Climbing!

Exactly one week ago, I got on the road again — at last! 

I love traveling — especially road trips and being out in the wild — but hadn’t been able to do anything last summer, so getting away again this summer felt liberating. And today, I had another very special and exciting moment as I did my first ever multi-pitch climb: with a group and two guides, I climbed 800 feet up to the summit of the First Flatiron in Boulder, CO! 

I’ve been scrambling and climbing on anything I could find since I was a little child, often terrifying my parents, especially my hyper-protective and fearful mother (who is afraid of heights, among many other things). As an adult, I started to “officially” rock climb in the summer of 2019 and now I have around one year’s experience, most of it indoors. But I prefer outdoor climbing and the outdoors in general, so climbing the First Flatiron in 7-8 pitches today was fantastic for me. 

At first, I was scared. The climb in general wasn’t hard or really technical: it was mostly slab and then some ridge scrambling/climbing before the final rappel down. But it was way higher than I’ve ever climbed on rope or been so exposed. Indeed, the start was probably the hardest part for me as I had to get used to climbing with just the void on all sides except for the wall in front of me. For the first few steps, I even thought to myself, “I don’t know if I can do this all day..!” But then, I quickly got used to it: at first, by just focusing on the wall, on the climbing, on where I was placing my hands and feet without looking down or behind me; then, as I got more and more used to it and comfortable, I started looking around and truly enjoying the view along with the experience. At the end of the day, I think the hardest part for me to get used to was the rappel to get down at the end: that still felt a little shaky or weird to me. 

Apart from the amazing experience of climbing as physical activity and the gorgeous landscapes, it was also wonderful because of the human/social aspect of it. For today’s multi-pitch, I joined a group of five people who had already been climbing together for the past four days, but I was accepted and integrated into the group extremely quickly and spontaneously — which felt very nice. And on top of that, I really sensed an immediate camaraderie among us all: we were all sharing a fun experience, something we all wanted to do and enjoyed, but also something that involves some risks and requires group work and trust. Being in this together, having made this choice together, getting to the top, one pitch at a time, and then back down, was something we all wanted and also needed to do together. A feeling — among lots of other feelings — that I really enjoyed!