Bouldering in Boone, NC

"The way I see is, when you go on a road trip, you just got to kill it."

A quote from Joe, my friend, when everyone was complaining about raw fingertips. They all wanted to quit and he was still pushing his limits.

I was invited to take a trip with a bunch of my climbing friends. It was really the first time that I have taken a trip just to climb. I was excited and anxious, because all the guys I was going with climbed so much better then me. Plus, I had never tried bouldering outside before. I knew it would be a new experience for me.

I have to admit that a part of me was really scared. You see, bouldering is climbing without a rope. The difference is that you don't climb that high. Anywhere from ten to thirty feet. If you fall though, you are going to hit the ground. So you need a crash pad and a good person to spot you. I didn't really try anything that was more then fifteen feet high, yet I was still terrified. I didn't want to fall and hit a large rock. I have to admit that I didn't do as well as I wanted, but it was still a really good weekend.

The thing I find hard with bouldering is that every move is dynamic. I feel like I'm powering through each move and I find it hard to relax and rest in my climb. Then I freak out, because I get tired and I don't want to fall. It also didn't help that I had not climbed outside in a few months. It felt so different from the climbing gym that I was having a hard time really using the rock properly. I think I did a lot better on the second day. If I had a few more days I think I would have been up a lot more bouldering problems.

It also helped that we started the second day with something fun. We found a boulder that was slopping in a little so we all tried to climb without our hands. It was so easy that it was super fun. I took a lot of pictures because I thought it was crazy. Then I was clicking away at anything that I thought looked silly. It was a fast weekend, but very fun and I look forward to getting outside again soon!