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Rock
Climbing - the Adventure Begins |
| Months
ago Dan promised to take me rock climbing. In preparation for that, I went
out and bought the gear - all of the gear, in fact, necessary to facilitate
all but the more extreme climbing situations. Except for the shoes. Dan
gave me a pair of his old shoes. So I was ready to learn to climb and just
needed to get out there. Finally the opportunity arose and Dan, Carolyn,
Peter and I headed out into the hills. |
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October 18, 2008
Castle Rock Park near Saratoga, CA |
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| I had only been attached to a climbing rope once, and that
was a long time ago in a place very far away. It was a simple climb, top-tied
at a quarry in Pennsylvania. I enjoyed myself then and was looking forward
to doing it again. Today would be a warm-up for that, as we were going to
seek out some basic bouldering spots close to home. No real gear needed,
although we did bring the climbing shoes. We found out that there is a good
place to top-tie. This means that the climbing rope your harness is attached
to is permenantly hooked to the top of the climb so that if you slip, you
only go as far as your belayer lets you. It's important to trust your friends
in this sport. But today it was all just a matter of scrambling up, over
and around some rocks. |
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Dan's excited to start, as Peter looks down from
his perch |
Go Dan, Go! |
The first rock we came to, named "Parking Lot Rock"
according to our guidebook, was really close to the parking lot. Some
routes were suggested but none of us were terribly excited about this
particular lump of stone. We consulted the book and decided to head up
the trail to the main feature, Castle Rock itself.
We were surprised that the rock is set up for top-roping and will plan
to bring the rest of our gear next time. But for now we just put on our
shoes and toodled around on the various ledges and blobs of rock that
we found here. The setting was beautiful, the temperature perfect and
there were just enough other people around to give it a festive and lively
atmosphere. |
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Hiking up to the next section |
A route for future climbs |
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Kicking back and I haven't even started climbing
yet |
Carolyn gives a sense of scale to this cavern |
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The climbing rocks are in a beautiful area |
Working my way over to Carolyn |
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Just a little further... |
The final bit (this stuff was easy - and of course,
fun) |
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Resting on our laurals |
Dan follows us up |
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Dan demonstrates proper technique |
So I follow |
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A little bit further |
Here I come! |
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Wooo - I made it!
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Carolyn coming back down |
Another good group of rocks to play on |
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Peter and Carolyn and... Dan?? |
Dan and Peter check out possible routes |
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Going down? |
The group |
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