Tracy takes a deep breath in remembering her yoga instructions of filling her lungs from the bottom to the brim oxygenating her muscles. She is suspended roughly 9 feet up on a rock, and all she needed was to get over an overhanging ledge to conquer this boulder, which she has chosen to climb today. With all her weight on her left foot, her right foot searching for a crack on the rocks face she knows is there, she tries to remember to breathe and not panic which is getting harder to do with each passing second as she feels the sweaty fingers of her right hand slowly, but inexorable slipping out of the precarious hold on the roof of the ledge. She is therefore forced to shift all the weight of her body on her left hand, which is hanging on tightly to a little nick on the rock.
"Relax, Tracy dont panic." She hears Vals voice saying from below, where shes waiting with a good spot if she should fall.
With a swift movement, her right foot finds the crevice, on which she shifts her weight, she slaps her right hand over the sloping overhang, hanging on with all her might, feeling the fingers of her left hand screaming with agony, and vaults over the lip of the overhang with her left leg. Once on top, she breathes the cool air into her heaving lungs, feeling the exhilaration coursing through her body. She looks down at Val, and they exchange smiles and airy high fives.
It was just a couple of months back that Tracy found a new passion in her life rock climbing. It began with trying out climbing in the gym using artificial holds made of plastic, which can be fixed anywhere on the wall. She found it an intense form of exercise and decided to try it out outdoors. And she discovered a truth that all rock climbing buffs know the engrossing joy of being out in a rock filled environment, on a pleasantly sunny day, with nothing else on her mind but scaling over a rocky surface. No cell phones, no TV, no computer games nothing but the arduous thrill of rocky surfaces to climb up.
In fact, that was one of the first things she realized about this new passion of hers how physically demanding it could be. In order to truly master it one had to really focus and work on aspects like strength, endurance, agility, balance, flexibility, concentration as well as relaxation. Hence, before actually going out and climbing up real rocks, she undertook a period of training, which involved 2-3 hours of concentrated rock climbing in the gym 4 to 5 days in a week, plus daily physical strengthening calisthenics like finger push-ups, various pull-ups, and sit-ups, along with yoga twice a week to improve on flexibility, balance, and concentration, and increasing her endurance by getting a cardio workout three times a week.
On her journey to learn about this fascinating sport she also discovered the different types of rock climbing done these days, and the equipment she would need:
Conventional Rock Climbing: This is the kind that is usually shown in movies, with pairs of climbers, connected with a rope, ensconced in harnesses, scaling up vertical rock faces, carrying specialized equipment in racks. As they climb up, the climbers fix nuts, wedges and other types of protective gear into the crevices in the rocks. The rope is tied to these, so that in case a climber should lose his/her footing or grip, the rope prevents the fall.
Sport Rock Climbing: Similar to conventional rock climbing, the only exception being that the protective gear is fixed to the rock permanently. Hence, the climbers do not have to lug all that gear up and fix it along the way, which makes climbing faster, less expensive, and safer.
Boulder Climbing: In this, as the name suggests, instead of climbing up crags and cliffs, you climb up boulders, which are usually about ten feet or so in height. Since the climb is not very high, boulder climbing is usually done without ropes.
Ice Climbing: In this type, glaciers and frozen water falls are climbed. Instead of using nuts, cams and wedges, specialized equipment that can be screwed into the ice is used.
Free Solo Climbing: This is just like sport climbing, except that no protective rope is used, hence if the climber should fall, it usually leads to death or grievous injury.
Indoor Rock Climbing: Indoor structures made of concrete or plywood are erected into which artificial footholds and handholds are fixed. Since they are indoors, the height of the ceiling limits how high the structures can be. However, the advantage is that there are never any inclement weather conditions to deal with, plus the footholds and handholds can be unbolted in order to reconfigure the climbing surface.
The rock climbing equipment Tracy required is quite simple, at the minimum she would need: rock climbing shoes; a harness; carabiners to fix the harness on to the rope; hand chalk or gloves; a device for rappelling; a belay device; a rope; a helmet; nuts; wedges; cams; and hexes.
Tracy was glad she had found this great form of exercise that not only took her close to Mother Nature but also kept her in great shape and, for her, was one of the best forms of recreation.
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