Nefarious and I went climbing today at Rock Oasis, an indoor climbing gym, which was tons of fun and completely tired her out. I belayed for her (except when she was bouldering), and she climbed non-stop for an hour and a half after school (up to a 5.6, which is cool impressive given that she’s five and has five-year-old-length limbs). She’s got at least one other kid in her class that goes climbing so next time I bump into her father I’ll see if they want to go together.
When I made the appointment yesterday, they double checked to make sure I understood that she would not be able to belay for me… I’m like, “um, she weighs less than a quarter what I weigh, I know she can’t do that!” — apparently it’s a pretty common assumption first-time visitors have. That surprised me, because it just seems like common sense, but while I was there I listened to the receptionist taking quite a while trying to explain to someone who’d never climbed before that they would need a second person to belay for them… I guess the mechanics of it all are hard for some people to understand.
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I took my kids to the Rock gym a few weeks ago. Two days in a row.
I can’t remember the level of the climbs they finished, but it was awesome.
Fun fun fun.
Yay for rock climbing. It is the best thing in the world and I wish I would have started when I was 5!!
Nefarious is so cool with all of her rock climbing. I like that you saw that she had an interest in it and developed it
She could have belayed for you, if she was tied off. You just tie the figure-8 to her, and also to a secure, stationary object (normally webbing around a boulder, a car bumper, etc). The bigger issue would be whether their insurance company would let someone that young belay for anyone, regardless of weight differences.
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