Climbing with Uncle Scotty

Today I took the boys to Rock Sport for a little rock climbing time since my mom was there anyway with some of her students. Sean is a great climber, full of enthusiasm and gusto, but Ashton is afraid of the rope. Not of climbing (he went higher than he should without a rope on!), just of the rope, and it moving. I spent quite a while explaining and showing him how it works, and that it is his friend since it keeps him from falling. It took him most of the 2 hours we were there to warm up to the rope- I think bouldering without a rope helped him warm up to climbing, and then he didn't do so bad top-roping. I got some good pictures and some great videos of our day.

Here is Sean on top-rope (this was about as far up as he would go):

And Ashton:

They have a "balance rope" for you to practice on- Scott is leading Ashton across:

And my mom and Sean take a turn (Scott looks a little glazed here, eh? :)

I also did a little belaying for Scott. I should mention that he works at the climbing gym in Berkeley, and is both a regional and national route setter. He sets more routes himself then some other gyms change their routes in a year. He climbs everyday, and is one talented (and ripped!) man.

We spent quite a bit of time in the bouldering room since the boys didn't like being tied down nearly as much as getting to climb up a short route and jumping on to the crash pad as much as they wanted. I like this succession of Scott and Ashton climbing at the same time, and Scott traversing right over him without so much as a pause.





And on to the videos! The boys always BEG to be swung. This means clipping them in, and then actually getting them off the ground. Basically this means that I have to tighten the rope as much as possible, sit down on the floor to raise up the kid on the other end, and as I stand up, I have to keep the rope (and kid) in place with my left hand as I yank the slack in with my right hand. This used to not be such a big deal, but with an almost 60 lb. child it takes a bit of effort. After doing this once with each of them, I just had Scott lift them up for me instead. :) Thanks Scotty! Here is Sean on the end of the rope- sorry about the shaking. This isn't always the safest thing to do, but how can I deny them when they enjoy it so much?

And Ashton's turn:

Back to the bouldering room. Here is Ashton climbing (quick like a monkey!)

And one final one of Scott. :)

I wish we could go more often- it's addicting, but expensive.

Climbing with Uncle Scotty

It's been about a year since we took the boys to the climbing gym, so Friday we headed out to RockSport with Scott and my cousin Michael and harnessed Sean and Ashton up. Last time we went, the boys were a bit trepidatious of the heights of climbing, Ashton especially. This time went much better. Sean wouldn't quite climb all the way to the top, and Ashe would only climb to just above the red bouldering line. Here is Sean just getting started:

And another one of him at his highest point (couldn't quite talk him into ringing the cowbell at the top):

Ashton really didn't like the feeling of the rope pulling him- he might just climb all the way to the top if I'd let him without it though.

My cousins Michael and Peter are attending UNLV (both are on the water polo team) and drove up at about 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving to spend time with family. Peter didn't come today, but here is Michael bouldering to warm up:

My brother Scott is the real climber of the family. He has ripped abs like you see in magazines because that is his job- he works at the climbing gym in Berkeley and sets routes for a living. Here he is lead climbing (meaning he is clipping the rope in to the wall as he goes, instead of hanging from the top, aka top rope) one of the more difficult routes.

This picture of Kevin was taken from across the gym, but as a close up, and as a result turned out a little dark.

And finally, some fun little videos. First is Sean on a joy ride:


You can tell Ashton is still afraid to be up high in this video.