowling ally!
I wore sweat pants on day 1 and track pants on day 2. In all the pictures shorts seem a popular choice.
I am more worried about forgetting how to tie in and how to rappel more than I am worried about forgetting how to belay!
Og.
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
I wore pants, but bruised my knees on the wall anyway. Most people don't try to use their knees to help them up the wall like I did though.
I reckon shorts are fine, it looks like that's what Chris and his son wore in any case. I suspect minor scrapes are going to happen no matter what you wear, but seems to me you can avoid getting too scratched up on an indoor wall.
Haha, I've already forgotten how to rappel apparently, hence my suggestion last time that one of could go up and detatch the rope and then just rappel down. I'm sure if we ask gravity politely it will slowly lower us down the wall, don't you think?
I had no problems with my knees on the walls. course mine have so many scars and spots from mountain bike crashes that i'm not sure I would see them if I did!
1st climbing experience.
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