indoor rock climbing

I took Austin and Keon Ho to the Coquitlam Cliffhanger indoor climbing gym this afternoon so that they could try climbing while I belayed them. They arrived full of enthusiasm and had their sights set on topping all the walls in the first 5 minutes. However, I suggested that they start on the beginner's wall and see how things went.

The first wall is about as steep as a ladder and rises to the top of the 45 foot climbing structure. The hand and foot holds are nice large letters and numbers. Easy for kids to figure out and easy for parents to shout instructions. The whole idea of this wall is to get the kids comfortable with the gear, comfortable coming down and comfortable with being several times their height off the ground.

Both the boys did fairly well on the beginner's wall reaching about 25 feet off the ground before getting too nervous. I've found that it's often good to go try something harder for a bit then come back to the easy stuff. We spent the next hour trying out several other walls that were lower (35 feet) but were more vertical. Keon Ho was the first to get to the top with Austin managing it on his next try (competition can be a great motivator). After that they went back to all the previous walls and topped them with ease (including the first one which they practically ran up).

Once they were more comfortable with the basics of climbing I introduced the rating system for the climbs and we started to focus on not just getting to the tops, but getting there following the routes that the gym had set. This makes things a bit more interesting as now it's not just a physical and psychological challenge but it's also a mental one.

The routes are set in increasing levels of difficulty with each level requiring the climber to plan his moves more strategically and improve his technique. Starting with a very basic route that has the score of 5.6, the climber has access to many large comfortable hand and foot holds and climbs a steep but not vertical gradient. Stepping up to 5.7 or 5.8 (the most difficult climb they attempted) the foot and hand holds become smaller and more sparse and the incline goes vertical. It's important on these more difficult climbs to think several moves ahead or you'll find that you can't reach the next hold.

Austin and Keon Ho spent most of their time trying 5.7's and managed to finish several of them. They learned how to use a resting position to take breaks part way up (rather than trying to sprint to the top) and they started to learn how to move more efficiently by doing the climbing with their legs and trying to keep their arms straight to reduce muscle fatigue.

In the end they were very happy with their exploits and want to go back again. The staff at the gym commented several times how impressed they were with how long the boys were climbing - over 3 hours! Sounds like we'll have to go back and do that again :)

-sc