This is me...

In my dreams anyway... I went rock climbing for the first time ever the other day. I've been to climbing gyms before and done climbing walls but I'd never been climbing on real rock. It was pretty cool. The part that made me the most nervous (and my climbing partner even more nervous than me) was my incredible lack of belaying skills... It took me a couple of practice rounds (where he only climbed a few feet off the ground) to even KIND OF feel comfortable belaying him. I'm sure he did a lot of praying on the way up the rock face. It made me SO nervous. That was definitely my least favorite part of climbing. His descent was pretty jerky and slow, thanks, once again, to my mad lack of skillz. I'm just glad, as I'm sure he is as well, that he made it back to the bottom in one piece.

On the flip side, I absolutely LOVED the actual climbing part. I felt like spider(wo)man up there on the side of the cliff. It was a lot harder to find foot and hand holds than I thought it would be. But it was also pretty cool to see what tiny knobs and cracks my feet could stand on/in and my fingers could grip in order to pull myself up to the next set of foot and handholds. And it was exhilarating to take in the view from so high up. And it definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment (I'm all about feeling accomplished) once I got to the top and touched the anchor. I didn't realize how much adrenaline was pumping through my body until I got to the bottom and couldn't stand up on my feet... I had to land on my behind because my legs wouldn't support me. It made me laugh pretty hard. Luckily, my belayer is a lot better at belaying than I am. My descent was quick and smooth. The route we climbed definitely wasn't very difficult as far as climbing routes go and I hope that with practice I'll get good at climbing because it was SO much fun!!!