Rock-climbing Time!

A while ago, I went rock climbing with my Girl Scout troop at a place called Sportrock. 

Belayers are the people who work at a rock-climbing place. They helped us with our harnesses, held on to our ropes when we were climbing up and rappelling down, and did our helmet fittings. They were also our instructors. The belayers who helped us were very nice and encouraging.

Learning the rules

Before we could start climbing, we had to get fitted for helmets.

Then our instructors explained the rules. The first one was: don't take off your helmet. Seriously. Don't take off your helmet. If the rope breaks, you could fall on your head and probably die. Also, if you slip on the "rocks" you could hit your head. The second rule was: do not touch the dangling ropes. Those are for your safety so you don't fall off the wall. I can't remember the other rules.

The big walls were huge, forty feet tall, with little bells you could ring at the top, and "rocks" that were marked with different color pieces of duct tape. The belayers explained that the markings were there so you would know which path to the top was easy, and which path was hard. For example, green was the easiest path to take, blue was between easy and hard, and pink was the hardest. (Actually, I don't remember which color meant what. But you get what I mean.) The easy path gradually disappears as you get closer to the top, so it gets harder to climb.  

 Mommy and some other adults decided to start on the big walls. I was impressed. That was a brave place to start! Most of the troop and I decided to start on the smaller walls--they were maybe ten feet high and easier to climb.

Ready to climb up the little wall! Mommy had to take this picture
with a special lens. That's why it looks rounded.

Mommy and the other adults walked over to us just as I was about to start climbing. She had gone all the way to the top! She even rang the bell. I was totally going to do that.

When I climbed the big wall, I almost, almost, almost gave up. My legs were so tired. As I went higher, I couldn't find a good grip. I told myself that I was almost there ... I reached the top of that forty-foot wall and rang the bell! It was great. I felt energized. Happy. Like I could do anything I wanted to. 

About to reach the top!

When I rappelled down, my legs collapsed when I reached the ground. I couldn't believe I'd actually done that!