Recently, Michael and I have gotten ourselves involved in the exciting world of trad climbing!
After months of (ongoing!) ankle recovery at indoor walls, we’ve navigated our way around the snowy Spring days and managed to find ourselves some time in the sun; time to finally test out the mountain of gear we have stashed away.
There’s this strange thing that can happen to people who climb indoors all of the time, who get used to the florescent lighting and warehouse space – a forgetfulness that it’s all training, all just a way to scratch the itch until the weather is decent enough to get outside to climb (for free!) again.
And I think I fell into this category myself a little. I only took up roped climbing because I broke my ankle and couldn’t risk the scary-move falls bouldering. And so, my whole rope climbing experience has been inside. It’s been artificial. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love spending a few hours sanding my fingertips but, after being outside, I’ll be finding myself on real rock as often as I can from now on.
Also… watch this space for a very exciting project on climbing and mental health. Restless Climbing Minds is just about ready to be launched and I couldn’t be more excited.
A Vegan Adventurer 