About a year and a half ago, my summer camp took me rock climbing at the UofC, and I instantly fell in love with the slow paced yet exulting sport. Pretty soon, I signed up for an introduction to climbing class at the UofC, and I started going to climbing gyms (they exist!). But pretty soon I found out that there were many rumors behind rock climbing and I decided to try to abolish them and to convince a few people to give rock climbing a try.
When I first tried to convince people to go climbing with me, the first question I got was: “Will I die?” As funny as that may sound, the question was asked in deep earnest. No, you won’t die. Climbing is a high-risk sport, but it has a lot of safety rules and precautions. All you need to do is make sure that both your partner and you follow these step-by-step. There have been times where this hasn’t happened and people and world-class climbers have died.
Second question: “I don’t like being in the mountains, what if a there’s an avalanche or something?” I can’t say that that won’t happen, climbing in the mountains is in total more dangerous, but can be more rewarding. If there was serious danger on a course, there would be signs precautioning you or the route would be closed. It is also recommended that you don’t go climbing alone in the mountains, even if you’re doing lead climbing (I’ll explain later). But all of climbing isn’t outdoors,you could stay away from mountain climbing until you’re more confident in your skills. There are a quite a few climbing gyms in Calgary, for example: The CCC (Calgary Climbing Centre) , The UofC, The YMCA, and the Crux Climbing and Bouldering. OK, that’s not ‘quite a few’ but the CCC has three locations so…
Third: “Do I need Nike climbing gear?”
No, you don’t. I don’t think there’s anything in particular you need when climbing except for a harness, belay device, and a rope. The rope is already at the gym, most likely, and you can rent both the harness and belay device. A harness costs 4.76$ and a belay device 2.86$ at the CCC. A full package (harness, shoes, device, and chalk bag) costs 10.48$. Personally, I find chalk to be a little messy, and the extra movement of putting your hand quickly in the bag and then taking it out again is too much for me. But, none the less, if you go climbing once or you know that your hands blister very easily, I suggest you rent a chalk bag. When I had bought my climbing shoes, I was climbing for about 6 months and I was convinced that climbing was the thing for me. They cost about 90$, so if you want to see how climbing shoes feel, be sure to rent a pair, but I don’t consider shoes and chalk the first things you need when climbing. The first few times I went climbing, I just wore normal runners. As a survivor, I beg of you not to wear any type of shoes. If you can find more narrow tipped shoes. NOT cleats, but something with a narrow edge. But if you do want to buy all that I just mentioned, I wouldn’t consider Nike the best brand. MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) is a better solution.
And the final: “What do I do if I’m scared of heights?” This is a bit of a no-can-do. When I started climbing, I was terribly scared of heights. But I started to push myself out of my comfort zone and let go of my fear.
Next article I will be elaborating on the different types of climbing and equipment.
To be continued…