Reconnecting with Climbing

It had been awhile since I'd been climbing. I knew I loved it, but I had forgotten just how much. First, its a great workout. Believe it or not, its cardio. A few moves can have you searching for your breath and your muscles quivering trying to hang on to a small precipice in the rock. If you aren't use to it, the climbs will leave you sore the next day.

Climbing presents a challenge for people of all skill levels. Once a route gets easy, you move on to something more difficult. You can even make virtually the same climb twice, but by moving a few inches one way of the other on the route the challenge completely changes.

Like I said, I had been awhile so my fingers weren't calloused enough to climb as well as I would have liked, but I was still able to get in some decent climbs. I had mostly a beginning group, so we were just doing single-pitch top roping on some shorter walls, but it was still great to tackle the climbs. Unfortunately, rain started falling and cut our day short, but I was able to do 4 climbs including my first chimney climb (see picture below). I really only took one bad fall where I cut up my knee and ankle. If I had been wearing pants (like I should have) I probably wouldn't have gotten quite as banged up.

Not a whole lot more to say, but here are a few more pictures: