Last week left me feeling strong and ready for just about anything! I wanted to bring those good vibes into this week as much as possible. Why? Well Anju and I were about to take our lead climbing practice test. It was time, so we found out when our lead course instructor, the amazing Sarah, would be available for us to test with her and scheduled a time: Wednesday evening.
Wednesday came and after our day in our Link2Practice classroom and the time spent in the following seminar, we were tired but nothing was going to keep us away from this practice test. It had been too long and we both felt the drive to get it done. We met at the gym, CragX, did some warm ups and then went to find Sarah who grabbed a lead rope and met us at the test wall. Anju and I had previously decided that I would go up first. So with that, we got ready. Going through the checklist in our heads of all the steps we needed in order to be safe. It almost felt like second nature, everything just seemed to flow so naturally between the two of us. If you’d like to check out the “checklist in our heads” you can find most of it in this previous post. After we did our checks, I began climbing.
Climbing
The test takes place on a 5.10a route on the large wall with a bit of an overhang, so this is naturally where we did the practice test. It’s not exactly difficult but it does require a level of technique and endurance. Contrary to how I felt last week, I did not feel nearly as strong however, the flow was still smooth and I felt great clipping in. There was something freeing about climbing without a top rope above. However, I didn’t feel completely at ease until after the 3rd clip where I knew with certainty that if I fell, I would not hit the ground. I got to the point in the climb where the climber has to let go of the wall and take a big fall (roughly 3/4 up the wall). I called out loudly “FALLING!” So that Anju could do a nice catch and man did she ever. It was such a soft catch, I felt like I was on a swing. I got back to the wall and continued the climb up to the top. It was exhausting and I almost had to take a break but pushed through. I was lowered and then we swapped positions.
Belaying
Opposite to top rope climbing, in lead climbing belaying by far is the more difficult job as it holds so much more responsibility. It was my turn to belay Anju and I felt the responsibility for her safety on my shoulders although it didn’t seem too heavy as I felt prepared enough to do it properly. She began climbing and I fell into a nice rhythm, matching her movements as she climbed. Almost like a dance. She shouted that she was clipping, I would step in to give more rope and then step back and take up additional slack as she began to move before feeding more out as she climbed up. Then Anju got to the spot where she was supposed to let go and called out “FALLING!” I felt ready but immediately noticed that I was about a step too far away from the wall to give her a soft catch. I ended up slamming more into the wall than “running” up the wall. After the fall, Anju climbed to the top and I lowered her down. Even though she said it felt like a good catch I knew that was something I needed to work on for the actual test.
Feedback & The Rest Of The Night
I was eager for some feedback to see how we would do on the actual test. Overall, Sarah said if we did it like that with some minor adjustments, we would pass the test next time! The best news we could have possibly heard. She even gave us a conditional pass, meaning we could lead climb in the gym for the rest of the night to practice as we were showing that we knew enough to be completely safe in the gym. She said that both of us did a fantastic job climbing and just had some notes about our belaying, Anju and I both received just two pieces of feedback when belaying to work on for the evening. Mine were 1) Let out more slack at the beginning as the rope does not need to be guarded since the climber hasn’t clipped into anything yet. It’s only after the first clip that we want to keep the rope, not taunt but also without too much slack. 2) I already mentioned that I recognized I was too far away from the wall to do a smooth catch for Anju, and that was it. I really need to work on my timing with catching her as she is lighter than I am so I need to lift myself up at the right time so she doesn’t take a jarring catch.
We had a good time going off on our own and working on our notes. By our last climb, I feel that I had improved on my areas and she hers, we were ready for the test. We checked in with Sarah before leaving to see when we could take the test with her. So, this Monday we will be taking the test. Both my excitement and nerves are on end but I just have to believe that we got this!
“Pick an objective, go until something stops you, retreat, learn, and try again. That’s the formula for success.”
Will Gadd
