Did the Belay Class Today at the Climbing Gym!

I’m super excited about this.

The reason my wife and I had joined the climbing gym back in 2016, was mainly to do some top rope rock climbing, and start climbing top rope! Get to reap the benefits of speaking to people about top roping, belay people, have people belay you back, establish a rapport, grab some beers, have some weekend brunches, etc.

During that time in 2016-2017, we both climbed, and enjoyed it thoroughly, though it was mainly done through bouldering.

So, let me make a distinction between bouldering and top rope climbing for those uninitiated. With top rope climbing, this is what you typically think of when someone evokes the phrase rock climbing. A guy climbing a wall or the face of a rock with a rope, a second guy at the bottom of holding said rope keeping the climber from becoming a splat on the floor.

Bouldering is a bit different because it does not require ropes at all. It does require mats, and knowing how to fall correctly. Also, a bouldering wall will typically be around 10 feet, give or take. Any higher, and you’d probably need a rope. In a climbing gym, there’s mats for these types or problems, but typically the bouldering problems require some thought, and always have a crux, or a tricky portion that requires some body specific movement or perhaps even a dynamic move that if pulled off will make you feel really good, but can be scary, and if not thought of properly, can lead to injury.

Top rope climbing takes two people, unless you’re using an auto belay, but let’s not get into that. In a two person top rope climb, the climber, and the belayer are the participants. All things considered, you each take turns being the climber and the belayer, and in time, develop a trust, get a human high off of exercising and thinking of climbing problems as well as conquering them.

The problem until now is that I’ve been just bouldering in the past 2 years. This has been great, as I’ve developed a certain set of skills in approaching a climb, as well as a bit of a bouldering mentality when it comes to looking at a climbing route. However, bouldering is very intensely physical. Because of the nature of these problems, it’s sort of like the difference between sprinting and running. You can sprint, but because of the bursts of intensity needed, you’re more susceptible to injury typically. In bouldering you can get injured from overexerting yourself on the wall, as well as from landing incorrectly on a fall.

I enjoy bouldering, I’m not knocking bouldering at all, but I would like to do the longer climbs. Build endurance, see what all the ruckus is about from my other rock climbing friends. Schedule weekly meetings with friends, take turns going up the wall, build some camaraderie, share some beers.

My wife is great, and this year when I renewed the membership, she decided to sit it out. Mainly because we found out we were expecting about a month earlier. She’s cool with it, but she had a really hard time during a previous belay class that we had, and got spooked from climbing and bouldering in general. Nothing bad happened to her, she didn’t get injured, or have a bad experience, she just didn’t find it as fun as she did initially.

Had the class today, and learned a couple of knots. The “figure eight”, and the “fisherman’s knot”. The “figure eight” knot is used twice when fastening the rope for a climber. It’s actually a double “figure eight” knot and it’s the knot that really matters in terms of safety and keeping the climber’s rope safely fastened. The “fisherman’s knot” is actually a dressing knot, and is used to keep any extra slack from the double “figure eight” knot in place. My teacher told me that it was to avoid having the slack whipping you in the face. Ouch!

Also had the pleasure of learning and practicing belaying someone. It was fun, and it’s just 4 movements that were taught to me with an acronym. PBUS - Punch, Brake, Under, Slide. It’s pretty easy, and I can see really getting the hang of it as it’s a simple 4 motion movement.

My teacher was great. She’s Danielle, and she pointed out that I should do the PB of the motion, that is, the Punch-Break, quickly, as this will avoid having your hand too much in the non-brake position. Super important when taking the test she pointed out.

After learning and applying this, I was able to effectively belay someone (under the supervision and backup of my teacher), and felt really confident about doing this.

Then I finally got to go up the wall! I had been bouldering the hour before the class, so my hands were kind of tired. I didn’t get to the top, though I did want to try to make it. But it was very evident that I lacked the endurance, to make it to the top after bouldering for forty minutes.

I’m looking forward to passing my belay test, which I will probably take once I practice my knots some more, and also practice the motions of PBUS, and hopefully get to brush up with a seasoned rock climbing friend before the test itself.

Anyway, happy Sunday to you all too! :D