Climb Every Mountain

On Saturday I met The Divine Miss M for the first time. A few months ago, we discovered each other's blogs through Phillygirl, and also through her we realised we went to the same school (albeit a few years apart, with me being the fossilised one) and moved in the same circles. In fact, we are linked by one guy in particular, with whom we both had a romantic liaison, one more serious than the other (this time I will leave the details unmentioned - suffice it to say that it was not a good time for either of us!). We obviously also both live in London.

When I was searching for a new job and detailing every agonising tribulation on this here blog, Miss M kindly offered to put my cv out into the world of TV. Although nothing came of that, we of course exchanged e-mail addresses in the process, and started communicating regularly outside of the blogging community. That progressed to phone calls, and finally the hatching of many a plan to meet up for drinks / parties / climbing / some other thing that always ended up falling through. We were always too busy / hungover / sick / just not bothered to get off our asses to actually get it together (yes, this does sound an awful lot like dating - welcome to the 21st Century way of forming relationships!). The nice thing about this was that we both saw things the same way - if we were too damn lazy to hook up, then screw it, we'd leave it for another time when we felt like it. When I realised this, that was the moment I knew I could be good mates with this chick.

Despite our plans never coming into fruition, Miss M and I considered ourselves friends. We'd found we had a lot in common, and our shared love of media and derision for certain aspects of living in London formed a solid enough foundation.

Miss M is an avid climber. That makes her sound like an ape of sorts, but no - she climbs climbing walls in a gym. I just re-read that sentence and realised it didn't make her sound any less ape-like....Anyway. She climbs at a wonderful old castle in North London which has been converted into a climbing centre. She's been doing it for 6 or 7 months now, and has often invited me to come along. Due to various reasons (see above), I hadn't taken her up on the offer and finally, this past Saturday, I had run out of excuses. So on Saturday morning I put on my trackie bottoms and made the hour and 20 minute trek across London to meet her for my first climb.

Strangely enough, meeting Miss M was not a big event. We both put this down to the fact that we have been in contact enough to feel now that we've known each other forever. I know some her greatest regrets, she knows some of mine; although hers are infinitely worse than mine (note to Miss M: you'll never live it down). It was like I was meeting up with someone I'd hung out with endlessly in the past. We'd also made friends on Facebook, so it wasn't like we were going into this blind to the other one's physical appearance.

Good, so one hurdle overcome. Now the question remained - could I actually climb?

The answer is yes. To my surprise, I actually found it much easier than I anticipated. We started with some stretching, and then warmed up on these mini walls where you're just supposed to go round and round using the grips and not let your feet touch the ground. Then we progressed to slightly higher walls, where the courses are labelled and colour coded. We started at 1, and worked our way up, trying to complete each course in three attempts or less. An attempt is counted when you start a particular course and either finish by putting both hands on the last grip, or you fall off, thereby giving yourself two more attempts. Three attempts without getting both hands on the finishing grip and you fail.

I managed to complete courses 1 to 9, excluding number 8, on my first attempt. I was quite chuffed, and my head only swelled as Miss M told everyone within earshot how well I was doing. I am lucky in the fact that I did gymnastics for 7 years, which helps enormously with balance and flexibility. As a climber, it certainly helps to be strong, but contrary to popular belief it's not purely about strength. Listen to me, talking like I'm a seasoned pro already. ;-p After that, we moved on to top rope climbing, which is the exciting stuff where you're harnessed up and someone else belays for you so you don't break your neck if you fall off the wall. That was my favourite part. I quite enjoy the sensation of being suspended 15 feet in the air, and as I'm not afraid of heights, I didn't have the initial reservation that more cautious people may have.

I had an absolute whale of a time (why do people say that, what's fun about whales?) and can't wait to go back for my next session. I paid a heavy price on Sunday and Monday though, with my forearm, thigh and shoulder muscles aching enough to wake me up everytime I rolled over in bed. When I got home on Saturday night, my fingers went a little spastic, and refused to respond to basic commands. Cutting vegetables for supper and rolling socks into balls became mammoth tasks, but it was only temporary semi-paralysis, and on Sunday morning they were back to normal.

Overall, I highly recommend climbing as a hobby, and I hope I'll be able to incorporate it regularly into my routine. Oh yes, and Miss M was pretty cool too!