Hanging by a thread: Rock climbing

This past weekend, I went out into the woods and went rock climbing. The last time I went “rock climbing” was in middle school with a man made climbing wall, if that makes sense. A friend of mine invited me and I said yes in a heart beat. I have never rock climbed out in the mountains and I was super excited. I didn’t know anything about gear, what the wear, what to bring, and all that jazz. Thankfully, my friend’s dad and his friends were quite professional and goes on a daily basis. He taught and guided me throughout the afternoon.

I climbed three routes on that crag. First off, I am not sure what exact mountain I climbed but it was about a 20 minute hike from the top of old peak road. I assume it was or very close to the Victoria peak mountain because the view from the top looked exactly like looking down from the peak- except- I was hanging by a thread. Rope to be concise.

I was nervous to start off with but my excitement buried my nervousness. Once I got my hands and feet rolling on the rocks, I was willing to do everything I could and try as many times as I could to get to the top.

There are different levels of grading each climbing route. I did three in total, beginning with level 5.6, then 5.9 and finally 5.10B which was quite difficult and took a few tries before I finally reached success. The challenge was incredible, if I have the chance to do it again I would be willing to take any challenge. Of course I wouldn’t want to take one that could very possible injury myself badly but other than that… Bring it on!

What an awesome experience and replaced my gym work out for the day. I didn’t go to the gym Sunday either because I played lawn bowl with my mom and her friends for about 3 hours. I use to criticize that game…but I have to admit it is quite challenging as well.

Well there was my very active weekend. I’m super sore and quite tired now but it was well worth it.