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[weekend report]

posted by tom / February 28, 2005 /

Yesterday Jon and Eric invited me to go rock climbing at Great Falls. It was not only non-fatal, but actually pretty damn fun. Pics and predictably self-deprecating commentary after the cut.

I hadn't been rock climbing since I was in the Boy Scouts, and even then I didn't do much of it. Philmont Scout Ranch sends backpackers all over a sprawling northern New Mexico property, with stops at outposts devoted to various outdoorsy pursuits -- lumberjacking, caving, blacksmithing, that kind of thing. The climbing outpost was my only previous exposure to the sport, and it basically consisted of a safety orientation ("How Not To Kill Yourself"), some light theory and an opportunity to clamber over some rocks in sneakers and a safety harness, then do a bit of rappelling (which is pretty awesome). The climbs were obviously easy, but I was pretty good at it relative to my fellow scouts.

As it turns out, my fellow scouts must have had some kind of congenital climbing disability. I suck at this sport. Nonetheless, yesterday was quite fun. Eric owns all of the necessary gear, and Great Falls is not only convenient to DC, but boasts high quality climbing (falling) and whitewater (drowning) opportunities within feet of each other.

Eric's been at this a while. I think Jon's a bit more of a casual climber, but he's been doing it for several years, too, and owns a harness and shoes. Eric was nice enough to lend me a spare harness and to trade shoes whenever I went up.

Anyway, the two of them clambered up and down the stone-cold, er, stone with impressive grace and strength. Here are some photos.

On the left is a shot of Eric doing something -- no doubt it's highly technical, a veritable doctoral dissertation in climbology -- near the top of the not-so-creatively-named "Diagonal" climb. Next to it is a photo of Jon hurling his body into space, singleminded as ever in his endless pursuit of awesomeness.

And here I am, confused and desperate, looking like a feeble baby bird on the verge of deciding that this flying thing is probably best left to the experts. Jon's got some more photos up, if you're curious. Luckily I get to maintain some dignity in the others by staying on the ground.

Well, my form, skill and judgment sucked, but the conditions were tough, too. We set up at Aid Box -- the climbs were fairly difficult. Worse, the well-shaded rock sucked the heat from our fingers within a minute of starting a climb, numbing them and making it tough to tell how strong our grips were. I didn't make it nearly as far as Jon and Eric did, but nobody finished any climbs yesterday.

It was fun anyway, though. Climbing is a pretty visceral challenge, and when you take a fall, spinning off the rock and into space, there's a rollercoaster-like sense of giddy abandon. Belaying is entertaining, too, and being around lots of expert knots and precisely-crafted bits of aluminum hardware makes you feel like kind of a badass. Given warmer rocks and a better-planned lunch, I don't think I could come up with a much more pleasant way to spend a Sunday. I think I'll have to check out the climbing wall at the Y sooner than I had planned.