rock climbing
I get bored easily.
I like a lot of different things, and I feel like I’ve done a lot of different stuff: sang, played an instrument, volunteered, designed, written poetry and stories, worked in childcare, embroidered and scrapbooked, taken photos, hiked and biked, played softball … you get where this is going. But I don’t stick with all of them. (Obviously, who has the time?) Some of my interests come back sporadically, but the ones I do tend to stick with are the ones that can’t get boring.
One of the interests I’ve stuck with is design, which I like because every page or project is a new puzzle. It can be put together in different ways, some better than others. And you always have new pieces and new priorities. But design isn’t really a hobby anymore. It’s become my career, and I’m really thankful for that because not many people get to turn their hobbies into a successful career. But it’s not just for fun anymore.
Recently I’ve gotten into rock climbing. My boyfriend turned me on to it about 2 months ago, and I’ve grown to really love it. We’ve been taking trips to different indoor gyms around the state of Florida and trying out different places.
Yesterday we went to the gym in Orlando, called Aiguille, which is definitely my favorite place so far. (Gainesville’s gym comes in second. Tampa was kind of a waste.) We spent hours there, and it was impossible to get bored.
In rock climbing, every route is like a new puzzle. You have to figure out the best way to get to the top. Obviously your spotter/belayer (my boyfriend, Curtis) helps you figure out the route, but you’re the one that has to actually do it. It’s a fun challenge.
At first I was a bit surprised I liked it. The sensation of falling has got to be one of the worst feelings in the world, and I always thought it would be too hard for me, not being the strongest or the lightest person to maneuver up a wall. But I immediately trusted Curtis not to drop me and the harness is the best safety blanket you’ll ever find. Plus it taps into that childhood love of jungle gyms and lava games, haha.
I also like that it’s not a sport where you have to gather a bunch of friends together just to get a game going or play super competitively to enjoy it. You can be at one level, and the person you climb with can be at another. This is great because Curtis is obviously better than me since he’s been climbing longer and such. He even beat his first 5.10 yesterday at the gym. :)
For me, 5.7s and 5.8s are a lot of fun and usually challenging enough, but I want to try doing more 5.9s and working on specific things. For example, straight walls are pretty easy for me, and I can maneuver around volumes okay. But put me at a backward angle, and I usually run out of strength or can’t get past the overhang.
There are a bunch of different types of climbing. Obviously indoor and outdoor are different. Then there’s top-rope climbing (with a harness and anchor at the top) versus lead climbing (no anchor at the top, instead you anchor as you go up) or bouldering (lower, often horizontal maneuvering without anything but a spotter and some crash pads). Then there’s sport climbing where anchors and such are set for you versus traditional climbing where you use trees and your own knowledge to make a climb work.
I really don’t like bouldering because you often have to just drop down when you reach the top, and crash pads and a spotter are not enough to take away my nerves. And traditional climbing still seems a bit advanced, but Curtis is interested in trying some outdoor routes, and I’m excited to make it happen soon. It’s just our luck that the state of Florida does not have a single good area for rock climbing, but we have found a few possible road trip locations in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. Plus it could involve some good hiking, which we all know I love.
I hope to get a couple pictures up here in the coming weeks, but for now, back to my lazy day off work.
Love, Linda.
