During the Thanksgiving break, I had a chance to go rock climbing with my cousins. We went to the Rock Spot Climbing in Lincoln, RI and it was a blast. This was my first time rock climbing and I'd have to admit that it was difficult. The staff was nice and accommodating and took their time teaching beginners the proper technique. When I first walked in, the sight of all the rock walls and pegs were sort of overwhelming but the feeling soon passed as I started signing the waiver form in anticipation of tackling my first climb. The daily rates were $24.00 to rent the harness and climbing shoes for the entire day. Although, they do offer special rates for events like “ladies night” where women only have to pay $10 for the same equipment rental.
After signing the waiver form, they gave my equipment and I was off. I had to get used to the harness as it tended to ride up and found the climbing shoes a bit uncomfortable to walk in. When climbing there's usually a spotter or belay person. This person supports the climber with a rope on a pulley system to prevent the climber from injury during a slip or fall. The Rock Spot Climbing had another option for solo climbers, they could rig up to an auto belay system that automatically supports the climbing and descends them gradually during a fall. The pegs on the rock walls are color coded and rated for difficulty. The higher the number means the harder the climbing route. Beginners normally start on a rating of 5.2, which means there are more secure holdings for the climbing and an easier climbing path. Each rock wall have many grip holdings on them and the challenge is staying on the color coded path and not using grip holdings of another color.
I consider myself an athletic person and I'm confident in my ability to handle situations that require physical strength. Rock climbing is harder than I though! At first I relied mainly on my upper body strength and quickly realized the amount of strain that was put on my fingers. In my first run, I managed to complete the 5.5 route easily and was running off the high of accomplishment and literally the high of being that high off the ground. I decided to try the 5.8 route with a protruding ledge. I literally spent 2 hours trying to complete this route, I must of slipped and fell about 10 times. At this point I realized the addition of the sport and understood why people liked to rock climb. I used to think that rock climbing was a boring activity and couldn't see how people enjoyed it, but that changed as I stared at the 5.8 route. I was frustrated and annoyed that this wall was beating me so I took a few minutes to evaluate the route.
As I mentioned earlier, I relied mostly on my upper body. After watching a few experienced climbers, I noticed that they used more of their lower body to push upwards and used their upper body to keep themselves balanced. I gave my forearms a rest and when it felt better I returned to the 5.8 route, this time with a new game plan. Prior to my new found knowledge, I kept falling at a pivotal point where there's a protruding ledge halfway up the route. Usually at this point, my forearms are so exhausted that I don't have the strength to advance up the ledge. This time I took my time, using my legs to primarily push myself up and only using my arms to balance myself. This time around, I had enough strength reserved to make it past the ledge and eventually made it to the top.
This was probably one of the hardest and most demanding sport I've participated in. The stress on my fingers and forearms is something I'm not used to and I found this frustrating but I would imagine with conditioning that frustration would pass. I give tremendous credit to these climbers that go free climbing without a support rope. This is a difficult sport and I look forward to going again. The feeling of accomplishment is great and the act itself is a great workout. It's a good activity to incorporate into your workout routines.
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