Climb? Then deliberately fall off? Yeah alright then...

Ok so as I mentioned previously I've been undertaking a lead climb course at a local climbing gym. For those of you not down with the jargon, lead climbing is the sport in which you climb up a wall trailing a rope behind you, the aim being to clip it to the wall at regular intervals to reduce potential falls. This inherently exposes the climber to periods climbing above the last clip and thus falls while leading are longer, but also more fun, than falls on a "top rope" (where the rope is attached to a point at the top of the wall and you're always climbing supported by it). The art of clipping in efficently and falling properly, as well as the skills required to belay (the person controlling the other end of the rope who arrests the falls) safely are clearly very important if the climber is to make it through the experience intact so I took the opportunity while I was in Seattle to embark on this course, meet new people and learn a new skill.

The lead series involved 6 pupils including myself under the instruction of the brilliant Dennis. Why anyone would want to teach a group of rookies this daftly dangerous activity I don't know. And how one does it without going mad with fear that one of your pupils will maim or kill themselves is also a mystery. But Dennis managed all this while staying (seemingly) calm, relaxed and patient. He covered all the relevant info in an easy to comprehend manner and made the entire experience low stress and maximum fun. We have spent the last two weeks being taught the basic skills of rope management, clipping in easily and belaying safely mostly by "mock leading" - climbing on a lead and a top 'safety' rope simultaneously.

Today was the final session of the course, for the first time we were solely on the lead rope, with no backup safety system. We practiced climbing to a decent height (about 30 feet up) then deliberately releasing the wall and falling so the belayer could practice the various ways of holding and cushioning your fall. Its a testament to our trust in Dennis and each other that we all happily got involved with this and were soon plunging rapidly floorwards with only our partner's sweaty palms and a narrow rope between ourselves and a sudden crater being formed in the gym floor. But it worked and I now feel brilliantly confident with the system and can't wait to get in some practice on the walls back home.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of me or any of the others lead climbing, mainly because we were always busy and frankly I want my belayer to be concentrating on what I'm doing and what's happening to the rope, not whether he's taking a great photo as I tumble through the air. However I do have some ok photos of the gym (huge, airy and loads of great routes) and Nathan (my climbing partner and most frequent belayer) and I busting some moves on the bouldering wall.

Nathan showing me how its done.

Me trying, and failing. Oh well, more gym time and more practice needed...
I'm sure you'll all be glad to know there will probably be some more climbing pictures tomorrow as I'm booked in to scale the Pinnacle at REI as seen in a previous post.
Lastly non climbing related news:

• Actually producing some results now in the lab, I have a couple more plates to test at the beginning of next (my final!) week and then I have to present my work on Wednesday (!)
• Opened the gargantuan bar of Dairy Milk my dear mother packed for me tonight. Chocolate has never tasted so good! I also had a Cadbury's Fudge Hot chocolate (Om Nom Nom Nom Nom)

Anyhow this was meant to be a brief post but my usual verbal spate has ensued so I shall finish here!