Get After It 009: Positions of rest aren't positions of movement
And other business lessons from rock climbing
A few years back, I had a rock climbing project at one of the local crags. The route wasn’t particularly hard, but it was pretty long. And at one point – about 70 feet off the ground – this huge gneiss block juts out from the wall, like a nose. When you’re climbing, you have to navigate underneath and then around it to its left to complete the route.
I wanted to free climb it. It was already bolted, meaning people had already gone in and drilled metal bolts into the rock. So as I climb up the wall, I would attach my own protection into the rock, and then clip my rope into my protection. (This method of climbing is not to be confused with free soloing, which refers to climbing without ropes. Yikes.)
Free climbing is generally considered safe, but if you are between bolts and fall, you may fall a considerable distance. (Your belayer and the protection would catch you though!)
The climb ended about 90 feet off the ground.
(The climb meanders around the center line of the photo. Climbers tend to mark where the holds are with white chalk, which is visible if you squint a bit.)
I had top roped the route a few times before and the blocky section would even confuse me then. I managed to figure it out only once. After a few tries on top rope over the course of the season, I decided, why not: Let me try leading it.
The first section of the climb was pretty inconsequential. The rock was somewhat slabby (leaning inward), so it didn’t make for particularly strenuous climbing, and I was able to clip myself into safety every three or four moves.
As I neared the block, shit started to get weird.
I’m not particularly tall (5’5, for those who have never met me in real life), so I couldn’t just reach around and see what holds were there. And even though I had climbed the route many times before, I couldn’t remember the moves! My head was in a completely different space now that I was leading. There wasn’t a bolt I could clip into. If I fell, I’d swing under, out, and probably down at least 10 feet, given how much slack was out in the rope and how far I was above the last bolt.
Fear overtook me at once and clutched me many times after that. Here’s a good summary of what I’d do: I’d quickly look all around me to find good, big holds for my hands and feet. Importantly, I wanted my feet to feel secure and to keep my calves relaxed so I could shake out my sweaty, chalky palms as I assessed my options. Later on, I learned that none of these rest positions were on the route. (And in outdoor climbing, there aren’t bold colored holds to dictate your path of motion. Anything goes! The wall is your oyster!) Once I was off-route resting, I’d try all sorts of weird things: Was there a hold right on top of the block? Could I go up along the right side of it? (No and no).
Eventually, I’d get frustrated and scared. The sky would darken. I’d ask my patient belayer to lower me to the ground.
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