Looking to broaden my list of skills & interests a little further (and to break up my re-watching of The X-Files… damn you NetFlix). I decided to take up a friend’s offer to go climbing. I’ve got a fair number of friends who enjoy it – and who’d said I would too. I was skeptical… having visions of painful slips, face-planting into fibreglass, or rope burns. I also didn’t actually think I had the physical strength to be able to climb any walls. I was also a little concerned about the MCTD-related pain in finger joints making my grip a bit weaker.

I went along with my friend Penny to a local wall to give it a go, but a total failure on some side-scaling practice made me a bit anxious about tackling an actual wall. Taking a “fortune favours the bold” approach, I actually managed to make it just over 90% of the way up (A bit of bad route planning on the way up meant I’d run out of grips & ledges that I felt I could reach). Penny gave me a bit more of a push to try sticking to specific colour-coded routes up the wall, which seemed to get a bit easier with more practice (although I cheated a little on one climb when I couldn’t find the appropriate coloured foothold higher up). I actually managed to make it to the top on most of the subsequent attempts (admittedly, they were all beginner route)

It gave me a tremendous buzz… I can’t wait to go again.

B

Achievement Unlocked: Learning the Ropes — First-time climber

XP:
Climbing: +1
Lunacy: +1