Rockclimbing!

Yesterday my uncle drove me out to the ANU to meet up with Alan, who then took me with him to go indoor rockclimbing. When we got there Alan's two friends Simon and Micah were already there waiting for us. I paid my $14 and had to take a crash course in belaying since I haven't been rockclimbing in YONKS, like, not since camp at primary school. It was pretty easy, and the main things to remember were:

• Always cloth to metal
• Keep hands in lockdown position
• Watch your climber
• Two-handed pull up, out and down
• Hands away from you

Pretty easy stuff. The woman nodded and was satisfied with my technique, gave me a belay pass and then we were off. I let Alan go first so I could practice my belaying while Micah and Simon watched me to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. I soon realised that it was almost a continuous cycle, pull up, out and down, pull up, out and down. As I struggled to keep pace with Alan and take up all the slack, Simon commented that belaying in itself is like a workout. I totally agree. @___@

In total I climbed eight times, and only had a break after the 5th one which was the hardest one I tried. There was a barrel-like sructure which jutted out of the wall half-way up, and it was so HARD. I could feel the strain on my aching muscles, and at first I was stuck underneath the barrel so I was just hanging there trying to figure out how to get over it. Eventually I figured out a route and pushing off my feet I quickly grabbed the next rock, heaved myself up to get another foothold, then pushed off again until I made it over the barrel.

Meanwhile Alan had been giving me encouragement and was trying to give me advice, but most of the time I couldn't really hear what he was saying... =/

Afterwards I clung to the wall and rested for a bit as I looked above and tried to figure out how I would make it up. I managed to get three quarters of the way up the wall but got stuck because I had moved up too slow and so didn't have enough strength in my arms to pull myself up to get a higher foothold. I was stuck there for a while,trying to pull myself up and missing the next rock, or trying to push off my feet but not getting enough force to move up. Sometimes I would lose my foothold and just be dangling by my hands (thank goodness Alan is good at belaying ahaha...). My arms were starting to cramp and my leg was shaking, I was losing so much energy and strength through all the failed attempts so I decided to try one last time to pull myself up with all my remaining might. I stretched my arm out and reached the rock but failed to find a suitable handhold before gravity kicked in and I slipped back down.

By now Alan was telling me to come down and take a break so I nodded in resignation and he lowered me back to the ground, saying: "That was pretty impressive for a beginner! You did well, not many beginners can make it over that barrel on their first try."

Needless to say, I was quite pleased and proud of my efforts -I even had a skinned elbow to show for it. Though I was slightly disappointed I hadn't managed to make it all the way to the top.

We sat outside in the cool evening breeze and Alan handed me my bottle. Alan had to help me open my bottle because my hands were so red and blistered that trying to grip onto the lid and twist was simply too painful. I gratefully gulped down my water and regretted not having bought more with me as my throat was still parched. Simon and Micah joined us for a break and asked how I was finding it. They then told us how Simon had just attempted the green course with 'The Wedge'. Basically, half-way up the wall you get to a point where there are no more green rocks, and so you have to wedge your arm into this gap between two triangles which stick out and then (somehow) boost yourself up (using the wedge), OVER the triangles and grab onto the next rock. Alan demonstrated it to me afterwards at my insistence and it looked crazy. =S

Another course I tried was one that used depressions and holes in the wall rather than rocks. Even though I managed to complete that one I found it very difficult because I was wearing my Converse so I couldn't fit my foot into most of the holes. O.o" The last one I did was climb the flexible steel ladder (I tried to climb the rope but it was too hard). The ladder is tougher than it looks, being a ladder it looks deceptively easy and simple, but once you start climbing it you realise how much it shakes and it's hard to balance. With Alan's help I discovered the trick is to keep your body straight and grabbing the bars from behind also help keep the ladder steady.

Alan was really pro, he did the barrel one HANDS ONLY! =O

Afterwards we decided to call it a day and head back (we'd climbed for around 90-120mins). Alan drove me to Belconnen so I could get Hungry Jacks for dinner and while we were waiting in line he got a ziplock bag from his car and filled it with ice from the drink dispenser. The ice felt soo good~ but my hands started to sting after a while so we took it in turns to hold it ahahaha...

Then Alan drove me home, and we saw an extremely localised storm. There were huge flashed of lightnight behind a concentrated group of stormclouds. It looked pretty cool. At first we had thought it was fireworks from the Canberra Show, but after we spotted the lightning we discarded that theory. Apparently it's a rare phenomenon that only occurs once every 20 years. The interesting thing is that while there was lots of lightning, we didn't hear any thunder or experience any rain.

Apparently it's been storming/hailing in Sydney.