The Next Adventure

I love the outdoors.  I can’t really get enough of them.  For the most part if it can be done outside I have done it.  I regularly hunt, fish and geocache. I have hiked/backpacked thousands of miles. I have been spelunking and repelling, snow skiing and water skiing, wake boarding and knee boarding.  I have learned to snorkel, took scuba diving lessons and dived on a reef.  I ride dirt bikes and quads. The list goes on and on and on.  One thing that I have really wanted to do but have never gotten around to doing was Rock Climbing.  This year I will finally mark that off my list.  This isn’t going to be something that I’m going to do once or twice.  I really want to get into making this a habit sport.   So much so that I have spent hundreds on gear and dropped 40lbs already. 

I have found some guys at work that have taken me under their wing to train me up properly and teach me the ropes (pun intended).  I’m really looking forward to starting this series of adventures.

Here is a picture of some of the gear that I bought.  I actually had to return this harness because I shrunk enough that it was to big and wouldn’t tighten down anymore.  Good problem to have right?  

I borrowed some rope from one of the guy who is going to teach me to climb.  He gave me a list of knots to learn.  Knots come easy to me and I learned all 8 in a couple of hours.  Just to verify that I learned them, stopped tying them for over 2 weeks.  When I picked up the rope again I was still able to tie them all again.  After learning all the knots I decided to try them out.  It was cold and the ground was snow covered I tied off to a heavy hook in the garage.  The garage has an 11' ceiling so I could easily suspend myself and practice ascending and descending.  Emily really wanted to try it.  I don't have a harness that fits her, but I did learn how to do a Swiss Seat which is a type of harness made out of a piece of rope or webbing.  She loved it.  Every had that I come home she asks if I can put the rope up for her to climb.  I hope that she keeps that enthusiasm.  Here is a picture of Emily after she climbed the rope all by herself. 

"God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild."
- John Muir