Attach the first clip to your harness.  Pull down on the auto belay, attach the second clip to your harness. Look up and see a green light – you’re ready to go.  Find the first couple of grips for your hands, find the ledges for your feet.  You’re on your way up. Look for the next ledges for your feet.  Move your feet and use your legs.  Feel around for the next good grip with your right hand and then your left.  Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. You’re half way up. You struggle to find a good grip for your hands. Your fingers and forearms start to burn. Find a place where you can stand without having to grip so much. Your grip starts to weaken as the burn becomes more intense.  You’re almost to the top.  One more set of grips to find – leg, hand, leg, hand. Got to the top.  Look down, let go and ease yourself down.

It was a great outing at Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville last Saturday.  The indoor rocking climbing was a pleasant relief from the cold and rain outside. We had a great turnout – thirty plus climbers and a handful of spectators. The kids did very well climbing the different walls with auto belays.  The dads had equally as much fun climbing the walls.  I saw a lot of dads and kids make it to the top several times and some very quickly.  Our spectators were very helpful and always willing to help out the kids with the auto belays.

We also had two great instructors assist our group with the manual belays. The walls with the manual belays were even taller than those with the auto belays.  I gave these walls a try along side our Trailmaster, Rick Sobon. I was surprised how quickly Rick was able to climb the wall and reach the top.  I got three quarters of the way up but the struggled to find good grips to continue up.  I sat at that level for a few minutes resting my hands and forearms but then the heat at that height started to get to me.  My hands became more and more sweaty making it harder to get a good grip.  Eventually, I couldn’t hold my grip any longer so I just let go and went down to let the next person have a try. I was pleased at my many attempts at the different walls and had some success getting to the top of most of them.

Watching some of the regular/experienced climbers that were there was amazing.  Some seemed to defy gravity hanging upside down on horizontal areas and others were just so quick to maneuver up the walls.

The outing was success thanks to everyone that participated and helped out.  I heard several compliments from many of the dads about the outing, the venue, and the staff.  It was great experience; something my son and I (and I’m sure others) would love to do again.