So I finally got the chance to climb at Austin Rock Gym. I've had a couple gift certificates for the belay training class plus one day of free climbing since my birthday, but since gall bladder surgery had recently put that out of range for a while, I had to take a couple months off. But I finally got the chance. When I scheduled the training, the guy didn't have anyone available for that day so I pushed it to the next day and he got us in for 7 pm. A late class, unfortunately, but the guy told us we could come in and boulder before our class, for as long as we want.
That sounded a little bit better than it was. We scheduled all this at the south location because of the better rope areas(as noted by it's website). When we arrived, we took notice: there were some insane routes, definitely for experienced, conditioned climbers. The 'bouldering' area looked fun, but once again, for the experienced. When we got there, we got some assistance from the guy at the desk, but it wasn't much as far as advice. This color route means hard, this means harder, blah blah blah. Basic safety tips, and that was it. But when you think about it, there wasn't much to it. The rest you either did, or you couldn't. I climbed some bouldering routes, the easiest ones, and had fun trying to reach the top on harder ones. But too late I realized I spent all my energy on bouldering before we could even start our class. So Patrick and I took a break for a few mins, walked around and looked at the top roping areas.
Around our scheduled time, 7, our instructor got there, and we started our class.
Our instructor 'Paul,' was a very enthusiastic younger guy, he had to be 20 or so. He wasn't quite as wiry as all the other climbers, which I guess was reassuring, since I had to be the biggest guy in there(and I'm 6', 210 pounds). He taught us well, keeping a sharp eye on our techniques, correcting us when we were wrong, and doing all that stuff you're supposed to do like not let people fall 25 feet.
We learned the figure 8 knot, the figure 8 follow-through, we learned about double-backing harnesses, we learned about the ATC belay device and the Petzl Gri-Gri belay device. It was all very interesting. By the time class was over, about an hour and a half later, we learned everything we needed to belay each other, and we were left with about an hour left to climb. We climbed a couple different routes, but our energy had mostly been burned up by now. This caused a few high up falls resulting in my nearly catapulting my belayer into the wall. Though I struggled using my finger tips after a while, each climb, even on the same route was just as exciting and new as it had first been. It was exhilarating hanging on barely an inch worth of plastic-type rocks and overhangs. It really got my heart racing, and even falling was fun, because I knew I wouldn't hit the ground. The best part was toward the end, on an easier wall, I finally managed to reach the top of a route and rappel down. And these 'easier' walls are nothing like your climbing walls at the Main Event or fun parks. These are 'easy' for real climbers. Not the average joe like me.
I have to say that overall this was a great experience. I was worried my instructor would be one of those jaded know-it-alls, but he wasn't. He made the experience fun, and I'm definitely going to pursue rock climbing as my new hobby. They have many classes, and I'm betting they're worth the money. Although I didn't sign up for another from them yet, I got a great groupon for a 4 hour outdoor guided climbing tour ready to rock!
If you want to check out Austin Rock Gym, go to http://www.austinrockgym.com/
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