Numbers 29 and 33 were both crossed off this weekend when I got the opportunity to join one of my old friends. In case you missed it, 29 on my life list is going rock climbing for real and 33 is to go hiking and camping. So, now that we're all caught up. I got the change to go up to Summersville , West Virginia where Sarah and a bunch of her friends. It was, admittedly, a great time, although not quite what I expected.
When I say not what I expected, I mean it. Since I am new to climbing and have only been climbing in an enclosed gym wall, I was not aware of all of the big productions that go along with climbing outdoors. We would wake up at the crack of dawn and then get into the car and head off to a parking lot. Now, this parking lot was not really connected to anything. It was just a parking lot in the middle of nowhere. We then hiked, on average, 2 miles up and down hills to the base of the walls. When I say hills, I really mean mountains. We hiked up and down mountains for 2 miles. Out. Of. Control. All of that just to get to the climbing spot. By that point, my legs were wrecked but I was still eager to climb.
As it turns out, climbing outdoors is much different from climbing in a gym. Some people like it. Some people don't. The jury is still out on me. It's better because you can put your hands anywhere on the face instead of following a set route. But that also makes it harder for a new climber like myself. You can't always see the holds that you want. But all-in-all, it was tons of fun. I got to make new friends and reconnect with old ones.
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