Rock Climbing Adventures – Grand River Rocks

Hey There Friends! How’s it goin?

I was going through old draft posts yesterday – trying to get myself back in the blogging mood by cleaning out the trash – when I stumbled upon this post. I started writing it eons ago after I went rock climbing last November. 

I never published it, because I didn’t have any pictures from that day but one of my friends recently posted a video of the experience (it’s at the bottom of the post) and I thought it’d be great to rehash it for you guys 😀

Rock Climbing at Grand River Rocks

Last November a group of ACS members went to Grand River Rocks for a couple hours of rock climbing fun. For most of us, it was our first attempt at rock climbing and I, for one, was a little unsure of what to expect.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m deathly afraid of heights 😕 I wasn’t always, but as I got older I kind of grew into my fear, if that makes sense, and now even all glass elevators scare the bejesus out of me 🙁

So why would I ever go rock climbing you ask? Firstly, to face my fears. Secondly, I knew once I got past my initial fear of heights, it would be so much fun. And I was right! 😀

Once we paid and rented our obscenely tight shoes, we were strapped into elaborate harnesses and sent into the rock climbing wilderness.

Grand River Rocks has a numbering system that they use to classify the difficulty level of the climbs, ranging from 5.4 or beginner to 5.13 or project (whatever that means…)

I started off on a nice and easy 5.5 climb and made it to the top with little fanfare, except the incessant pounding of my heart and a little nausea. Seriously, I felt like my heart was trying to leap out of my chest! Even though my brain knew I wouldn’t fall of the wall and plunge to my death, my body’s natural reaction – extreme fear – could not be stopped.

Once that was done, I spent a bit of time walking around and cheering on my friends who were doing their own climbing. (What I was really doing was avoiding having to climb again…but don’t tell anyone 😉 )

 The highlight of the day for me though was the race wall. The race wall was basically two identical, SIMPLE, rock climbing courses set side by side – kind of like a race track. We had loads of fun scrambling up and down this wall for a little healthy competition! 😀

All in all this was a really fun experience. Even though I haven’t gone since – still afraid of heights yo 😕 – I definitely had a blast and would probably consider doing it again in the distant future 😉

And for your viewing pleasure here’s a video of our adventures at Grand River Rocks – as well as a couple other things ACS got up to last semester!

 

What about you?

Have you ever been rock climbing? Did you like it?

Have you tried something completely out of your comfort zone recently?

Share in the comments below!