| Is it Superman. Is it Batman. No, it's...........it's Spiderman, wearing hiking boots. Gee! And here I thought that when you climb a mountain you find a hole for your toes and fingers and pull yourself up. Well, was I proved wrong. You don't just have to pull yourself up with your fingers, but apparently by using your body, you can manoeuvre yourself in many different ways to get to the top. (Except swing from the spiderwebs you wish you had). |
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But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start from the beginning, after we made this momentous decision to see if we could hang from our fingertips (or your nails, if you forgot to cut them) for any length of time.
After racing to the venue, we finally arrived 5 minutes late, which is early for me. An indemnity form is then signed and once Garth and Lee-Anne, our intrepid guiders, have shouldered their back packs, which looked extremely heavy with all the paraphenalia that is required, we set off for the mountains. |
Well, it probably doesn't look like much of a mountain to all the mountain climbing fundi's, but it looked big enough to me.
After arriving at our destination, we stood around eyeing this piece of rock that we were supposed to climb. Didn't look like much. Rock looked pretty rough so surely that means there will be lots of hand holds. Yah right! For the fundi's maybe. But there, I'm getting ahead of myself again - it's the excitement, you see! |
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Once Garth and Lee-Anne had unpacked their back packs we sat around while they explained the intricacies of mountain climbing - Bowlines, figure of 8's, follow through figure of 8, stopper knots, dynamic ropes. Differences between belaying devices, nuts, chocks, slings, friends. (And here I thought a friend was somebody who would stand beneath you when you fell so that you would have a soft landing.) And the importance of being aware when belaying somebody, which is apparently extremely crucial. |
| After all the explanations and reasons for the various types of ropes, belaying devices and types of knots, and practising the various knots, we were then given the opportunity to show off our 'expertise'. Mountain climbing is unfortunately a two man sport. It is not something you can do on your own and I would definitely not do it with someone who just threatened to knock my block off. In other words, find somebody you can trust because that person holds your life in their hands. |
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Safety checks before progessing includes making sure you have a helmet on, that your harnesses are fastened and doubled back and that the screw gate on the carabiner is closed. Check your own and then check your partners. By the time we had all checked one another out, Garth had scaled the rock face and placed the rope in the previously placed bolt. After the belayer (that is the person holding your life in their hands while you attempt to scale the rock face) makes the required knots with the rope, he then makes sure he stands in a position that is not only comfortable for him, but will also give him more leverage in case you fall. |
| You then take a deep breathe and place your foot on the rock face. And then the fun begins..................You now have to find a jug, ledge, crack, or undercut to put your fingers around, into, on top of. Yeah! I know. And here we thought it was just a matter of finding a hole big enough to put your fingers into. But those are all tricks of the trade you learn about as you go along. |
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Starting off wasn't too bad. There were quite a few ledges that you could quite easily place your fingers and the tips of your shoes on and systematically lift your self until you reach the next ledge. A quarter of the way up and you start thinking to yourself "Gee! This isn't so bad. It's actually easier than it looks". And while you are congratulating yourself you are looking for another ledge, ............and looking, .....................and looking and suddenly it doesn't feel so comfortable anymore. |
| You start panicking, wondering whether you will ever get off this blasted rock, and what on earth gave you the idea that you could climb mountains, and you are way too old to be doing stupid things like this. Fortunately, being a reasonably sensible person, you realise that panicking is not going to help. You manage to calm down, take a couple of deep breaths and look around. Yes, there is a ledge, a bit smaller than the others, and you might have to streeeeeetch a bit but you can make it. |
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You not only make it to that ledge, but to the next one, and the one after that until you eventually reach the top. Exhausted you abseil down again, thinking "Shit, man, I'll never do that again" and you are so thankful when your feet touch the ground. But while you are unhooking yourself from the rope, you look up and see how far you climbed, and you think back to how you accomplished it, and how you managed to think your way through the panic attack and continue on. |
| And suddenly your body feels alive with emotions, thankfulness that you had the opportunity to climb this beautiful rockface, wonder that you managed it without breaking your neck, gratitude towards your partner for not letting go when you were dithering up there, and this feeling of absolute power. Man, what an awesome feeling. Absolutely awesome. You feel alive, and great, and wonderful, and fantastic and alive! |
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After lunch, we tackled another rockface, which was longer than the other one and this time we didn't have to abseil back down. Which, I must admit, I was pretty thankful about. Still get a bit nervous about abseiling. (I think it is an age thing). Once we had all reached the top, we then walked down the mountain and back to camp, where our cars were parked. |
Some advise.....Never just drive off while still on a high. Take some time to get back to earth, have a braai, sit around chatting about your experiences, whatever. Just because you think you can climb mountains, does not mean that your car can fly. |
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My thanks to GoVertical, who gave me this opportunity to not only learn how to climb a mountain but who did it with such forbearance. Their patience was endless. |
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