Challenge Course Exam Tomorrow: Swingin' In The Trees

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Austin talked with us about what might be on the written exam and how we need to think about the practical exam. I say "we" loosely as I'm not taking the cert. I'll be certified through OLP and it should suffice since supposedly not many organizations yet look for the ACCT cert. We talked about Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs vs Local Operating Procedures-LOPs. They both have crossover but "Standard" are general statements where as "Local" offers more detailed and particular information about the site and organization.

After lunch we moved up to the GCC Challenge Course where Austin just spent about $3000 to upgrade climbing staples and other improvements to get the course through the next couple of years. Apparently courses have a life span and this one will need to be moved to another location on campus, likely where the zip line is. It will also more likely involve telephone poles rather than trees. Won't have the same wooded ambiance but will be kinder to the living trees. We started review of harnesses. Austin had told me that he thought if I concentrated on climbing comfort it would most benefit me. Someone had asked if we should have another pair of eyes but he said that, as instructors, you'll be climbing on your own on a course so you should probably start getting used to it today. Sounds good. I grabbed a set of lobster claws (static self-belay) and picked a free tree over at the big swing.

The plan with lobster claws is that you pay close attention and get into a rhythm with clipping and unclipping into the anchors as you climb. Clip the 2nd claw while the 1st is still clipped in; the clip should be about waist high so that if you fall you don't fall far. The "big swing" tree didn't have much in terms of new staples so once I reached the platform I started back down. Apparently I zoned. I realized on my way down that I had just made the worst move--I had unclipped both claws. The only connection between me and the tree were my feet standing on the staples and my fingers holding another staple. Okay, don't panic about 20' up. Damn. Hold on to your staple and get a claw clipped back in. Done. Then I heard Anna call up to me asking if I knew what I had just done. Damn, again. Bad enough that I screwed it up but I didn't know I was being watched. Anna had been standing below watching my climb. Already upset, I didn't want the audience. I snapped at her to not watch me because it was making me nervous and yes, I was fully aware of what I had just done. She left and I guess told Kristi and Coquette. As I was about to transfer to the ladder, I heard a bunch of shouting up from the shed. I realized that it was K & C coming down to hold the ladder which I had understood was part of the getting used to doing it alone. They asked me how it went when I got to the bottom but all I could say was fine and went to find somewhere I could shed my tears and process. I got my thermos and had a hot drink. Found a rope and practiced a few knots and then watched the current show.

Austin was supervising Jen who was setting up a pulley on a cable, well up in a tree swaying in the gusting wind. That was the height that I couldn't get up to in March but had wanted to try again if we hadn't run out of time. At some point Austin came over and asked how it was going, I think unaware of what had transpired. I was still upset, said the usual "I don't want to talk about it" when indeed I did want to talk about it. Austin followed with the requisite "Okay, I'll just step away" and I followed blurting out my confession that I had unclipped both claws. He asked if I was shaken. I told him I was upset about my screw up, about it having been seen, and that because I wasn't going for cert I was having a hard time knowing how much space I should claim yesterday in rock climbing field work and now today. I just wanted to feel good about something I could do. I told him I wanted to leave but that would be the easiest thing to do and I'd feel badly afterwards. I needed to stay. We continued to talk, at points he moving the subject around to calm me down. Said he got to closely review my independent project and that he thinks I'm a good writer and my work had put a lot of information in one place which was what he needed to assess blogging for the program.

Eventually I was able to hug Anna and apologize through my tears for snapping at her. We're fine. I shouted a few encouragements to Jen, who loves climbing, as she swayed with the tree. Austin said there were a couple of tasks that still needed doing. One was to get the rescue setup down and Kristi climbed up to pull that down. I was figuring out a time to climb once more before we left. Austin said to no one in particular that the pulley that Jen had set up needed to come down. I had a sense that he was trying to encourage me to get on the horse again without throwing me into the saddle.
"Okay, I'll try it," I said.

I got a set of claws from Kristi and started up with Austin holding the ladder. I climbed and clipped with rhythm and was aware that when you're clipping, you don't pay as much attention to height. I mean, I knew I was high because I could see other tree tops if I looked beyond my own tree which I tried not to do. My focus was the trunk and hardware facing me and the next anchors and staples. Looking up I could also see that I was getting closer to the belay cable and pulley. The closer I got meant that I could feel the wind gusts. Austin shouted up asking how I was doing and telling me I looked good up there.
"I'm hanging on," I shouted back as I had stopped climbing and was swaying with the tree in the gusts. Eyes squeezed tightly, I uttered a mix of prayers and swears. I found a new rhythm, pushing higher between gusts. Finally high enough that I could reach out to work on the cable and pulley, I had to clip in a carabiner on my harness to a tree anchor so that I could work hands-free. I clipped in but had one hand hanging onto a staple while I reached out with the other trying to unclip the belay rope. . . Anna waiting on the ground for the rope. The gusts kept yanking the cable out of my hand so Austin reminded me that I needed to work hands-free from the tree. Damn. I do need to let go and reach out. Even two hands fought the wind to pull the cable close enough to unclip the rope. I gave Anna a warning "rope" shout as I let it drop. Now get the carabiner off the pulley. Done.
"Stick it in your pocket," Austin shouted.
Next, pull the cheeks of the pulley apart so I can get it off the cable. Done.
Now climb back down and don't screw up the claws. My feet touch the top of the ladder and then the ground. Done.

I have climbed to the top belay cable which I hadn't been able to do before. Austin told me job well done and as I turned toward the shed, Anna, Kristi, and Coquette were busy working on perfecting a knot. Their backs were to me which felt slightly odd but Austin may have told them I didn't want an audience. Then again, it's not all about me. They are doing the cert. On the way down from the course Coquette told me I had a nice climb.

Lots of emotion. Challenge, shame, fear, success. Ace of Swords-Victory after struggle. Thank you, Susan.