Leading for real
Apr. 28th, 2014 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylSecond part of the course today and we started with a practice of last week's skills. I warmed up with a 6b which hadn't been set with leading in mind, so a lot of the clips were really uncomfortable and the whole thing felt horrid, but I managed it nonetheless. We then moved on to a relatively easy, juggy, overhung route where we practiced taking falls — something we both enjoyed far more than we'd expected to — before climbing an easy four as our first genuine lead.
The whole thing actually felt fairly easy and intuitive, probably because I've been doing a lot of bouldering, and we soon opted for some trickier stuff. Knowing that I was slightly apprehensive about the long routes up the prow, I threw myself in the deep end by attempting to send a 6a that went all the way to the very top of the building. I didn't make it — I wasn't really expecting to — but I got to within two moves of the finish before getting pumped out and, after warning R that I was probably going to peel off, throwing for next move and taking my first real fall. Which is good: it means I've already confronted my two main worries.
Rather than follow my somewhat reckless example, R picked a slightly shorter route and flashed it with no trouble at all. Despite being tired, we tried couple of other routes including one with a double overhang — not really ideal for the end of a session! — before breaking for tea. We're both super-excited and eager to put in some more practice, so we're going to put try again later in the week.
I'm not sure whether to buy a rope ahead of time — I might just drop in to the store and see what they have on offer — but my bigest difficult is going to be what to do about a bag: I need something to replace my existing rucksack & I might as well get something that will accomodate shoes and harness as a well as decent length rope.
The whole thing actually felt fairly easy and intuitive, probably because I've been doing a lot of bouldering, and we soon opted for some trickier stuff. Knowing that I was slightly apprehensive about the long routes up the prow, I threw myself in the deep end by attempting to send a 6a that went all the way to the very top of the building. I didn't make it — I wasn't really expecting to — but I got to within two moves of the finish before getting pumped out and, after warning R that I was probably going to peel off, throwing for next move and taking my first real fall. Which is good: it means I've already confronted my two main worries.
Rather than follow my somewhat reckless example, R picked a slightly shorter route and flashed it with no trouble at all. Despite being tired, we tried couple of other routes including one with a double overhang — not really ideal for the end of a session! — before breaking for tea. We're both super-excited and eager to put in some more practice, so we're going to put try again later in the week.
I'm not sure whether to buy a rope ahead of time — I might just drop in to the store and see what they have on offer — but my bigest difficult is going to be what to do about a bag: I need something to replace my existing rucksack & I might as well get something that will accomodate shoes and harness as a well as decent length rope.
