Any rock climbers here?

[lazybloke]

I'm not great with heights; it never stopped me climbing but it definitely stopped me abseiling. Let go and lean back, are you mad?
So boldering I absolutely adored. Had my own climbing shoes (still have them, 30 years on) , and could do pretty amazing things on overhangs.

Tried it again a couple of years back. I'm not under 10 stone these days. I'm not strong these days. I don't do overhangs these days.

 

[PaulB]

I believe everything is possible if you believe you can do it!

I don't aim to climb hard grades, I just love climbing in any aspect (rocks, trad, sport, walls, bouldering, scrambling) and would like to keep it in the pleasure zone.

The way I learned most was at an indoor wall with a competent teacher eager to pass on his knowledge about top-roping and such like. I'm fine on my own but to get more of the bigger stuff done, you need at least one more person so sorting out the equipment and being competent with it is a massive help. I use a big bouldering mat for security purposes and go on some gritstone faces near to where I live so there's no shortage of confidence-building routes to do. Nothing does more for your feel for it than finding yourself in a life/limb-threatening position and how you handle it.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Used to years back - I just walk and scramble these days.

Occasionally I look at a route I'd clambered up long ago and think how mad I must've been in my younger years...

 

[ianbarton]

Used to years back - I just walk and scramble these days.

I climbed a lot in the late 70's and 80's. Although I did a lot of rock climbing (I lived near to Stanage Edge), I preferred winter and Alpine climbing. I lost motivation partly because a lot of people I know were killed in the Alps or on expeditions. My last proper Alpine climb (1990's) was traversing the Matterhorn from the Italian side to the Swiss side. I hadn't really climbed for about a year and wasn't super fit. We walked from the Swiss side into Italy and started climbing straight away without resting at the hut. Once I got above 4000m our lack of acclimatisation really told. It went dark as we started to descend the Hornli ridge and we ended up bivvying. We spent the night on a sloping ledge, which we kept sliding down. We were tied on, so no danger of falling. When we got going the next day sometime after dawn we saw that we were only about 100 feet above the Solvay bivouac hut which had blankets in it!

Since then I have done some easy rock climbing in Wales with the children.

 

[FishFright]

I used to enjoy climbing but was never any good. I mostly climbed on gritstone with the odd trip to other areas. Sadly 2 ear infections have affected my balance so its not as much fun as it used to be so I don't really bother anymore .

 

[rockyroller]

not since college, but Daughter is dating one

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yes, but no in recent years. Live too far from the decent stuff and traffic these days is far worse. You used to be able to fly up the motorways but alas...

Its more walking, scrambling, and via Ferrata, plus the odd alpine outing these days. Still have all my climbing gear sitting in a spare room.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I got up to E4 leading but it’d more like VD mountain routes these days!