Day 10

Today, Friday, is my best schedule for the week. Rather than having a huge break between my language class and my other core class, I have them back-to-back. The downside is that I have so much class packed together in one 7-hour period. To offset that, I go climbing after class gets done. Today I even had a friend come with me. We grabbed a quick dinner after class and then headed over to the rec center.

My friend, Peter, had never been climbing in a gym before. He had gone once on a real rock surface, but gym climbing is so different from natural face climbing that they don't even compare. I thought it would be a good idea to take him with me today because the gym was giving out free climbs for the week. That way, if he didn't like the experience of gym climbing, there was no dent in his wallet from the day in the gym.

We got to the gym at about 5:30 after dinner. It was supposed to be open until 8, so there was no rush for us. After Peter finished filling out his "if I die I won't sue you" paperwork, we got him a pair of shoes and went to work on the wall. I'm a fairly experienced climber, so I started on some of the harder routes just to warm up. Then I helped Peter figure out one of the beginner routes so he didn't feel left out.

Most of the routes at the campus gym are sit-starts. That means you sit on your butt at the base of the route and put your feet on either a free hold or a marked one. Then you reach up to the double-taped starting holds and try to pull/stand yourself up to the next hold. With any route, getting the sit-start is the hardest part. I let Peter off the hook and told him to just start with his hand on the double-taped holds and go from there. I was looking for more of a challenge, so I worked with the sit-starts.

After a while of bouldering on my own I walked over to where Peter was working. He's a lot skinnier than I am, and looks more athletic, so I wasn't too concerned about the large group of people watching him. What did shock me was that he was on the hardest route in the gym and almost all the way to the top.

For a moment, I was impressed. Then I was agitated because he had told me he couldn't climb. It made things worse that after he finished the route and made his down that the manager of the gym offered him a job as an instructor. I had applied earlier this week and was refused because they had already maxed out their quota of instructors!

At least now I had a friend in a high enough place to get me free stuff from the rock gym.

The pun was intended.

Day 10 of 100 - Summary: Being outclassed by a novice sucks.