And today, I put the gear to the test.

[kickaha]

Went climbing outdoors, on real rocks, at The Gunks. Only did one ascent.

But it was *100'*! SRSLY!

200' rope was dangling with its ends just off the ground. That there's a 100' face.

Okay, so it was a 5.4, and lemme tell ya, there's nothing that makes ya feel more manly than conquering a route named 'Bunny', but good god damn... 100'!!!

I made the mistake of looking down about 1/2 of the way up, and suddenly I was back to my old habits - not trusting the rope*, every move had to be deliberate, precise, and absolutely stable... so I was a bit slow. But I made it. My hands were shaking for the last 30', but I made it. I had nervous flop sweat making my hands slippery as hell for the last 20', but I made it. (Forgot to grab a chalk bag. Last time I make that mistake.)

WHOO-HOO TRIPLE DIGITS!

Now that I know I can do that... the routes at the gym are just a matter of strength training.




Worst moment? When I got to the top, and realized... I'd never test belayed the new harness. *THAT* was a moment of sheer sphincter clenching, let me tell you...


*Part of this was because this was a MUCH longer rope than any of us (except a few experts who were down on another set of routes) was used to. Rope is elastic as a % of its length. Longer rope = longer drop before the rope takes up the slack. I realized this about 40' up, and also realized that, because of the incline that was *less* than pure vertical, if I fell, I was going to slide down a rough rock face, not drop off into air. And, because of the stretch in the rope, I was likely going to scrape down the rock for a good 15', leaving gobbets of flesh in a slick wet trail. This was not making me confident in trusting the rope. I wasn't afraid of falling, so much, as doing grievous bodily harm to my skin integrity. Hence, not making a single false move. When I belayed another climber, I asked one of the more senior climbers how to manage the extra elasticity, and he showed me a neat trick involving a jump-and-belay that took the extra stretch out. If my belayer had done that, I think I could have made it up in half the time I took.

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Y'know, the less rope there is between you and the anchor, the less drop there is in the fall. So if you're worried about it, all you have to do is climb faster. :)