I suppose if I can’t write about tech I can write about climbing. Yesterday my partner was sick so she wasn’t up for climbing. I, however, was. So I went to the gym and spent quite some time traversing: 45 minutes then a 10 minute rest, then 30 minutes and a 10-15 minute rest, then a little more traversing then I went home.
I have to say that I really like traversing. It’s completely different than leading or top-roping or even bouldering (all of which seem to get all the glory). Yesterday was my first extended traversing session and I learned a lot: how to lean, how to place hands, how to place feet, creative solutions for hard transitions.
Route setters at my climbing gym take care to provide a path around the bottom 10 feet of the climbing walls for traversing but their primary focus seems to be that of the vertical routes and so the traverser can be left with a difficult move. For instance, yesterday, I had a tricky move just before a corner that I just couldn’t figure out so I tried to heel hook a massive hold so I could match there with my right hand and then make progress. This type of move rarely comes up in the vertical climbing. Sure, heel hooks and matching hands-to-feet isn’t rare but moving horizontally (at my gym, anyways) 40+ feet up is just simply not common. I found the move enjoyable: making the hook worked for me – it probably did NOT look graceful but at this point I don’t really care because my goal was to get past that spot on the wall and into the corner. I’ll worry about cleaning up technique during the next session. My primary goals still are to keep heart rate up and improve endurance.
In any event today I am sore today in new and interesting places. Top-roping and lead climbing just don’t focus on these groups. I look forward to my next session!
