OP Indoor rock climbing

February 26

Before departing from Conway Centre, Chris, after making his return from Scotland, taught us how to safely tie the ropes into our harness. We used a retracing figure eight, with a stopper. After some practice with that, we partnered up and learned how to belay. Once Chris was convinced not all of us would die, we took off for Beacon Climbing Centre.
We started the day by strapping up our climbing shoes and warming up on a traverse wall. After one pass, we played gladiator. Once one person would cross a line, the next one would go. The object was to catch up to, and tag the person ahead of you without getting tagged or falling off first.
After that, we moved onto the bouldering walls. We didn’t have ropes or harnesses on yet, so we didn’t climb too high. We mainly worked on traversing and reaching for difficult holds. We spent about 20 minutes, no pun intended, getting the hang of things.
Next we moved on to the main wall. We partnered up and began the top rope climbs. I had no trouble climbing. The worst part for me was leaning back and trusting my belayer. After several climbs each, Chris and John gave us a demonstration of lead climbing.
After a lunch break we went into another room and began our lead climbing. Belaying for a lead climber is much more difficult than for a top rope climber. When belaying a top rope climber, all you have to do is keep the rope taut, and keep the belay plate locked off. While belaying a lead climber, you have to give out enough slack for the climber to clip into the next karabiner, and then pull it taut so if they fall, the distance is minimized.
After we all experienced lead climbing on the training course, we moved back to the main wall to test our skills. Chris only wanted three groups initially so they could keep an eye on us, so Elizabeth D and I had to wait until the first group was done. We each got two attempts of lead climbing before the end of the day.
While waiting for the others to finish their climb, I tried the auto belay climb. The way up was no different that any other top rope climb. The strap retracted up as I climbed to the top. Once I reached the top, I was instructed to just let go. That seems like the last thing you would want to do at the top of a tall climb, but I had to trust the device to slow my decent. The fall is much faster than with a human belay, but the effect is the same. I forgot about my camera until the last few minutes before we left, so pictures are scarce. I did get a video of Korey on the auto-belay though. I forgot you can't rotate video as easily as pictures, so it is sideways.