I met a dude at Mass and he was like “Hey man, me and two friends are going rock climbing in Little Cottonwood, do you wanna come?”
“Uh, I mean, I’ve never done it before. I mean, I’ve been indoor rock climbing once in Buffalo but that’s it,” I said.
“Can you hold your weight?”
“Uh, maybe?”
“You’ll be fine.”
That’s basically how it happened. I met a dude after Mass during a social downstairs (coffee and some insanely good donuts), and off I drove to his friends’ apartment! We chatted a bit, packed some snacks and water and beer and off we drove to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Completely random turn of events for the day but hey, I wasn’t about to complain.
Now, okay, here’s the thing. I don’t actually have any pictures of me climbing because…well…I’m the one with the camera…”but why didn’t you give your camera to your friends so they coul-” I KNOW, I FORGOT, I’M SORRY. There’s something a little unsettling about going rock climbing for the first time…
Me, Andrew, and Catherine watched in awe as Nico, pictured above, and the guy that invited me, climbed to the top. He’s tall, 6’4 or 6’5 perhaps, and he climbed up with absolute ease. He hasn’t been doing it nearly as long as the four years Andrew and Catherine have, but after about a year of experience, he’s pretty darn good.
Andrew, Nico and I watched as Catherine climbed up. Andrew was telling us some interesting tips about how Catherine climbs. He said that when most men do their first climbs, they rely on their upper body strength to keep them up, and this often tires them quickly. He said he loves watching Catherine climb because she’s much steadier on her feet and relies on her lower body and “smarts” more than her strength. She ascends quicker and, as a result, spends less energy climbing!
Andrew climbed up and did a slightly different route than we had done before, a bit of slab climbing (whatever that means). I didn’t partake in this climb, mainly because I was tired and didn’t want to hold the group up. I took abut 30 minutes to ascend whereas they took perhaps 10, or less. Anyways, here’s some shots from that sequence!
We wrapped up the day by cooking fajitas and talking about climbing, and my trip across the country and whatnot. It honestly was such a fun day – it started at 11:30 with Mass and ended at around 10pm.
Ya can’t ask for much better, can you.
Parting shot:
Next blog: I did a portrait shoot with a friend I’ve seen across the country…
Justin Fague 