Rock Climbing Cert Prep-Day 3

Friday, April 16, 2010
My group kind of disintegrated today so, on my own, I thought I would try setting up a basic institutional rappel and see what I could do.  Austin said, if it worked for me, I could though we both knew it was the end of any possible cert. I grabbed some ropes, webbing, and chocks, along with my personal gear that I had checked out and headed up to find a site. A few mornings ago I heard David Byrne's "Like Humans Do," and found myself singing, "I'm Breathing In, I'm Breathing Out." I sang it to myself with emphasis as the climb quickly became steep and sketchy, made worse by carrying my climbing equipment on my harness and holding two heavy ropes. I had flashbacks to my November "Devil's Hopyard" climb in the White Mountains. My scared little girl was climbing again. I couldn't find how to get to any sites and was passing groups already at sites as I climbed higher. I went one way and then doubled back trying to find a way up. If I hadn't fallen into my scared kid mode, I could have casually hollered to someone to find the path. Scooching down, I hugged the path--the term path used about as loosely as the loose dirt and rocks on which I was trying not to slide off and fall below. I tried throwing the ropes ahead of me but that only creates a tangled mass and mess. Going down these skinny paths was worse than climbing because I was facing how high I was. Eventually I made my way to an area that had some appropriate trees for anchors but they were set well back from the cliff and had a couple of pseudo cliffs between them and the real cliff. Sean saw me while checking on another group and came by to see what I was up to. I told him the climb had sketched me out so I took time to recoil the rope and couldn't say exactly what I was trying to do other than set up a rappel. He got the picture and said he'd be back to check on me. A while later, both he and Austin came by as I was putting wraps around the tree for an anchor. I tried to keep a brave face at my pathetic attempt, probably 45 minutes after everyone headed to their sites and most if not all were set up and waiting for the green light to climb. I told them I was not expecting anyone to climb on my site. They'd be back to check on me again. Tears again because I knew that I had information but I was too upset to pull it together. I fought with myself about trying and then, cold and hungry, decided the jig was up and took the anchor down, recoiled the ropes and headed back to the sketchy trail. I saw Austin as I was schooching on my butt. He asked about my set up and I said that there hadn't been much to see. End of story.

When I got down to my pack, I grabbed my surprisingly good gluten-free Snickerdoodle and thermos of hot chocolate. Laura came over from one of the climbs and told me to come on over and climb. My sense was Sean sent her 'cause he knew I wasn't doing well and needed a diversion. I told her I'd be over but she came back again to encourage me over. I followed her over and she offered to belay me.  The climb was a 5.6 and I pushed myself the whole way. Laura loves climbing--she's like a monkey. She was great coaching me about where the good foot and hand holds were. It's often hard to see them when you're up so close and it's a good idea to plan a route before you go. I'm not sure how high the climb was, maybe 50', but I was about two more moves from the bolts at the top. I was ready to stop a couple of times but Laura convinced me to try another step or hold. Austin was encouraging as well which made me want to go higher, especially since I blew the anchor setup. I felt satisfied by my climb when I was back on the ground and could look to see where I'd been. Oh, yeah, I rappelled down which oddly is not such a scary deal. . . kind of fun.

After my climb, it was lunch time and Austin showed us another set-up using artificial anchors and it was an instructor rescue belay. I had done the belay yesterday but knew that I didn't expect to ever be rescuing someone. I moved between a couple of sites, watching the climbers and shouting encouragement. Sarah Maney was working on a tough one and Aaron tried it later on. Kaytee was doing one and was a little nervous and wanting someone's presence for a bit. After, I decided to climb around to the cave and go through to the other end. I came back again and just sat for a while at the entrance, enjoying the solitude as I passed time. Not a productive day other than my climb.

Finally got back to GCC and ended up working for a few hours prepping equipment for the sea kayaking trip on Sunday and helping Beth with field work paperwork.

We leave at 6 a.m. on Sunday for sea kayaking at Muscongus Bay in Maine and on Thursday, some of us leave for home while I and others head to the AEE Regional Conference, also in Maine, and come back on Sunday. I was awarded a scholarship and I'm hoping there will be some good networking and job leads. The semester is escaping my grasp!