So, thus far one of my New Year's resolutions has proved a tedious effort: to hit the climbing wall at least one day a week. Thus far, since the semester started I have gone three times. No wait...maybe only twice. Heck, I can't remember. Let's just say, not many times.
Anyway, I went today. The first (and second, if it even occurred) time I went there were so many climbers on the wall that I had to suffice with doing some bouldering. Which is okay, its still climbing, and arguably far more difficult than the wall. But I wanted to climb high, Gilbert! So, today I got the opportunity. By the time the wall cleared enough for me to sneak in I'd already been bouldering for half an hour. Needless to say, I got 1/4 of the way up a 5.5 and my arms gave out. I took a ten minute break and tried a 5.4. I got 1/2 way before I slipped off a handhold. /sigh
The depressing part is that Stefan (rock climbing extraordinaire, as far as I'm concerned, I watched him climb a 5.7 today with one arm...ONE ARM!) said, "wow, you were climbing much harder stuff than this last year." This was the part where I hung my head in shame and admitted that I hadn't climbed in five months.
So now I feel compelled to find time and energy to get back into rock climbing. Stefan (along with some other members of the climbers club that owns King and Queens Bluff) has offered to help me climb outdoors at the Bluff. All I need to do is show up with shoes and gut-determination.
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so what do the numbers represent? difficulty 5.4 being easier than 5.5 etc?
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. You know how in our hiking book the trails are rated, this trail is 2.3, this trail is 4.4. Well that number kinda represents its incline. 5.0 represents a vertical face. Any number after the decimal point represents its difficulty as a vertical face. So, a 5.4 would be considerably easier than say a 5.11. I think the hardest I've ever climbed was a 5.7. The number may also represent other things, like hand and footholds, any outcrops or amount of smearing required. I'm not familiar enough with the system to fully understand it, and I definitely haven't climbed the hard stuff enough to realize that intricate differences in grades. All I know is I can do 5.4, I cannot do 5.10.
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