Lead (Sport) Climbing 101

Monday evening marked the first of three sessions for Lead Class I at Sportrock in Sterling. This was the class I had signed up for and been excited about back in February, but had to delay due to my finger injury. As (un)luck would have it, my brother suffered a slight injury the day before (non-climbing related; more of the “wet floors and gashes in elbows” type of injury) and had to cancel at the last minute. Since Sportrock wasn’t offering another Lead Class until August, he said I should go ahead and take this one, and he would jump in one of the mid-June classes out at Alexandria. Fortunately, and old acquaintance and avid climber, Rick, had signed up for the class as a skills refresher, so I had him to climb with.

The instructor, Frank, has been climbing for about 16 years and is very knowledgeable on everything climbing related. He talked for the first 45 minutes of class or so, which was a little painful for me. Most of what he went over I was already familiar with, but I guess hearing things a couple times helps to keep the basics fresh. After showing us the basics of clipping quick draws, we got to practice ourselves doing 50 clips with each hand, each direction (200 clips total!). That helped instill the motion of clipping to make it feel more natural – the last thing you want to be sweating about is the best way to clip into your quick draw!

We broke into two groups and got on the wall, which I was really excited about. We did, of course, have top-rope safety lines since sport leading was new to everyone but Rick. Rick and I climbed a 5.8 and 5.9 leading without taking any falls (I did back clip one quick draw, but shhhhh, I fixed it!). It was a really interesting experience, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Fortunately, stopping on holds to clip into quick draws was not difficult for me because I have been focusing heavily on taking breaks in the middle of climbs to shake out arms, so I only had to change my routine slightly:

1. find hold
2. shake out arm
3. clip
4. shake out other arm
5. climb on

Belaying for someone who is lead climbing is still a little worry of mine, primarily in the falling category. Since we were on top-rope safety lines Monday (and nobody fell), we didn’t get a chance to practice falls from either the belayer or climber position. I know it’s going to be a different experience. But there are two more classes left in the session, and guess what we do next week? FALLS. And I know they make you take some good falls to get the feeling. I’m excited, and a little on the nervous side as well.

If all goes well with falling, Rick and I will probably take our Lead Climbing Certification Test at the end of the evening next Monday (we graduate from pink tags to yellow tags!). Rick will pass the test no problem, and I don’t think I’ll have any issues either. I know the basics, and it’s just a matter of practicing.

Sportrock recently launched a Ning Network for internet-savvy individuals to chat, share, and generally “commune” in one convenient location. So tomorrow I’m meeting up with a new climbing partner for a few hours! Should be a lot of fun. I know a lot of people at Sportrock, but because Jonathan and I always climb together I rarely coordinate a climbing schedule with any of them. Jonathan and I are both looking to increase our trusted climbing partner database (another reason he is taking the Lead Class in Alexandria), and while I know it’s kind of lame, it’s easier for me to meet and hook up with climbers on a network like Ning than it is for me to do in person.