2. Rock Climbing - second "goal" accomplished!

Well, as promised, I signed up for the BYU Rock climbing class, and It's been an awesome experience! I started out, basically afraid of climbing, but wanting to get into it. Now, I still have climbs/days when I love rock climbing, and I still have days/climbs where I hate it.

Most of the class we climbed up in Rock Canyon, here in Provo. The first day was pretty neat, but I didn't have much confidence. We learned about the climbing commands

Climber: "On belay"
Belayer: "belay on"
C: "ready to climb"
B: "climb on"
C: "climbing"

-Then the climber starts her climb and once she gets to the top she says,
Climber: "Tension"
Belayer: "Tension on"
C: "Ready to lower"
B: "Lowering"
C: "off belay"
B: "Thank you......... Belay off"

I was interviewed for BYU Weekly's segment on rock climbing. You can check it out here: http://www.byub.org/byuweekly/Player.aspx?seg=336

We climbed in quite a few areas, but my favorites were the Appendage and the Kitchen. I wore flip-flops on all of the class days. That was funny, especially because I'm more scared of the approaches than I am of climbing.

The class ended with a great camp out up American Fork Canyon. There was snow on the ground in our campsite, and it was freezing, but it still made for an awesome trip. I actually hauled my 4th of July quilt with me everywhere the whole trip.

I ended the day with my hardest climb. I think it was about 70 feet high or so, and was in the Hard Rock section of American Fork Canyon. My climb was called Stoic Calculus. The reason this was so awesome, is that it was the way I ended everything, and it was my best climb yet. According to Melissa, my teacher, I had great technique, and I just busted my way up there! Here are some pictures of the climb from climbing websites: