And today, I put the gear to the test.
Aug. 9th, 2007 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kickahaWent 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.
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.