September 2, 2011

Indoor Rock Climbing at Cliffhanger Vancouver

I have a mild fear of heights. But then again, who doesn’t, right? When you’re way up there and there’s a possibility that you’ll fall hard to the ground, it’s normal to be afraid.

I’d try anything once though, so when my friend Teresa wanted to try indoor rock climbing at Cliffhanger in Vancouver, I volunteered to go with her.

Cliffhanger is located near the Main Street Skytrain station. The walk towards the gym isn’t long, but it’s at a semi-secluded area.

When we first came in, we took the “Intro to Climbing” course. For two hours, we learned the absolute basics — knots, belaying, and safety precautions. Our fee also covered our equipment, which included a pair of tight shoes. (For safety, your toes need to be touching the very front of the shoes; no space allowed!)

I found the first hour of our course very overwhelming, actually. We went over a lot of stuff and there was a lot of vocabulary to learn. I also suck big time at knotting, so I failed at that miserably several times.

We finally got to climb after the second hour. Climbing the wall is not bad at all. I just had to plan a little: where I’d put my hands next, where I’d step, etc.

The hard part was completely letting go once you’re at the top. You need to let go of the wall so your belay partner can slowly get you down. When Thomas, our instructor, told me to completely remove my hands off the wall, my first thought was, “what does he mean completely?”. The control freak in me was, well, freaking out. Letting go was the worst part, but after I did it several times, I learned to trust Teresa and everything was good.

After the two-hour lesson, we stayed for a bit to apply what we’ve just learned. The first week after our lesson was free (except for equipment rental), so Teresa and I got to go a few more times this week.

I find indoor rock climbing incredibly addicting. Once you get past the basics and you start challenging yourself, you just want to do it over and over again. There’s a huge sense of accomplishment once you get to the top and you’ve conquered your fear of falling.

I also find indoor rock climbing oddly relaxing. When you’re trying to go up, you’re so focused on the task at hand that you forget about everything else. I like doing weights and running, but with those activities, I can still check my email (and Twitter), so sometimes they’re not completely relaxing activities.

At $69 (plus HST, of course), I found the introductory class to be worth the money. I intend on going back, hopefully at least once a month.

If you’d like to learn more about Cliffhanger, you can check them out here: