I have been hiking mountains and backpacking for as long as I can remember. Although I have completed Class 3 and short Class 4 scrambles, climbed on the plastic rock walls in Outdoor World, and raced my friend up rock wall at the YMCA at 3.a.m, this adventure would be one where I am in real mountains, climbing on real granite walls, my first technical climbing. The week beforehand, I played Wii Fit for hours, anticipating this day. My dad, Tomasz, and I took a whole day rock climbing course with a private instructor from OWLS. His name was Grant Price, and for over 9 hours I learned the basics of rock climbing. From tying knots to belaying to actually climbing, it was one of the best experiences of my life. It was a gateway and epiphany to what I will do in the future; to where my path truly lies, in a vertical world. The day started out at the Blackrock Park's parking lot in Wintergreen. We packed our gear and worked our way down the rough terrain. Our guide led us off the trail to the right to the part known as the Beginner Slab. We left our packs near the edge of the rock and commenced with preparations. Grant took me through the whole process on how to belay and I belayed him up while he led up the slab to set up a toprope system. After I lowered him back down, my dad and I excitedly discussed who will climb first, and I convinced my dad to, eager to see him trying something new and fun. Although dad kept on complaining about how old he is and how he will never be able to ascend such a rock face, he somehow managed to and complete almost all of the routes that we attempted. He said this self-demeaning statement before every route, exaggerating his modesty. He did a great job climbing, and I am glad he started this awesome sport; better late than never. Whenever my family and I went on hiking vacations I would be somewhere off the trail trying to climb whatever boulder I could. From when I was 12 years old and exposed to the Tatra Mountains, I always wanted to go up, and to conquer whatever mountain or rock lay in my path. Soon after he descended, it was my turn, and I anticipated starting out on the path that my life was destined for. The first route that I climbed went off to the right of the Beginner Slab, at about 50-70 feet in length, it was short but very fun. After I climbed back down, Grant told me that I now needed to climb the tiny crack system that was a little bit more to the left (facing the rock). I climbed back up the rock and veered left to the tiny crack. I could only hold on with my fingertips, and used the tiny indents in the rock to smear with my feet. I somehow managed to get up to the top of the rock and felt very accomplished. Soon afterwards, I had to climb another route. This one was even further to the left and was just a series of wide cracks up the rock and a ledge. The first part (which ironically starts below Grant belaying me) was quite messy and it was where I scratched my legs the most. When my dad finally climbed this route, pine needles were flying the whole time and it looked as if he was going to tear his skin off slipping and trying to jam into the crack. He did not manage to escape without major scratches, or what we call “battle wounds.” He would continue to make fun of me for not having any major battle wounds for the entire week. After gathering our equipment, we moved back down the trail again and then turned left into some bushes. This bush-whacking and scrambling through rocks and dry leaves placed us up in another section of Blackrock Park where there is a much longer slab. This slab is about 100 feet in length, and when having an anchor at the top, used up our whole rope. This part of the rock is known as the East Walls, and the route which we completed was the Guides Route at a 5.7 rating. Afterwards, Grant taught us all about the different ropes, carabineers, and cams. This route started off simply and ended up at a small tree in a cleft about ¼ of the way up the route. Next was a section to the right where there was a small car-sized boulder that was quite loose, and the path continued with a series of small handholds. Previously, my dad had gone up the route to the right where there is a small crack that veers slightly left and was an easier climb. However, I had watched Grant go straight up the middle of the face climbing up on what he called “chicken heads.” I finally noticed why this area is called Blackrock Park. The sections where the handholds were was very dark. I put my hands down and was quickly startled by how hot it was. I had to move on faster than anticipated to prevent from burning my hands, my fingers were still a little red from the rock hours later. I got up to where the rock flattens out and there were just chicken heads poking up from it. I saw the white chalk on them from Grant’s previous climb and used this to help guide me. I doubted my ability to climb up such tiny features, yet after putting my weight onto it, I felt quite stable. I slowly made my way up the rock face, putting one hand in front of the other searching for the best place to grab the rock with just my fingertips, and smearing the rock with my shoes. Just like at the end of the other slab, when I reached the top I felt very accomplished. I had thought that I could not climb up such a barren face, and yet I did. Next, we had to decide what we wanted to do with the rest of our day. It was either learn how to put in our own cams and lead, climb more, or learn how to rappel. I decided that we should climb another route, something more vertical. We hiked down a little more and facing away from the rock, turned right to The Cracks.
Once I got back down, I was too exhausted to talk, it was a long day. I simply told my dad how fun and difficult it was to climb up this route and that it was his turn. My dad did a great job but did not quite make it past the 2nd more difficult part. We had already climbed several routes and both of us had muscles of jello.
After he came back down, we ate some of the homemade trail-mix that I mixed back at home, with dried pineapple, peanuts, coco roasted almonds, and Reese's Pieces. We discussed the route and improvements which we could have made in our climbing. Once we hiked back to our car, we discussed climbing some more and then bade each other farewell. Right as he was about to pull away though, we realized that we still have all of his harnesses, helmets, and shoes in our own backpacks. We quickly gave them back and then he drove away. I got back into our own car and thought about what an amazing day it has been. So much has changed, I am on my way to becoming a real climber.
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