My first outdoor climb

Posted on July 8, 2007
Filed Under - adventures |

Today was a big first for me - my first outdoor climb. I have been climbing on indoor walls for about six months, so I know some basic technique and how to belay, but that’s about it. I got a phone call on Friday night from a guy I met at the local climbing wall on Thursday, who is training to be an instructor. The weather forecast was set to be good, so he wanted to take full advantage and invited me to go and climb with him down near Land’s End. Bosigran cliffsIt turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day. We arrived at Bosigran cliffs just after lunch and the view was spectacular. There’s a special light that you only get in this, the far west of the country. It is what brought the artists to St Ives and you can see the sparkling clarity in this picture, the beautiful colours of the sea and how everything is so clear and sharp right to the horizon. The rock is granite and very quartzy in parts. Nice and grippy too!

Before scrambling down to the bottom of the pitch, David sorts the gear out. Outdoor climbing is a gear lover’s dream - and we didn’t even have that much! We were doing a multi-pitch climb, with David leading and me seconding. What that means is that David climbs up first, with me belaying him, and as he climbs he puts the gear into the rock to create protection. Although it is more dangerous to lead climb, in theory he should only fall as far as the last bit of gear he put in - provided I am holding on to the belay properly. His life and limb is therefore in my hands. Once he’s climbed up to a suitable anchor point, such as a ledge, he ties himself to the rock and belays me so that I can climb up after him. It’s safer for me because he has already put in all the protection. As I climb, I remove the gear after me. When I get up to the anchor point, that’s one pitch done. With two experienced climbers, you would take it in turns to lead and second, but in our case, David is leading every pitch as I have never done lead climbing before, not even indoors.

Little Brown JugOur first pitch is the beginning of a well-known route called Little Brown Jug, which is graded (for the climbers amongst you) Very Severe, 4c. If you look carefully at the picture you can see some other climbers on a ledge halfway up. It’s a lovely route and like most sea cliff climbs has a decent amount of exposure, i.e. you feel like you are really ‘out there’ on the rock. On a beautiful day like this one, it is an absolute pleasure to be up there on the rock, looking out over the sparkling sea and feeling like you are really part of the landscape. So David starts climbing and I sit on the ground in the warm sun, paying out the rope until it’s my turn. There is a set of standard climbing commands that you use to avoid confusion. For example, I must not take the belay off until David shouts ’safe’, to indicate he is anchored in. Then I can’t start climbing until he has got me on the belay and says ‘climb when ready’. There are other conventions to use if, as often happens, you can’t actually hear each other!

I found the first pitch quite nerve-wracking. Not surprising for my first time on real rock. There seemed to be plenty of handholds but not many footholds. Using your feet well is something that comes with experience, as the natural instinct is to pull yourself up with your hands and arms. I remember Bear Grylls, who started out as a climber, making the point in one of his Survivor programmes that “three-quarters of climbing is in the legs”. There probably were loads of footholds to the experienced eye, but I didn’t recognise them as such. At times I felt a bit shakey, like I wouldn’t be able to pull myself up or hold on. But in the end, all was fine. David’s key bit of advice was always to try to move upwards, even if it is only a little way, because your world can change very quickly. It’s true, at times a step or a pull will seem really hard, but once your body moves past a certain point, suddenly all is fine. That’s the excitement of climbing!

So I made it to the top of my first pitch and that was the hardest part of the day over for me! For the second pitch, we moved away from Little Brown Jug and did a neighbouring route. I was still nervous but starting to settle down and it felt a bit easier. I think it was in fact a slightly easier climb. By the time I was ready to tackle the third and final pitch, I was feeling relaxed. I still took things slowly and carefully, but I was also enjoying the view and the feel of climbing. I am reasonably good with heights so I enjoyed looking down at the sea beneath me. Anyone who does suffer from vertigo, look away now! I took this photo from an anchor point. You can see our ropes in the foreground; a little way below is a pair of climbers doing the next door pitch and further away still are a couple of blokes perched on rocks at the bottom of this cliff.

All this time I have been climbing on plastic walls indoors I haven’t really thought about what it would really be like to climb on real rock. It’s more different than you might think, but so much better. It feels really good to have real rock beneath your fingers, even when the climb is difficult. There is also a lot more adrenalin when climbing outside, as you have all your gear to handle and the elements to deal with, as well as the physical aspect of climbing and the natural fear that comes with an activity that - for all the safety precautions - is fundamentally rather dangerous. David and I discussed the fact that putting yourself under that kind of stress when climbing can actually make you calmer and less stressed in other areas of your life. Climbing teaches you how to be calm and practical in stressful situations and can also serve as an extreme example which makes other things seem tame by comparison. Why get stressed about work on a Monday morning when you’ve spent the weekend climbing sea cliffs?

Stumble it!

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