What started as a fun date idea quickly became one of my very favorite activities.  About two years ago I noticed a nearby rock climbing gym had a good deal on Groupon for a rock climbing session.  As my boyfriend and I both enjoy active, challenging activities, I thought it’d be a fun date.  What I did not expect was that just one session in the gym would have me hooked.  Despite my weak upper body and laughably poor grip strength, something about rock climbing was exhilarating and fun.

The gym by my house.  Oh how I miss it. http://climbnorth.com/site2/index.php/photos/gallery-2

After the first few days of climbing I could barely move my hands from the soreness.  I had never felt so much tension and tenderness in my forearms before.  This aspect of challenge might be what drew me into the sport.  Being a complete newbie meant all the opportunity in the sport laid ahead of me.  The only thing I could do was improve.  The learning curve in rock climbing also favors the newcomers.  The initial jump in strength, balance, and stability make each successive session significantly stronger than the last.  This quick improvement I felt made it fun and created a solid first impression of rock climbing.

As the learning curve gradually hit a plateau, the appeal to the sport changed a bit for me.  The fun of quick improvement morphed into the fun of achieving what used to seem impossible.  With stronger hands, I surprised myself with the holds I could hang on to.  The drive to make myself better and to keep completing new routes motivated me to continue.  All the while, the satisfaction of topping out (reaching the top of) a route that had previously been unfathomable made the activity one of the most fun parts of my day.

Attempt at purple route… spoiler- I was unsuccessful.

Perhaps the most motivating climbing experience I have had thus far was my first trip outdoors.  The raw challenge of a real rock cannot be recreated in a gym.  The social atmosphere of my climbing group and the beauty of the wilderness in which we climbed made me want to return to “real deal” rock climbing.  The difficulty of the climbs, though, made me want to improve.  To enjoy the outdoors completely I knew I would need to get stronger, and since then I have worked hard in the gym to improve for my next excursion outside.

Bouldering outdoors https://www.mountainproject.com/v/dauphin-narrows-bouldering/108359180