With Spring now here, you might be in need of some fun activities that get you out of the house. If you find yourself looking for suggestions, I’d like to tell you about my experience rock climbing in the hopes that you might consider trying it out like I did.
After watching Free Solo, the idea of taking up rock climbing as a hobby dawned on me. The Oscar-winning documentary showed rock climbing almost as an art form that requires mental and psychical toughness as well as precision. I decided that I wasn’t quite ready to climb the 3,000 foot mountain, known as El Capitan, that was shown in Free Solo. Instead, I headed down to Philadelphia Rock Gyms (PRG) in Wyncote after signing up for an introductory class on the basics of rock climbing.
Upon entering the brightly lit, relatively empty gym, 15 minutes before my scheduled class, I was greeted by the PRG staff who presented me with some paperwork that was required in order for me to take part in the class.
After filling out the forms, I was brought a harness and was shown how to put it on properly by Sam, my instructor. Putting on the harness was simple, almost like a cup that male athletes use. The harness hooks into ropes and ensures that the climber is safe. Harnesses are usually required for introductory classes like the one I took.
After getting my harness set, Sam asked me “have you ever rock climbed before?” To which I replied that my only experience was, when I was a kid, playing on jungle gyms that had miniature rock climbing walls. Sam expressed his excitement in taking on beginners.
I began with a simple-looking wall, located right by the entrance to the gym. This wall is used to gauge how comfortable climbers are. After getting the thumbs up from Sam, I latched onto the wall and sped up to the very top before looking down and signaling that I wanted to come down.
Sam shouted up to me “Okay, so what you want to do is place your feet firmly along the wall, lean back, hold onto the rope, and slowly walk backwards till you reach the ground. Alright?” I did as he said and felt the friction from the rope on my hands as I made my way down.
When I made it back to the ground and got my harness unhooked from the rope I heard a “not bad” from a climber who was passing by while on his way to fill up his water bottle. I thanked him before realizing how exhilarated I felt; my arms were tingly and my legs had a slight shake to them. It was a feeling I could get used to.
Sam and I proceeded to the main floor that is comprised of three walls that make up most of the 10,000 square feet of the facility. Of the three walls, two of them are dedicated to rope climbing while the third, and by far most difficult wall, is solely dedicated for free soloing, the more experienced type of rock climbing.
Sam then began to explain to me the various routes that lead to the top of the walls and how they’re marked; “You see how the footholds have different colored tape next to them? Each of these colors leads to the top. So when you’re climbing try and follow one color, thats the real way to climb.”
I then asked “How many routes do you have in this whole place? And how does it work? Are different colors more difficult?”
Sam responds by saying “There are over 75 routes here. The farther you go along the wall, generally the routes get harder. The colors don’t matter in terms of difficulty but it is marked at the bottom of each route how difficult it is.”
After learning about all of the routes and based on my performance on the first wall I did, I decided to stick with something in the middle. Not too hard that it was impossible, but not too easy that I still got to challenge myself.
I picked a route and Sam hooked himself to the rope before hooking me in. I tried to proceed up the wall before realizing that following an exact route is actually pretty difficult. About halfway up the wall, I bailed on the route idea and simply climbed the remainder of the wall, regardless of what the color of tape was by the footholds.
Although I was happy that I made it up the wall relatively easily, I was upset that I didn’t follow the route. I asked Sam for a simpler route. We made our way back towards the start of the wall before I picked out the way I wanted to tackle the route in front of me. I went up the route but took my time since I had began to climb almost right after my last climb and was starting to feel the burn in my arms.
I successfully made it up the correct route even though I took longer than I had hoped. Once I was back on the ground I asked Sam if I could take a quick breather. He smiled before noting, “Not a bad idea considering how quickly you did these two.”
While taking a break I looked over at the free solo wall and saw two climbers, seemingly experienced, looking over a route together as they verbally contemplated how they wanted to go about it. I made a note to myself to periodically check out their progress throughout the rest of my session.
I then tried another wall which I again abandoned the singular route as I made my way to the top. After returning to the ground and realizing I only had time for one wall left, I wanted to challenge myself and asked for a route that is tough for beginners.
As we walked to the route, I glanced over at the free soloers, one of which began to climb a route which required them to hold themselves along the wall while there back faced the ground. I was impressed by the mental and physical toughness that the climber was displaying with their effort.
After Sam and I got to the route he picked out, I was instantly intimidated by how the wall slanted backwards, similar to the route the free solo climber was working on, only much less exaggerated. I gave it a go before realizing I was way out of my league. I signaled that I was coming down.
When I got to the ground I was disappointed with myself, but determined to come back and try again, hoping that over time I will show improvement.
Readers should know that if they are interested in rock climbing, all they need is determination. Helmets, particular shoes, etc. are not required nor used by most amateur rock climbers. However, professional rock climbers do in fact have particular shoes that help with grip, the likes of which I will not need for a long time considering my performance throughout my session.
