Joyce’s Musings

Need exercise? Enjoy puzzles? Want to do something with friends?

Why not try Rock Climbing?

December 5th, 2009 was the 1 year anniversary of my starting to climb rock walls at the local Planet Granite. A coworker of mine had been bugging me to try it for some time, and I finally got up the courage to go with him one day.

Rock climbing quickly rose to become a very important part of my life, and one of my personal passions. The experience of puzzling out a really tough climb that really wears you out is delightful, especially when you get the satisfaction of reaching the top of the climb and signaling your belayer to bring you down.

My favorite climbs are the ones that challenge me both intellectually and physically. Not everything in climbing is about brute strength and powering through things. In fact, many climbs are more about figuring out how to balance yourself *just* right to exert the minimal amount of force and get yourself to the next hold. It’s about working smarter, not harder.

But I still do love that feeling of exhaustion that you get when a good climb wears you out quite wonderfully.

The picture above is a photo a friend took of someone climbing the chimney, a nice feature of the local gym. Below, I have video of myself doing a 5.8 route located in the same location this summer.

I heartily recommend this sport to anyone that is willing to try it. Not only is it great exercise, it’s a whole lot of fun!