Beginning

It's been two years and six months since my first attempt at rock climbing. I'm still very much a novice but have, over time, gained a real passion for it. The learning process hasn't been without pain though and I'm still waiting, somewhat impatiently, for a broken ankle to mend - this came about while climbing but I can't blame the rock, only my stupidity! More of that incident later.

My introduction to climbing took place in Arolla, a small town in Switzerland near the border with Italy, on a crag at the roadside just outside the town. It was a single pitch of about 20m in height and I was lucky enough to have been provided with a top rope (in this case, a rope that ran from my harness up to the top of the pitch through a secure anchor and down to my belayer at the foot of the pitch). I can't say what grade the route was as I didn't have any idea about grades at that stage and it didn't occur to me to find out. It seemed to be almost vertical but there were loads of holds and cracks in the rock so it would have been classified at the easy end of the scale. I didn't have climbing shoes so used the trainers I was wearing and to my surprise managed to get myself to the top without disaster. It wasn't an elegant attempt though.

From this short ascent I was immediately captured by what I found to be an intriguing mix of mental and physical challenge. And I liked the need for considered movement rather than sheer speed. This quick conclusion however came after a climb in the relative safety of a top rope on a crag offering plenty of choices of holds which is of course as easy as it gets! Little did I know, from that fairly carefree first go, the demands that climbing could place on one's courage.

I also made my first attempt at a closely related task, retrieving gear - the various pieces of metal placed in the rock by the lead climber to protect their climb which then need to be collected by the climber who follows up using the same rope. This gear can take various forms and with practice is generally easy to take out of the rock but for the novice, it's like extracting teeth, and this is while perching precariously on two tiny little footholds at some height above the ground. Each piece costs upwards of £10 so there is some financial necessity to its removal not to mention an environmental interest. I had some trouble getting to grips with the process but after much frustration I'm pleased to say that I did manage to gather all the pieces that had been placed.

My second climb at the same crag quickly curbed a streak of over-confidence that the moderate success of my first climb had given me. With no forward planning of my climb and as soon as my second foot left the ground it occurred to me that the next move might be out of reach and much to my embarrassment my left leg started to shake quite uncontrollably and very vigorously. So the problem I faced in making the next move was suddenly made a great deal worse by this somewhat annoying and wayward leg. I hadn't experienced this shaking since the age of about ten when I was subjected to the humiliating experience of trying to play the piano on stage. Apparently this leg shaking is quite a common experience amongst climbers but it strikes me as strange that the body's reaction to a precarious move should be to shake to this extent as it is clearly not helping the situation and is surely the quickest way to coming straight off - as has been the case since. This time anyway, I managed to overcome the shaking and struggle to the top before being lowered down thoroughly exhausted. I left the crag slightly wiser but still with the desire to learn to climb.