Falling Is Fun!

… albeit, a bit intimidating, haha.

Today was the second of three sessions for Lead Climbing I class at Sportrock. Everyone in the class knew we would be experiencing falls today, which I must admit I was both excited and nervous about. I knew it couldn’t be that hard, but having never actually taken a “free-fall” or belayed someone falling on lead, I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

We split up into groups of three, and since there were two no-shows today, the group I was part of consisted of Rick, Frank (the instructor), and myself. Frank was obviously on the top-rope safety line. Rick climbed first, which put me on belay. After doing a quick warmup on a 5.8, we moved on to falling. We were told to fall three times, the first with the clip at approximately waist height. Now, Rick has about 30-40 lbs. on me, so I knew I would be going up the wall when he fell. Sure enough, he came almost down to the first clip (he fell from the third clip), and I was about 6 feet up the wall.

The second fall would be about a foot higher, but Rick went a bit further and had the clip at about his knees. Fortunately, he moved up to clip four before taking this fall, because I was up into the first clip about 9 feet off the floor. Surprising, even though I knew it was coming. The third fall was even more fun. Pulled me right up into the first clip, and I could have reached up and grabbed his leg, haha. There were smiles all around. Even Jeremy, one of the gym staff who is probably one of the best climbers at the gym (he sets a lot of the routes), smiled and said, “nice work dude.”

Then it was my turn. Falling with the clip was at my waste was no big deal – very similar to falling on top-rope. Falling with the clip at my knees was a little more hair raising, but still felt controlled and comfortable (of course, Rick is planted on the floor and not having any problems). Then I climbed up even further and had the clip at my feet, as if I would be getting ready to clip into the next quickdraw. I looked down and thought, “this is going to be one heck of a fall… here we go!”

And I let go.

Free-falling 10 feet is an interesting experience.

Then you smash feet-first into the wall.

I probably only fell a total of 15 feet when all was said and done (a lot less than Rick fell since I don’t have the mass to pull him off the floor), but for my third fall lead climbing, it was pretty exciting. I had to stop for a minute or so and shake out the adrenaline, as my arms and legs had a little bit of shake to them.

We finished up the next 45 minutes lead climbing some 5.8’s in the cave, which I’d been wanting to do for a LONG time. Next Monday I should have my lead climbing certification, so I can lead climb without the supervision of an instructor, and start getting more practice under my belt before Atlanta in September!