I *finally* got to head outside for some rock climbing. I met Jill and her "oh-so-awesome" boyfriend, Eric, who instructed us on how to handle our own single-pitch climbs so he and his buddies can head out and do the harder, multi-pitch routes. Let me say that Eric is an awesome instructor! He spent three hours coaching Jill on lead-climbing, teaching me how to clean up the route, meet Jill at the top and toss the rope down and rappel on our own. I felt like this was the next step after the great experience I had last summer up in Squamish, British Columbia. Last year, Norm and Jeremy (our guides), handled everything. This year, I got some lessons for the next level of climbing and that is handling some single-pitch routes on our own.
Anyway, we headed out to
Exit 38 - just east of North Bend off of I-90 (the closest rock climbing area to Seattle). We spent the entire time on
Write Off Rock which is a popular beginner rock and perfect for what we were working on. The first route we worked on was on the far left and only had 2 bolts for us to clip in. The second route (Mom, There's Pink in my Burger) was so much fun (the second one to the right) and had 4 bolts on the route to clip in to. Both times, Jill did the lead-climbing. The first time, I just climbed up while Eric belayed me from the top. We did that so he could go over what I needed to do once we were done climbing the route. The second time, though, I cleaned up and took out all
the hardware on my way up while Jill belayed from the top. It's so great to finally not have to depend 100% on others for outdoor climbing and am really confident that Jill and I can be self-sufficient on routes that are within our skill level. So much fun! Can't wait to head outside again (this coming weekend if the weather holds out) but next time, I will try out my skills on lead-climbing.
I *finally* got to head outside for some rock climbing. I met Jill and her "oh-so-awesome" boyfriend, Eric, who instructed us on how to handle our own single-pitch climbs so he and his buddies can head out and do the harder, multi-pitch routes. Let me say that Eric is an awesome instructor! He spent three hours coaching Jill on lead-climbing, teaching me how to clean up the route, meet Jill at the top and toss the rope down and rappel on our own. I felt like this was the next step after the great experience I had last summer up in Squamish, British Columbia. Last year, Norm and Jeremy (our guides), handled everything. This year, I got some lessons for the next level of climbing and that is handling some single-pitch routes on our own.
Anyway, we headed out to Exit 38 - just east of North Bend off of I-90 (the closest rock climbing area to Seattle). We spent the entire time on Write Off Rock which is a popular beginner rock and perfect for what we were working on. The first route we worked on was on the far left and only had 2 bolts for us to clip in. The second route (Mom, There's Pink in my Burger) was so much fun (the second one to the right) and had 4 bolts on the route to clip in to. Both times, Jill did the lead-climbing. The first time, I just climbed up while Eric belayed me from the top. We did that so he could go over what I needed to do once we were done climbing the route. The second time, though, I cleaned up and took out all 
the hardware on my way up while Jill belayed from the top. It's so great to finally not have to depend 100% on others for outdoor climbing and am really confident that Jill and I can be self-sufficient on routes that are within our skill level. So much fun! Can't wait to head outside again (this coming weekend if the weather holds out) but next time, I will try out my skills on lead-climbing.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing your personal experience about Rock Climbing around Seattle. Exit 38 is a popular destination for rock climbers. At Fox Rent A Car Blog we try to present information about diverse things to do in different cities and all the attraction to not miss. We wrote a post about the rock climbing possibilities in Seattle as well.
Thanks again for sharing.
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