On Belay!!! More of My Climbing Adventures

Belay On!!

Went back to Go Vertical (to climb for my class assignment) again last week (I'm now going every Tuesday night) with my girlfriend, Lindy.  She took her belay test (belaying is the way in which the person who is not climbing keeps the rope attached to the climber's harness taught so that if they fall the rope will catch them) after we did a little review on technique, passed and we then began climbing.  The gym was much busier this time than it had been the previous times, so we had to choose which routes to climb carefully so as not to get in other people's way and so as to not have others be in our way.  Also this afforded me the opportunity to really watch some of the advanced climbers (and take some pictures of them for your viewing pleasure) who were practicing their lead climbing (a practice in which the climber has one end of the rope, and as they climb up the wall, they will clip the rope into a carabbeener which have been drilled into the wall).

A woman lead climbing

I also watched some of the other novice climbers who were more advanced than me when they were climbing some of the top roping (the type of climbing I'm currently doing in which a rope put over a pulley at the top, so one end is attached to the climber's harness and the other to the belayer's).  I watched two particular women as they climbed a 5.10, and noticed that they not only used the holds but also used the wall itself for leverage, especially with their feet and legs (a technique I used later on my last climb, but more on that later).  I also watched the pace at which they climbed.  It was much more deliberate than mine.  They seemingly paused at each hold to plan their next three moves (as opposed to merely the next one).  They also used their bodies differently than I did.  I tend to remain prone against the wall, they did a lot of twisting, often perpendicular to the wall, with it at their side as opposed to front.  

Some other people lead climbing

It was with these ideas in mind that Lindy and I went climbing.  I first belayed her up a 5.4 (the grading system for difficulty/technicality ranges from 5.4-5.13) that I had done last week which she nailed.  I then attempted the 5.5- that had eluded me the previous week.  With fresh arms I was able to nail it without too much difficulty.  Feeling pretty good about myself, I next attempted the 5.5 that had similarly eluded me the previous week.  Again, however, I was unable to get past the overhang on this 5.5.  After three tries (in between each of which I came down and discussed my previous approach with Lindy, and discussed the plan for the subsequent approach), my arms were once again tapped out.

Me pretending to belay

We then went over to the tallest wall and Lindy attempted a 5.4 on it.  I had completed that 5.4 during the intro class, but had been forced to do it in two parts (as it was a really long climb and I got tired in the middle of it).  Lindy attempted it first, getting stuck at the overhang.  I decided I'd give it a try with the intention of stopping and using the elbow rest technique I'd watched an advanced climber utilize last week to see how it worked.  To my pleasure I didn't need it, as in the three weeks I've been climbing my technique had improved to the point where I was able to motor up to the top without much difficulty despite the fact that my arms were tired.

This is the last 5.5 I did (blue ribbon

Lindy and I took an extended break during which I took most of the pictures, watching some pretty sweet climbing with people traversing the roof of the gym.  She then wanted one more crack at the tall 5.4, and with some discussion got past the overhang, getting 80% of the way up before she got tired.  Before we called it a night, I wanted to try one more wall, and attempted a 5.5 (pictured below) in which there was no overhang, but sparse holds, requiring me to spread out my grips more than I was used to.  I completed this climb using the technique of really using the wall itself in addition to the holds as leverage at numerous points in the climb.