Falling Forwards

01: Practice

     Hello, thank you so much for clicking on this story. If you have an interest in Rock Climbing or are just exploring Wattpad, I hope you will enjoy this novel. I will be using technical terms but I will try and explain them to the best of my ability. 

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"The best part of climbing is when it all clicks and gravity ceases to exist." – Chris Sharma

     My morning routine almost never changed, wake up, get dressed, grab a bite to eat, drive to the gym, climb for a few hours, come home, shower, eat, then attend homeschool. The only days when it changes were on Comp days. I, Imogen Torres, am a competition-level rock climber. The gym is my domain and where I am the most comfortable. 

     I would say that climbing is my life, It is one of the few things that I am good at. Despite my clumsiness on solid ground, people have told me that I dance and float up the wall. Climbing has really given me confidence and the ability to problem-solve. 

     This morning, after making the 10-minute drive to the gym, the first thing that I do is hop onto the treadmill. Even though I hate cardio, it is an important aspect of climbing and it gives me time to wake up and get my mind and body to do the intensive work that climbing demands. Plus, it's a great way to watch the people in the gym. Usually, the gym is not very busy in the morning and has a scattering of 9-5ers and serious climbers but since it is a weekend there are more recreational climbers here.

     The next step after getting my body warmed up is to stretch. Flexibility is essential and can make up for the height and power that I lack. Being 5'5'' I am not terribly short for a climber, but my height can defiantly be a disadvantage at times. After my muscles are nice and loose, I finally pull onto the wall. The first climb that I do is a V1.

     Climbing in America has a different grading system than that in Europe. We use something called the V Scale for bouldering. the V is from the nickname of the climber John "Verm or Vermin" Sherman who created the scale. The numbers that come after the V tells the difficulty. Currently, the scale goes from 0-17. Contrary to what is expected, the climbs do not increase in difficulty linearly. They exponentially get harder and harder

    After warming up, I head back to the benches where I store my bag and grab my climbing shoes. Imagine the most uncomfortable shoe that you own, then make it a few sizes smaller and make it pointy, that's what climbing shoes are like. (the header image is of climbing shoes) The pain is bearable after years of tolerating it and has become synonymous with climbing for me.

     Since today is Saturday morning, there is a larger crowd in the gym than normal and I can feel eyes watching me as I easily climb up a V4 which most recreational climbers struggle up or cannot finish. I have been climbing since I was 9 and have enjoyed every year of it. Climbing for so long has allowed me to get intimate knowledge of how the gym works, and I am friendly with most of the staff. When I turn 18, I have been promised a summer job at the Gym.

    Living in Sunny Los Angeles definitely has its benefits, but the heat can get unbearable quickly. The sun had quickly burned off the fog that had settled over the city, and now it is heating up. The sun combined with the heat that my body I had produced from climbing, I had to take off my sweatshirt while walking back to my car. The yoga pants and tight shirt that I was wearing prompted some catcalling to be directed at me. I have just accepted that catcalling is part of living in the city and being a fit female and just try to ignore it.

     I had left the gym earlier than normal because I had an actual practice session later with the rest of the kids that compete on the Youth Climbing Team that my gym has. Pretty soon after showering, eating lunch, and finishing homework It was time to head back out to the gym again.

     The team consisted mainly of younger kids, around 12-14 years of age, at 17, I am the oldest by far, the next oldest is a pair of 15-year-old twins. Because of my age, I am partly responsible for wrangling the children before practice officially starts. I do like kids and I want to be a mother of my own someday. I like being able to teach them about climbing and show them the sport that I love.

     The Coach soon arrives and starts to instruct us with warming up and stretching out. We all got a pep talk about the competition that was happening next weekend and were given instructions on what to do to prepare ourselves for the day. I was paired with the Twins, Ethan and Owen and we were told to do a quick 4-by-4 on the boulder then practice lead climbing at the top of our efforts. 

    A 4-by-4 is when you pick four different climbs and climb each of them four times. It is a pretty good workout on its own, especially when you pick harder climbs. Since I knew that we were going to lead later I did not push myself. The rhythm of moving my hands and feet then jumping back down onto the mats allowed my mind to wander. I wasn't nervous about the competition, I was just thinking about my weaknesses and what I needed to work on to be the strongest I could be. 

    Much like other sports, climbing has seasons, currently, it is Lead climbing season. Leading is a simple, yet complicated process. You are tied into the rope, but it is not anchored to anything. In the gym, there are quickdraws, which are two carabiners attached by a piece of webbing, hanging off the walls. As you climb up, you clip in the rope to those quickdraws and that is what saves you when you fall. The scary part of lead climbing is that when you fall, you fall the distance that you are above the quickdraw doubled. The rope also stretches so there can be some nasty and far falls.

     After a quick game of rock paper scissors, it is decided that Owen will climb first and I will belay. As Owen moves up the wall, I have to continually take in and feed out rope so he can climb safely and move upwards without the rope pulling him down. The three of us cycled through and each of us got a chance to climb and belay. It was my turn again and I turned to face my project, a 5.13c climb that meandered through the most overhung area in the gym on the tiny holds that we call crimps.

    The grading for roped climbing differs from bouldering. The system is called the Yosemite Decimal system. The 5 designates that the climb needs a rope and it is a vertical surface. The number after the period is the difficulty. The scale goes from 0-15. After the number gets to 10, there is then a letter after the number. The letters go up to d then up to the next number. For example it is a 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, then 11a.

    After a deep breath, I pull onto my project and start moving upwards.

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    Thank you so much for reading! I would really appreciate any votes or comments. This is the first book that I am actually planning to keep up with and the support would be a great help.