Indoor rock walls are not my thing...

So I figured I would do a quick blog before I get too far behind. I have this big paper for my Hollywood class that is due on Thursday and it has pretty much taken over my life. All I can think about is this paper. It wouldn't be that big of a deal but it is 40% of my grade and the other 60% comes from the next paper. I wish I didn't care about grade but I do. They are so important in this stage of the game because of where I want to go with my life. If I wasn't going to try to get into a really competitive PA program then they wouldn't be that big of a deal. But I have to keep my grades up so I can be competitive. So... as much fun as I've been having, I still need to get my act together and get stuff done. I also have a lab report to do, an OP journal and after tomorrow I will have another journal for Tecwyn's class. So, it is all piling up!

Anyways, for this past Thursday's OP class we went indoor rock climbing. The weather has been crappy for the past few days, so being inside seemed like the best activity for us that day. I kind of started the day with a bad attitude to being with because I was frustrated with the paper. We went to the center and we practiced tying knots and then headed to the rock wall place. It started out really fun. We did a lot of traversing across the walls just barley off the ground. Then we did some bouldering, which is climbing without the aide of ropes. There is also a huge cushy pad below you, you have a spotter and you really don't climb that high. That was fun too, but consumed a lot of energy and upper body strength. We did some fun activities where we were blind folded and our partner had to guide us around.

After lunch, we geared up to climb with ropes and belayers. We started out on some fairly simple walls and my partner was Teresa and Llion. Llion was kind of looking over the other two groups too so Teresa and I were pretty much on our own. She climbed up first while I belayed her. I've done plenty of belaying in the past with chair evacuations for ski patrol, so that was nothing new. She went up the wall twice and I got her down safely. Then it was my time to climb, and I don't know why I was so scared but I was! We have done way scarier things in past events but something about the rock wall put me on edge. I made it to the top with no problems but I was immediately ready to have my feet back on the ground. I climbed the same route a second time and it was much better. I made it all the way to the top and felt a little more comfortable but still a little unnerved. We eventually moved on to a different rock wall that was more like real rocks. They were much harder and the foot and hand holds were much further apart. I just didn't have the upper body strength. I was soon too tired to climb. My arms felt like jelly and I never made it higher than a few feet off the ground. I gave up and just stuck to belaying. Which was fine, I really like belaying. Teresa and everyone else was doing really well but since Teresa and I were working in a pair and everyone else was working in groups of 3, Teresa soon got tired too. So we took a break and then we eventually moved on to something new. We did what was called absailing (in the picture). We climbed all the way to the top of the wall and there was a platform. We then hooked ourselves on to the white rope and lowered ourselves down instead of being belayed down. Nothing too difficult right? I dunno what happened but as I was climbing up I got really really scared and I just kind of freaked out. I made it to the top but with a lot of difficulty. I think I was just exhausted and I didn't think I was going to make it. I know I would have been caught if I fell, but Melissa was belaying me for the first time and I think in the back of my mind I was a little nervous I would have fallen. So by the time I managed to get myself over the top I was so upset I had to sit there for awhile. I eventually got it together and got myself down. It wasn't the getting myself down that was the problem. That didn't scare me at all, it as just at the top I ran out of strength to pull myself up that last little bit. But I made it and I'm glad I got myself down.

Now, I'm off to the library to knock this paper out (hopefully). I don't want to stress about it anymore. Tomorrow we have another field trip to a castle and some other cool places. So stay posted!

Until next time...

~Amy