Well, I had my first indoor wall-climbing session tonight. It was hella fun.

The largest part of the class was the safety equipment. To be able to belay
safely, the harness, ropes, etc. have to be in their place perfectly, and we
all MUST know how to do it. One person climbs while the other belays. In
future visits, I'll have to find other solo climbers to team up with.

It is a blast and very safe. Much safer than crossing the streets of my
hood. : )

It's tough though, climbing up. One's hands get sweaty and finding the right
rock to grasp or climb up to is hard.

I did pretty good. I wasn't afraid of heights once. And I have been known to
be very afraid. It helps that you are really looking up, not down. Each
climb path is marked by a numeric level. They start at 5.0 and work their
way up to 5.14. The ones we were on were around 5.6. Each hold is marked
with a color code and the climber tries to only step on those of the same
color. That way climbers can climb close together. Each climber is roped in
and the rope is controlled by the belayer. The belayer is the most important
of the duo. They make sure there is no slack in the rope. That way, if you
miss and slip (I did twice), you'll just be hanging in your harness. And
when you reach the top, the harness allows you to sit back and let your
belayer bring you safely down. That's the most fun part. I did that once.

I highly recommend it to everyone who is into more *outdoorsy* sports. It's
a cool way to work out.

Martha