Rock Climbing for Dummies

So I went indoor rock climbing on Tuesday night at Vertical Reality with my buddy Alexandre.

Before starting the night I went through my pre-climb checklist:

1. Greasy Chinese food meal - Check
2. Sprained wrist 2 weeks previous - Check
3. Intense fear of heights - Check

With all that in mind I was ready to go.

The cost of climbing for one night was $20. There is a $10 fee per night, $5 for a half hour of training and $5 for equipment rentals. The equipment consisted of a harness and climbing shoes. The shoes are ridiculously small and cramp your toes horribly which is apparently the way they are supposed to fit. Personally I think they are trying to take your mind off the fact you are about to climb a 30 foot way by putting your feet in constant pain.

Anyway, after the quick training session we were ready to climb walls. I was up first so I went about 10 feet up the baby wall. Then I decided that I'd like to find out what it was like to fall off the wall from this height rather than getting all the way to the top. Happily all the equipment was working and Alexandre slowly lowered me to the ground. This gave me the confidence to head all the way to the top of the baby wall.

After coming down it my my turn to belay Alexandre. We then took turns going up or trying to go up the various wall faces at Vertical Reality. We were able to make it up a couple of the easier walls but some of the harder ones were way beyond us.

All in all I had a great time and I'm planning on heading back when I have a spare evening.