Tuesday, May 8

On Belay!

This evening, Luke and I decided to go wall climbing. We thought about doing this on Sunday, but concluded we didn't have the time or adequate energy for our first-time attempt to scale a wall (since at least high school, for me).

A friend of ours is a member of Vertical Endeavors, which has wall-climbing facilities scattered about the Twin Cities. We went to the one closest to us. After a 10-minute introduction in order to learn how to use the auto-belays, we climbed away.

There were so many ropes and auto-belays, that even though the St. Paul facility was fairly crowded, we didn't have to wait long (if at all) to use an auto-belay (which are pretty amazing contraptions!). There were tons of kids there! Some of them were pretty amazing...climbing advanced routes, hanging upside down on the ceiling, belaying each other... Although they were pretty incredible and fun to watch, I think I would want to go back during the day, when kids are in school. It would help free up a lot of the routes, and lessen the screaming and screeching!

Luke and I were at the facility for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Of course, we weren't purely climbing the entire time. Even in weight lifting, it is important to give the muscles being worked a short break between sets. I figure we were actually climbing for a third of the time we were there.

I will definitely go back!

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