Scaling New Heights

I have always wondered, when I see a mountain, how does one human manage to scale the vast outcrop of rock that stands before him. Not only do you have to conquer the actual, physical mountain, but your fear, exhaustion and perseverance itself are enemies to your task. So when a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him at an indoor rock wall to develop some climbing skills, I reluctantly (I have a mild fear of heights) agreed so that I could further explore this sport.

Our mountain was stored inside a concrete warehouse in the Charlotte area, in a facility called Inner Peaks (http://www.innerpeaks.com/). On a bright sunny Wednesday, (not that the weather really mattered since it was indoors), I headed off to the rock wall to test my strength against nature's buildings. The staff at Inner Peaks are very friendly and when it's your first time, they take you through a video of the how-to's of climbing and then a hands-on lesson on climbing and belaying. I was a little confused as to why someone would name the belaying tool a "Gri-gri", but to each his own I guess.

Climbing is a lot more complicated than I anticipated. A few friends had told me that it's more lower body than upper and so I sought to use less pulling power and more leg muscles but there's a lot more to that. There are various holds and techniques, a crimp hold vs. an open hold and different ways to position yourself to avoid straining specific muscles. It's all very fascinating. The rock walls are also arranged in varying levels of difficulty - one wall can be either an easy, medium or difficult wall based on the colored path that you follow.

I've only been there twice but it's been a ton of fun. There's plenty of walls left for me to conquer so I'll definitely be heading back there soon.