Went climbing!

[dagibbs]

Went climbing this evening, spent about 2 hours at the gym -- a bit of bouldering, but mostly climbing. They had a bunch (11?) of automatic-belay devices. These seemed to work ok for safe descent, but didn't give you the option of resting on the rope to survey the problem, and meant that if you did fall off, you always had to re-start your climb from the bottom, rather than from close to where you fell off. Still, it was better than bouldering the whole time. And, ratings are clearly "highly subjective", for instance there was a 5.6 (well, labelled as 5.6+ and named 'this is not your mother's 5.6'), which I had difficulty completing -- there was one move that I found quite tough. Now, a 5.6 just about anywhere else I climb or have climbed has meant would mean (for me, now) an easy climb with no challenges. Oddly, I did a 5.7 at this gym, and found it easier than the above mentioned 5.6 -- but still a bit tougher than I'd normally expect a 5.7 to be. Definitely, ratings are highly subjective.

I think I should start a catalog of the various climbing gyms I've climbed at -- I've now climbed in California, Florida, Michigan, and Ontario. (And, climbed real rock on the Niagara escarpment, but that was 20 or so years ago.)