going climbing on friday for the first time…

Just go and have fun. 🙄

Edit: not sure if it was useful!

What TSY said but without the eye rolling!

Brilliant fun, mental and physical, there’s the mental games with yourself – push yourself, confidence in the fact that you CAN do it, mentioned earlier, but also lots of problem solving.

How do I need to organise my body to use that hold to get over there?

Its a great sport for playing mind games with yourself

That is true.

Oh, and move your feet before your arms!

Not on the first move though, you’ll fall over.

Given that three people are sharing an hour’s worth of instruction I think TSY’s last piece of advice is probably the most useful.

Not on the first move though, you’ll fall over.

Not necessarily – I can think of plenty of routes where the first thing I’ve had to do is put my foot up in order to get to the first hold 🙂

(I don’t think the OP will have to worry about this)

Not necessarily – I can think of plenty of routes where the first thing I’ve had to do is put my foot up in order to get to the first hold

Can someone post those vids of Johnny Dawes climbing no-handed and one handed?

Just for fun, like. Not necessarily tips for 1st lesson! Always inspiring to see people to do things differently though, that’s one of the things I like most about climbing.

will my belly be an issue if i’m meant to be hugging the wall? i dont want to fall off everytime i breath out and relax my belly 🙁

The bigger the belly, the easier it should be. This is due to a larger area of mass being in contact with the wall, thus allowing friction to glue you to the wall like a limpet. Just suck your gut in to break the seal and then move up again.

That’s science.

Just make sure you belly flop onto the mat if you fall…

Oh, and you’re not actually fat. There’s a dude that climbs at the wall I go to that would put the midrifs of all us STWers to shame and he nails some proper hard routes.

should i prepare my belly with something tasty like golden syrup, increased stickyness and it leaves a treat on the wall for other climbers like the chocolate buttons idea? might mean breaking out the boobtube though

No. That would just be silly.

Maybe wrap yourself in flypaper?

Climbing is a funny business, you get people who are tremendous at bouldering and have incredible talent and technique, and yet you place them on a traditional route of a decent grade and they go to pieces and want nothing to do with it. This is apparent all the time at our wall where we have some incredible climbers who easily outclimb me but wont do anything outside that doesn’t have a mat at the bottom or bolted clips up the wall.
Personally I find climbing gets really fun…or terrifying depending on how you view it when you start leading routes outside.

here’s johnny – maintaining 3 points of contact,not

well that was awesome 🙂

in the words of the instructor we all “smashed it”… 1 hours session, about 45 minutes actual climbing including having to do the beginners warm up wall thingy and we still managed to clear about 7-8 climbs each including 3 with overhangs.

mrsconsequence and Jo (friend who’s birthday it was) got stuck on one wall but cleared everything else, i managed to clear all of them apart from being one hold from the top on one where i lost my grip due to sweaty fingers and swung against the wall… arm locked up and couldnt pull myself straight again to do the last hold.

can’t believe how much we got done in an hour from being complete beginners 😀

feeling it in my back today and a definite reminder to lose the love handles, all the stupidly well build 0%body-fat people there last night made me super aware 😳

Just got to learn the lingo now.

that’s me right there 😀

think i might need to throw some iDiet into my life again

That cat looks like he’s about to “smash” the Lightswitch 7a+

just quoting the instructor DD 😳

made us feel good and was pretty encouraging, nice guy

just quoting the instructor DD

made us feel good and was pretty encouraging, nice guy

Oh Lordy, before I get ripped apart…I was only teasing philly. I’m super stoked that you enjoyed the lesson though – sounds like you all had a good time. If you’re ever down Brizzle way, we’ve got a super indoor wall here – I’ll be at your service for a session. The girlies do very well at climbing – as they often have a better strength to weight ratio than us chubbies. The locked-arm thing is absolutely fine – still happens to me occasionally years later – just shows you’ve been putting the effort in. Learning to use your feet comes naturally with time served.

🙂

I phillybuster

also realise that climbing indoors in no way bears any similarity whatsoever to climbing outdoors. no more useful than the gym just a littlemore fun. don’t be put off by indoor climbing because you cant pull on match heads and don’t have arms like Twizzle. get outside at the first possible opportunity even if just to scramble or boulder.

I’ve not long done a 4 week course at the wall in Stockport. Really enjoyed it. I’m well aware though that it really was just a taster, but at least I know how to tie on and belay. For me I think it might be a winter thing indoors, but defiantly want to give outdoor climbing a crack. I do need shoes though.. the hire ones STINK

also realise that climbing indoors in no way bears any similarity whatsoever to climbing outdoors.

No-one said it was…

I’ve not long done a 4 week course at the wall in Stockport.

Wall session coming on then methinks!

Nice one PC, you’ll get extra points for saying “crush” instead of smash.

Reckon you’d do it again? Craggy’s a great centre; the bouldering’s excellent and the panels are wonderfully varied. It can get a bit macho/regulars territory at times but it’s typically harmless.

Check out the Castle in London for a super duper centre, it’s my favourite in the South East. It’s near Manor House Tube in North London.

Oh, and don’t attach a chalk bag to yourself with a karibiner; it’s classic climb n00b behaviour (unnecessary weight, unusable when bouldering and sits just a little too low).

CRU$H IT!

I always find that having the rest of the party sing ‘Send in the clowns’ and make sheep like baaing noises helps enormously when I’m gripped with fear and about to lob off.

Great thread btw, really glad you enjoyed it.

Decathlon do some decent rock shoes for not much cash btw.