Climbing Again

Saturday I went climbing with Brandon and some folks. On the way up the mountain, Brandon’s car started overheating. He first slowed down, thinking it was simply overloaded. It still didn’t cool down, so we pulled over to check it out, and found that he had a rather large coolant leak in an odd spot. I had just recently gotten AAA, which includes free tows, so I called them and they came and picked up the car and took it to the shop, while we went climbing.

It took awhile to do all this and to hike to the climb. There were a bunch of 5.11s, and some 5.9s and 5.10s. I jumped on a 5.9, and made it up in pretty good form. My muscles were fine, but I did realize that my head isn’t in the climbing as much. But I was pleased, considering it was my first climb (on rock at least) for about a year. After that, I jumped on a 5.10+, and it kicked my butt. Brandon had lead it, and it was challenging to him, so I wasn’t too surprised.

All in all, the gear I got seemed to work great. I didn’t notice the harness, which is a good sign. I did find that the shoes I got grip great, and I was able to use some really thin footholds. Now if only my fingers were that good at gripping…