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This blog is mean to describe my experiences climbing on campus and nearby climbing that I have looked into. As someone who has just arrived to Penn State I clearly am not used to the workload and therefore it is difficult for me to find time to get to the gym. However, one thing I can guarantee when I go to the Intramural Building to climb is that there will be people on the walls willing to talk to you about their love of climbing. I have gotten to the IM climbing wall three times so far in the semester and each time I went I began to recognize more people and they began to recognize me as well. Almost everyone you speak to will ask how long you have been climbing and if you are considering joining the PSU Climbing Club. I have found that most of the faces I recognize are people joining the club, but not everyone has been climbing for very long.
The climbs that I have had the chance to do so far have not been relatively challenging, but I understand given that they are meant for people of all levels and I have been climbing longer than many. I have even had the privilege to compete in the USA Climbing youth series. Â However there was one red V7 route that I was able to put some time into before eventually sending it. For those who do not understand the V grading scale starts at VB and then goes to V0, V1, and so on. This is one of the two main grading scales used in climbing however the V scale is used much more indoors.
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The IM building offers two different types of climbing: Bouldering and Top Roping. Bouldering is done on shorter walls with a crash pad or mat underneath you. On the other hand top roping is done on higher walls and is done while wearing a harness and being attached to a rope. This rope is connected to an anchor at the top of the wall and then the other end comes down to a belayer who supports you using a belay device of which there are many different types. There is also a third type of indoor climbing, although it is not offered at the IM building. This climbing is known as lead or sport climbing and is done with a rope that is not anchored to anything at the top of the wall. Instead the climber goes up the wall with specific pieces of equipment known as QuickDraws(shown below). These are used in place of the anchor at the top of the wall. As the climber progresses up the route they will clip these QuickDraws into bolts in the wall then clip the rope attached to them to the other end of the quickdraw.
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After My first experiences climbing at Penn State I am very happy to know that this will be the place that I will be continuing my climbing career. As I go through the year I hopefully will have better stories to tell about my climbing experiences and opinions.
As someone who doesn’t know much about climbing, I liked how you gave an explanation of some of the terms and different types of climbing. Hopefully, you will find more time throughout the year to climb as often as you would like.
You did a good job using strong verbs, and this made your portion describing the act of climbing much more engaging. I am glad you have been able to find people to climb with here at Penn State. One of the things about being at such a big school is that you have to find a way to make it feel small, and it seems like you have done that through climbing.
The use of field-specific terms like anchoring, bouldering, and belay adds to the vibrancy of your writing, as does the explanation of what these terms mean in relation to the topic. I can’t say I know much about climbing so reading about it through the lens of someone who’s done it for as long as you have is fascinating.
I’ve recently started climbing this semester, and I find it so much fun. I especially enjoy how friendly everyone is on the climbing wall, it’s so easy to make a new friend as you’re trying to experiment with different betas. I’ll definitely consider joining the Penn State Climbing Club, because bouldering is an activity I plan on continuing throughout my years at Penn State. It’s great to see how much variety in experience and skill everyone has, and I look forward to progressing to harder and harder problems (I’m currently at V3-V4).