All work and no play is no fun at all! I've joined the DIT climbing club. It's proved to be a great way to meet new people and have a good bout of physical exhertion too. The club meets each Monday and Tuesday from 7-9pm. The gym is next to the Broohaha library, so it's pretty convenient. Usually...well, I've only been 3 times now, but I go to the library to study and then head to the gym. Today I bought a pair of climbing shoes. As any girl knows, having the right shoes makes all the difference in the world! Today I did a lot of climbing and belaying and a little bit of bouldering. I was able to make it to the top of 5 or 6 climbs. My first climb tonight I only made it half way up. Belaying is not as exciting, but it's important. Basically, there are two ends of every rope. One end is secured to the climber's harness. The other end is secured to the belay harness. The belay person is in charge of keeping the rope tight so if/when the climber falls off the wall, they don't fall to the ground. The belay person is also responsible for safely lowering the climber to the ground. Bouldering is a way to work on technique. No harness required. Ideally, your feet are never more than about 10 feet off the ground and there are lots of mats underneath. There's a game we play called "add on." Person one goes and grips two or three different grips. Person two copies the hand positions of person one, but adds on another hand position. It's great fun. At the end of October, we're going on a trip to the west of Ireland for a three day weekend. I'm excited about my first outdoor climb! I hope to be a little stonger and have better technique by then. We have a coach...Ronan...and he's helped me a lot already. It's cool because sometimes he'll come up to me and give me pointers about a previous climb. Usually I didn't even know he was watching! If I stick with this, I can be in the intervarsity competition in the spring. All the Dublin univeristy climbing teams compete. I don't know what the prize is...most likely bragging rights! The pictues is of our climbing wall.
Keep in touch!
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