More rock climbing

Last Wednesday we (Ben, Matt, Elliot, Mary, and Me) all went rock climbing. It’s fun doing it as a group.

This time I got the cool shoes that lets you climb up a wall like Spiderman. While Matt was going through orientation, Ben and I were practicing belaying. This time was a lot different. I had trouble letting people down from the wall. I kinda just dropped Ben off the wall, but he landed on his feet. But it was a different story when he was belaying me. I was coming down off the wall and he just dropped me on the ground. I fell flat on my butt! Ben was just laughing, Matt was in the middle of orientation with our buddy Daniel (who I went camping with once).

They changed up the walls. It was tougher climbing up. And it sucks that I’m short, Mary had the same problem. I couldn’t reach pegs that Matt could reach. He kept telling me to grab a hold of a rock right above me….2 feet above my reach. But I let him have it, well not purposefully. When I was letting him down off the wall. I would let the rope go and then it would cinch abruptly. I feel really bad, he might not be able to have kids for a while.

What would be a better way to end a night of rigorous rock climbing?? A big ol slice of pizza from Momo’s. It’s great. We work out a crazy ton and then stuff ourselves with pizza and beer. And then of course Cranium to top it off. Mary and I won…again. Woot Woot!!

Rock Climbing

Saturday, a group of us went rock climbing. It was wicked (awesome, neat, and cool –to steal a saying from my high school Chem teacher, can’t remember his name ) fun!! I’d recommend it to anyone. I am scared of heights big time. Elliot wanted to chicken fight outside of the gym, but I was too scared….even though we were about four feet off of the ground.

We took a class on how to belay and tie knots. I was so paranoid that my knot would come loose or that I would plummet to my death. But I guess as long as you and your partner are competent, you should be ok. We had to double check each other’s knots. And you have to have faith in the person belaying you.

It was no problem scurrying up the wall. Getting down was the hard part! I would also advise people not to look down. It’s the scariest thing. I looked down to find a spot for my foot, I ended up looking past my foot and to the ground. And then another time I looked down to Ben to make sure he was ready to let me down, that wasn’t a good idea either. Another time, I turned my back to the wall and looked out, that was scary too. When we got to the last wall, I wasn’t as scared anymore. I knew that if I fell off the wall, I wouldn’t die–or at least I shouldn’t.

I hope next time we go, we can get a big group together. It is definitely a fun group activity.

Things

I lost my voice Thursday night. It’s finally coming back now, still a little hoarse though.

Yesterday Ben and I went to the FSU Rez. It was a beautiful day for hanging out there. The sun was out, there were a few clouds in the sky, and it wasn’t too hot or too chilly out. We kayaked for I don’t know how long and then did rock climbing. Firstly, the lake had lost a lot of water and we couldn’t go to the connecting lake. So when we were shoving off, I was stuck in about 2 inches of water. Ben was off paddling, while I was shimmying my way into deeper waters. I think I got a slight slight tan from relaxing on the lake

After kayaking we did some rock climbing. I’m still afraid of heights though. I wanted to conquer one of my fears and I’ve never climbed all the way to the top of a rock wall. So I was doing well until I got to the middle, I was trying to find a place to put my foot and then I looked down and saw the ground…. I was freaked out then and really wanted to come down. But what would that leave me with?? Another failed wall climb. I sucked it up and kept going. When I reached the top, I freaked out again. I didn’t know how to drop down. I started climbing down but that was even more scary. Finally I let go of the wall and sure enough I didn’t plummet to my death. I bounced down off the wall…just like in the movies. And everyone cheered for me when I got down. I forgot to mention that I was screaming with my hoarse voice. So I sounded extra funny and scared.