Ajay is a new developer on my old team, hired as the replacement for GD. He's far more outgoing than GD, but I don't think anyone will ever replace him in my mind. We were talking about sports for me to try, and he suggested I try rock climbing. I am afraid of heights, but this year is the year of trying new things, so I said that I'd do it.
It took a long time for me to actually go after making that decision. Maybe a part of me was putting it off because I didn't really want to go, but every time Ajay saw me in the office, he'd ask whether I'd been rock climbing yet, and I'd shamefully make an excuse as to why I hadn't. Well, excuses are no longer needed, as I have now gone.
I went to Hard Rock, in the CBD, with Pharmacist and redbeanpork. D told me that it's a stupid idea to go with an uneven number of people, as every climber needs someone to belay them, but oh well. D also told me to try and stick with the same coloured holds if possible, and to use my legs rather than my arms.
Once we got there, we had to climb up some stairs, which didn't seem all that difficult. The three of us passed that test quite easily. After getting up to where the walls where, my stomach sank. It was much higher than I had pictured, and I suddenly wanted to leave, but the thought of disappointing Ajay again made me push myself to keep going. Which is really stupid if you think about it. I barely know this guy, I've met him probably four or five times, and yet I didn't want to disappoint him.
We had to fill in a form and hire shoes and a harness. Then we had to go through a safety induction, which involved showing how to clip our harness onto the ropes when climbing, and how to belay someone. When you reach the top, you shout down to your belayer, "Ready", and when they're ready to let you down, they respond, "Safe". That was the easy part.
Out of the three of us, Pharmacist actually wanted to climb, so we let him go first, with redbeanpork acting as his belayer. He made it to the top of the practice wall with ease. Next, redbeanpork made the climb, and I was the belayer. It's a lot harder than it looks, and it's actually pretty tough to keep up with the climber. But I started to get into the rhythm of it. Fortunately, he didn't fall off the wall - though I let him down far too fast and he ended up falling on his ass when he got to the ground. Oops. :(
Then it was my turn. I got off the ground OK, but once I hit the middle of the wall, I started to regret it. I kept picturing Ajay's look of disappointment, so I continued upwards. Once I made it to the bottom, I shouted, "Ready" down to Pharmacist. I made the mistake of looking down at him when I did so. I have no idea if he responded or not. All I could see was the ground, and how far away it was. As stupid as it sounds, my hands are actually sweating right now as I type up this post.
It reminded me of a school camp we went on, where we hiked to the top of this area, and had to abseil down. I was the last one to go down, and I was crying the entire way down. Everyone else was talking about how much of a thrill it was, and they wanted to go again, but I was shaking so much. They were all nice about it, telling me how well I did, and congratulating me, but I just felt so embarrassed and weak, and I didn't want their pity.
I could feel myself just hanging there on the wall, refusing to let go. I knew in my mind that I had to let go to get back on the ground, but I also knew in my mind that letting go is how you fall down to the ground and die.
I think I sort of started climbing down the wall, which is a lot harder than it seems. I sort of slipped and ended up letting go accidentally, and realised Pharmacist was lowering me slowly, so I went with it and semi-abseiled down. Every time he lowered me, I felt like I couldn't breathe and my heart was going to explode. Thankfully, I made it to the ground without an incident.
We tried a few walls, of around a difficulty level of 11. We tried some 13s and 14s, but would always get stuck at some point. I stopped following D's advice, and at the suggestion of Pharmacist, just climbed to the top using whichever colours I could. I ended up falling off the wall at one point, but redbeanpork held the rope steady, and I made it back to the wall. That is something I'm not too keen to experience again.
Pharmacist and redbeanpork were convinced that the door at the top of one of the walls had a secret urinal (it's SFW, but a bit WTF - imgur link, and in case it gets taken down, I saved it into a Google photos album). So of course we had to climb up there and take a look. You could see into the room through a gap in the door, and... well, it's something you have to see for yourself.
I actually have a huge bruise on my knee, as I ended up hitting the rocks with my knee a lot. I hit my head a couple of times, too. I guess clumsiness and rock climbing aren't good partners.
As much as I complained about it in this post, I am glad that I went. While it's not something that I'd be cheerful about, it was good exercise, and it really is something outside my comfort zone. As I was being lowered, I realised how much you have to trust the person who is belaying you. If they let go of the rope, you aren't really in a position to grab onto the rocks - or at least you'd have to be pretty quick to do it.
To segue back to the topic of touching other people, Special K asked me how I would know whether I'm close enough to someone to feel comfortable touching them or having them touch me. I didn't know the answer at the time, but I think if you are willing to let someone belay you, then you have to be really close to them, right?
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