Leading
(This feels like one of those entries that I start writing and then realise I’m not really saying much and then just close the tab. Still.)
I’ve bouldered a lot recently, it’s fun and challenging and you get loads of climbing in a short space of time and my technical ability is all the better for it. Plus it’s something I can do on my own.
Diversion 1 – this Metafilter post on a Tumblr with pictures of people eating alone. See also this article in the Guardian on the same subject.
Anyway, yesterday was the first time I went climbing with some other people one of whom brought a rope with him. So I did some lead climbing (handy image here if you scroll down a bit) for the first time in a while. Basically, it’s riskier as if you fall you fall further and it’s just all around more technical. You have two things to think about climbing up the wall and you have to be able to clip the rope in as you climb up. It just means you hang around a little longer as you have to use one hand to hold yourself onto the wall while the other clips in. The long and short of it is that’s it’s just far scarier. Far far scarier. It made me nervy. Whereas the risk of falling didn’t bother me when top roping, suddenly it does and it’s in every move you make. You want to be sure of everything you do especially when climbing above the clip.
In any case, right at the end I looked up at one particular route (the arrows show the route) and decided I was going to do it regardless of how scared I was. So I did the first overhanging bit and then the fear just kicked in and I climbed back down and let the rope take my weight. I had another couple of attempts and I just couldn’t bring myself to take the risk and in the end I nervously told Will that I couldn’t hold on and let go. It was just horrible, I feel like there was genuine fear there. I can do the route if the rope was at the top I know that but this had me shaking, nervous, anxious.
Yes, it was pretty awesome. I’ve not felt that alive in a long while.
TL;DR – I did some lead climbing. It was effin’ scary. I loved it.
September 18, 2010
One response to Leading
I had a meal on my own in a packed curry house when I was away for work last month. It was brilliant. Not only was I very nosey and stared and eavesdropped to my hearts content (the acceptable term is “people watched”); but I also had a 4 person table to myself to lay out all the dishes, pots, plates and glasses. Goodtimes!