My sister told me she was going rock climbing and my first initial reaction was "What the heck is she talking about? Dick's Sporting Goods had a rock climbing wall a couple of years ago before it was closed down because someone fell off it and they had not taken the right safety measures to prevent this accident."
Luckily, and though I didn't realize I would be going this spring break, there is a place in my town called Garden State Rocks, which is an indoor rock climbing arena (its like a buffet for rock climbers because there were so many walls to choose from). What made it also very cool is that each wall has a certain colored and numbered path to follow, so that made it very interesting to climb because at first I did not follow these paths but as I got to my sixth and seventh climb, I started going on the harder paths. They required me to jump and put my feet and hang at different angles, so the challenge and the success that followed soon after making it to the top with all the strength I had made it so much more worth it to keep going and trying new ways to successfully reach the top.
Along with learning how to maneuver and find my way to the very top (which was a little under the ceiling), my sister showed me some of what she learned by taking the belay class, which taught her how to lock into the wall and manage the harness that would help the climbers if they were to fall. They have to tie an eight knot very tightly in order to ensure that the belay is properly connected to the climber. This ensures the safety of the climber (though the harness is very uncomfortable for the most part for guys when coming down the wall) but when you want to come back down, you just have to let go. That's right. Let GO. If you're so high up and you look down, you can only imagine why in the world you would want to let go of what you think is holding you up, when it's actually the harness and the super important knot that was tied before.
The belay is constantly pulling down the rope to ensure that you can have enough leeway while climbing. Its a lot of work for the belay too because every movement you make towards going up, they have to make sure that they can stop the rope in case the climber falls from missing a rock or if the climber slips.
Initially, I didn't realize the crucial importance of the belay and it opened my eyes to a whole other world where people need to make sure the safety aspects of the rope and harness when climbing.
In conclusion, despite all of this, I had such a good time climbing because I had not done it for awhile and the last time I climbed was when I was a kid with a lot less strength than I have now. I recommend going to this place because it has a number of walls and the people are really friendly.
Here are my pictures from my climb:
