Who would have thought climbing would be my thing?

YELLOMUNDEE REGIONAL PARK – 22 August 2020
For those who regularly walk (or cave or canyon) with me the comment “I hate f*%#ing climbing” is regularly heard! And I don’t usually swear.  So, I was really going outside my comfort zone to sign up for a morning or rock climbing with Beth.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it – to the extent that I even thought about buying some proper shoes – but really, who takes up rock climbing at 70? Beth led the trip, Marcia K came along to get a bit of climbing in (she’s a keen climber), Heni and I both turned up to “give it a go”.  The weather was kind to us, we were down out of the wind which was really strong, and far enough down the mountains that we weren’t getting any of the snow that Katoomba and Blackheath were getting.

At the base of the crags, Beth and Marcia figuring out where each of the different routes were (each route has a name and grade).

Marcia checking out a route in an overhang (looks REALLY hard).

Beth setting up the rope for a “top belay”.

Marcia checking out a route where Beth would set up another top belay rope.

Beth setting up the top belay and Marcia belaying her on the abseil down.

Marcia showing us some moves on the first crag that we were going to try – a Grade 8 perfect for beginners.

Then it was my turn, Marcia lent me her shoes to make it easier.  I ended up doing this one and another one beside it (a Grade 9) a couple of times, that was the good part of this trip, we could do the same climb as much as we wanted to get comfortable.

And me at the top of the climb (yeah I know it’s not very high, but was a big step for me actually doing it!).

Heni on her first climb in over 20 years.

We then moved over to two routes, a Grade 13 and a Grade 14.

Marcia almost at the top.  She makes it look so easy.

Marcia on the Grade 13, I tried this twice, getting further up each time.

Beth on the Grade 14 – I didn’t try this one, would have to have an extra few inches of height for some of the hand holds that Beth and Marcia were using.

Yep, now way I could reach that one.

Marcia cleaning up the rigging at the end of our morning’s climbing.

So, was there any swearing?  No, none at all, turns out I’m really comfortable when I’m on a rope and being belayed.

I still might buy the shoes, after all, they are much better than Volleys, but I have no illusions about becoming obsessive about it. It’s definitely something that I’d like to do on a semi-regular basis and maybe it will reduce my anxiety when I’m climbing/scrambling without a rope.  We all had a great time with lots of comments of “when’s the next time Beth?”  Thanks Beth for running the trip, and thanks to both you and Marcia for your encouragement!