If You're Not Climbing in the Rain You're Doing it Wrong

Everybody who knows me knows that I think rock climbing might possibly be the most boring sport on the face of the Earth. Actually this is a lie, most people don’t know this tid-bit about me, and to tell you the truth rock climbing is pretty awesome. This is a recent change of heart though, and it all began on a recent trip to Sandrock, Alabama.

The weekend was off to a great start. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and from the protection of the truck I knew it was beautiful outside. The sun was deceivingly warm through the windows, and despite the picturesque day it was a balmy 36 degrees. Once things got going we spent most of the first day learning words like “trad” and “pro” and how to make yourself sounds like a rock climber. But don’t be fooled, while I can throw around words I am far from being a professional. However, I can manage to find some pretty awesome cracks to place cams, tri-cams, hexes, and nuts. For all of you out there trying to follow along this means that I can put hardware in the rock so if I take a fall I won’t fall to the ground – at least that’s the theory.

As the sun went down that night so did the temperatures. With a sleeping mat to insulate me from the ground, my 20° sleeping bag, an extra wool blanket, and a random assortment of clothing packed around me I could hardly call myself warm. Luckily, Courtney was my tent-mate that first night and we were not above cuddling with each other. Finally, the sun decided to rise and a new day was dawning.

Our second day began with some gear placement and a quick lesson on building climbing anchors, oh and snow. As the day progressed it warmed up just enough for the snow to turn into rain, at which time we transitioned to building anchors with trees. While this is not a difficult skill to pick up, learning and working in the freezing rain makes things just a little less fun and harder to pick up. Therefore actually remembering what I learned has proven to be somewhat difficult. That being said I know you need some awesome looking trees or rocks, tie a few quick bowlines (always back them up), a BHK, slap some carabineers on there and you’ve got yourself an anchor (more or less).

 

Building a Fox System anchor - Super Confusing

 

After lunch (which was spent eating in the van) we headed out to do some actual climbing. We set up shop on the Sun Wall, named because it receives the most sun throughout the day, though that was an absolute joke. As we watched our guide lead the route and set our anchors the rain picked up and began beating down on us. When it was my turn to climb I was less then happy (I remind you that I still thought rock climbing was dumb at this point - especially in the rain). As soon as my fingers made contact with the rock they went numb, but in all honesty this wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was looking up and reaching for a new handhold. Each time upward movement occurred the little streams of water running down the rock face would find their way into my sleeves and down the front of my jackets. AWESOME! 

 

Climbing  Sun Wall -  Not sunny at all!

 

Dinner was spent at the local Waffle House which provided us all a chance to dry out and get warm before heading back to camp and slipping into our cold tents which housed cold sleeping bags. I had one problem though; Courtney decided she wanted to sleep in the van which left me tent-mate-less. But after a few switch-a-roos I found myself sleeping between two massive heat producers and needless to say I was plenty warm this time around.

Our third day began on a much more pleasant note – we could actually see the sun! We spent the morning setting our own anchors and rappelling off them. We switched them to climbing anchors and spent the rest of the morning climbing, in the sun! Other things happened, we packed up, drove home, and best of all I took a shower!

 

While this experience was less than stellar in terms of weather, the cold and miserable trips are the ones I remember the most, and typically I remember them fondly. So, when I say I don’t like rock climbing I’m lying to you, because I have actually found a small tiny space for it in my outdoor educator heart. I don't know when this happened, but hopefully if I take care of this space it will continue to grow.