Exploring Outdoor rock climbing

Around 2 years back, I chanced upon an Academy award winning documentary, ‘Free Solo’ that depicted awe-inspiring feat of Alex Honnold’s free soloing El Capitan in Yosemite. (Free solo is rock climbing terminology that basically means attempting to climb without any use of rope or protection system). I was hooked for the entire duration of the documentary that showcased some jaw-dropping visuals along-with a captivating story-line of his super-human feat. See the pic below — (Alex H. in ‘Free Solo’)

As the documentary ended, my adventurous spirit was bubbling up and I decided to explore and learn more about the sport. It seemed to be a great way to build strength, agility and focus while enjoying the time in wild outdoors. That’s all I had in mind, to be explicit — lest, any one here has an idea that I was planning to attempt Alex’s endeavors :)

Anyways, it was one fateful Sunday evening when I had watched that documentary and then came Monday and the accompanying work load and all was quickly forgotten. The idea lay dormant in my mind for almost a year and a half, when one fine day I decided to do some Google exploration on how to begin rock climbing and the various facets of climbing. I was bewildered to learn that there were so many variants of rock climbing including bouldering, free solo and so on and the sport seemed highly technical. Just Google ‘Boulder problem’ and see for yourself.

I had heard about indoor rock climbing gyms before and decided to explore that, to begin with. And one fine weekend, with enough of Adrenalin pumping in my veins, I landed in a ‘Planet Granite’ in my area. After spending couple hours in the gym, my mind was abuzz trying to come to terms with ‘belaying’, ‘bouldering’, grading systems and techniques like pinching, palming, back-stepping, etc.

I learnt that rock-climbing is a full-body workout and engages both the upper body and the core. The power of both the glutes muscles and the calf muscles are required to propel yourself upward. Along with the physical aspect, it has a strong mental component that you need to be cool, calm and collected despite faltering and falling many times during your climb. It requires mental alacrity and complete focus, taking one step at a time.

After getting acclimatized indoors, I decided to set myself up for outdoor adventure during one of the weekends. I had heard and read that outdoor climbing is slightly different ballgame, as there are no colorfully marked grips and holds. You have to pretty much chart your own route, so having a big picture thinking/plan is critical. (Though having an instructor / guide helps).

I found myself doing this last weekend — a la, starring in my own National Geographic photo-shoot moment.