Climb when ready!

As well as learning plenty in the lab, I thought I'd take the opportunity while I was in Seattle to take a course in lead climbing and learn some new skills of a more physical nature. The course is taking place at lovely wall in Magnolia which claims to be America's first climbing gym. I'm not sure about that but its certainly well equipped with plenty of roped routes and a nice dedicated bouldering area including a nice custom padded floor- photos to come in future weeks. I went down last Sunday, to scope the place out, take my 'belay check' and do some bouldering to warm up for the course a bit. For those who don't know, bouldering is a form of climbing without ropes at a fairly low level and is more focused on making difficult moves than longer roped routes. Getting a bit of bouldering in was fun but seeing as all my gear is back in Cambridge I was without the essential climbing tool of chalk! Even gripping my hardest I was slipping off greasy handholds, and my wrists hurt for a few days afterward as a result. So prior to my course on Friday I thought I better source myself a chalk bag and ball; the natural place to go was REI's flagship store near Downtown.

REI is probably America's biggest outdoor retailer, they started out in Seattle and their store here can only be described as HUGE. It's set with a small wooded area complete with waterfall and mountain biking trail for customers to give bikes a 'try before they buy'.

The landing is lined with these clocks showing the times at various outdoor locations around the world, such as Everest Base camp, the North face of the Eiger and the Great Barrier Reef.
Even the door handles have been chosen carefully!

The store itself can only be described a gear freak's paradise, they've got everything: kayaks and canoes, mountain bikes, at least 10 tents pitched and a 'campfire' area for demoing gear. The staff are great, they encourage you to try everything out before you buy, nothing's too much trouble. Not sure which tent you want? Go ahead and pitch all four at once, just move the tents already pitched out the way! Fire up the stove, inflate the sleeping mat or pack a rucksack, its all fine!

Pride of place in the store is the "pinnacle". The store's own 20m indoor climbing wall spire, climbable by appointment only - its on my list of things to do in my dwindling time left here (only 3 weeks left already!).

Now for those who really don't care about the great outdoors, I also snapped a few pics of some of the prettier sights in REI's neighbourhood. Enjoy...

^I stumbled across this embedded in the floor on the corner of one block.

So Friday night is Lead climbing, then Saturday I'm going out on a boat in the Puget Sound with my boss Anne and a couple of her friends. Oh and The Expendables is released this weekend so I might try go see that too...