Monday, April 9, 2012

To climb or boulder?

Went to Cliffhanger with my brothers on Saturday. My oldest brother and I took our middle bro for his birthday. Little did I know when I booked the two-hours with a belayer, we all have an intense fear of heights. It was like an acrophobics anonymous meeting. But we all made it to the top and nobody puked or passed out. Way to go, guys!

It'd been a while since I've been top-roping, and I was beginning to think I'd never get over my fear of getting up that wall, but it wasn't so bad. I did a 5.9 route and made it up without having any kind of deer-in-the-headlights panic attack. Those are awful.

Since I had a good time, I'm now undecided about whether to get a pass and keep top-roping or go to the Hive and just focus on bouldering. I love the idea of totally conquering my fear and getting good enough to climb a sheer rock face outdoors (as in "real" rock climbing), but I think I'm just more fascinated by the technique and skill needed for bouldering. Not to mention it seems to take a hell of a lot more upper body strength, and I could really use that kind of workout. These grover arms are keeping me from knocking off the "Do 50 push-ups" item on my bucket list...

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