Practitioner Challenge Course Day 3: Climbing, Gri Gris, Birth & Death

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Oh, where to begin. Weary, exhausted, previously exhilarated. Forced myself to buy some food on the way home and actually stay vertical to cook it. The days are becoming a blur and I'm not sure I remember what I did this morning. Let's see.

I was waiting for a turn on the Multi-Vine so, while waiting, belayed Jen while she Lead Climbed to attach a second belay pulley. She was up freakin' high but got it set up like a pro! I let her down with the gri-gri but got pulled off the ground on the downhill as her pulley slid to the center. I had a sense that I could be pulled but didn't think about the downhill factor. I should also have had someone holding my harness to counter that action. I tried to stay with it but as my feet left the ground I called for help looking for someone to grab the loop on my harness and hold us both down. I presented Austin and Beth with a "teachable moment" and learned well. But, I didn't drop Jen with the gri-gri so things were looking up in my book.

Beth got me Lead Climbing again with the lobster claws but this time up the Cat Walk and with the miserable carabiner type "claws" that you have to do a one-handed twist and squeeze of the barrel so you can clip onto an anchor. I whined about using them vs the real claws and Beth basically told me it would be good for me so stop whining. Once I was off the ladder she took it away and I was on my own with the claws maneuvering around the left side of the post and onto the platform which is higher than the beam. From the platform she asked me to clip in and climb up to the belay cable and when Beth or Austin ask, I try. I guess I know they won't ask me to do anything they don't think I can do and I need that kind of support. All that Challenge by Choice. . . moving out of your comfort zone. Beth said I'm leaps ahead of where I started and now my goals are about getting comfortable with height. Especially now since we're being assessed.

And in Beth's style, she pushed me to walk the Cat Walk while she was belaying me with a gri-gri. You don't get the same tight tension and unless you know how to use them properly, they are an accident waiting to happen. (Odd, since Austin told us that the gri-gri was originally developed to solve climbing problems.) Beth was pushing me to use my legs and feel myself on the beam rather than count so heavily on the belay tension to hold me upright which is what I generally ask for. She was having none of it. She suggested I try a surprise fall so I'd see how the tension feels when I fall. She gets me to do the strangest things. I fell and slid around but kept my feet on the beam and the tension was enough to hold me there. I righted myself and Austin happened by at the time and watched as I tried no hands and no noticeable belay tension to inch across the beam. Did it, sort of. Then Beth belayed me down from the beam which I can say in this semester is fun.

She had me Lead Climb again up the other Cat Walk post this time up high to the belay cable. My fingers were freezing and I kept catching them between the claw barrel and the stem as I clipped in. I couldn't make it up to the belay cable which is higher than the cables you walk on. Beth suggested I transfer from the Cat Walk to the Multi-Vine and then over to the giant swing. Right. I didn't have a lot of faith I'd get far on the Vine but tried. I did a similar element 3 years ago and it was tough. The vines are hanging vertical ropes that you grab onto but they offer little stability as you cross the cable from one rope to reach another rope. Hanging on to a vine and my belay rope, I can't recall if I got to the 2nd rope but I was beat and cold so opted for a belay down. At some point through all of this she told me again, "Don't be so daft." It's become her endearing way to poke fun and keep me loose.

Since we've all been told that we need to be busy doing something so we can be assessed, I next found myself climbing the big swing. I figured I'd go up, and it is up, but no expectations that I had to swing down. Aaron had taken Austin's place on the platform and Erin was belaying. What I've noticed is that I'm climbing better. I go up pretty quickly. I'm still nervous but I don't let it get me early on. I got up to the swing platform and Aaron did a bunch of clipping in and out. I was holding on to the tree anchors--amazing how sticking a finger through each anchor gives some foolish semblance of safety. Of course I was belayed to Erin but still. I told Aaron that 3 years ago I had sat on a zip line platform for 15 minutes before a friend gave me a gentle push off. It was the only way I could get off the damn thing. Today I had seen others swinging. There's a long drop and then a long swing. I just couldn't do it. And it was okay. I had been climbing up and down trees and belaying and damn it, I was busy doing things I wouldn't do last semester. So, while I'm not doing the highly technical stuff like installing pulleys on the highest cables, I've moved forward. Austin caught me end of day doing something high and said appreciatively, "Pushin'. Always pushin'. You've been doing that since day one."

Somewhere in between all of that, Ian got himself up the ladder and onto the Cat Walk. I learned that he fell off a ladder in the summer while painting a house. He landed on the deck and fell through the guy's picnic table. When he was little, he also saw a kid fall out of a tree. Hence, fear of heights. He really pushed through some stuff today and I got to belay him. I hope that fact didn't prevent him from going out onto and off the beam. I wanted to give him a big hug and I'm not sure why I only did a stupid high-five. I think Ian could have dealt with a hug. Meanwhile, Laura was on the Playpen and on the highest level. She got a nosebleed!

We headed back to the classroom for a debrief. My group had to pick a button that had a saying that meant something to us. I found two.

1. "I'm in the awkward stage of life between birth and death." Since I'm much closer to the death stage of life, I can feel especially awkward in this OLP direction I have taken. At the same time, I can feel especially grateful.
2. "It's not just a backpack. It's my life!" Nuf said. Well, no. Beth prodded me for how all of this connects to the Challenge Course. Oh, I'm Fully Participating In Life!

Erin reminds me that I'm still one bad bitch and she's counting on me getting a tattoo before graduation. I've thought randomly of it for a few years but of what?

Took pictures yesterday and today but who's got time to upload? Marc took some, too.

Tomorrow, Zip Line. Now, more reading. . . maybe.