bouldering
Sep. 22nd, 2006 08:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I went bouldering yesterday (for the uninitiated, this is climbing without rope; usually doesn't go much higher than 10'). Hadn't done it much before, mainly due to the fact that suspending myself above the ground without a rope used to give me the willies.
On Tuesday, we attended James's clinic on falling and spotting. I had signed up because I wanted to learn to spot correctly, but it was the falling that turned out to be the more valuable lesson. After being made to fall a couple of times from a height, and being coached reassuringly upon each landing (no one is more reassuring than James; he's one of the most enthusiastic people at the gym), I found myself much more comfortable in the bouldering cave.
So, since K was busy yesterday, I went to the gym and tried bouldering a bit. (The bouldering cave is a bit intimidating; there are all these young muscled kids in there who are climbing V6's, and doing one-armed pullups like it's nothing.) I found a little brown V1 in a corner that I'd seen D climb previously. Flashed it, so I went looking for another.
The second V1 was much more complicated; I fell off at the third handhold. (Fell correctly, might I add.) I spent the rest of the hour on that climb, puzzling over it, figuring out move after move, where to place my feet at each juncture, how to shift my weight. Took a break to trade belays with D (there's a new 5.9+ that's pretty fun, with an equally fun name, "cockamamie venture" or something like that) and then went back to the route. Still haven't got the last two moves figured out, but I've gotten pretty smooth on the first part of it. It's a wonderful feeling, when you're executing a route so smoothly and gracefully that it feels as if you're dancing across the wall.
Bouldering is also harder on the hands than top-roping; I have tiny blisters on my finger-joints. But it's addictive. I can't wait to go back to the cave and figure out the rest of that V1.
On Tuesday, we attended James's clinic on falling and spotting. I had signed up because I wanted to learn to spot correctly, but it was the falling that turned out to be the more valuable lesson. After being made to fall a couple of times from a height, and being coached reassuringly upon each landing (no one is more reassuring than James; he's one of the most enthusiastic people at the gym), I found myself much more comfortable in the bouldering cave.
So, since K was busy yesterday, I went to the gym and tried bouldering a bit. (The bouldering cave is a bit intimidating; there are all these young muscled kids in there who are climbing V6's, and doing one-armed pullups like it's nothing.) I found a little brown V1 in a corner that I'd seen D climb previously. Flashed it, so I went looking for another.
The second V1 was much more complicated; I fell off at the third handhold. (Fell correctly, might I add.) I spent the rest of the hour on that climb, puzzling over it, figuring out move after move, where to place my feet at each juncture, how to shift my weight. Took a break to trade belays with D (there's a new 5.9+ that's pretty fun, with an equally fun name, "cockamamie venture" or something like that) and then went back to the route. Still haven't got the last two moves figured out, but I've gotten pretty smooth on the first part of it. It's a wonderful feeling, when you're executing a route so smoothly and gracefully that it feels as if you're dancing across the wall.
Bouldering is also harder on the hands than top-roping; I have tiny blisters on my finger-joints. But it's addictive. I can't wait to go back to the cave and figure out the rest of that V1.