This weeks focus wasn’t falling, it was exposure and doing hard things. With the sudden realization that a long weekend was approaching, a trip to the Sunny Side of the Nanaimo River was made and a ton of fun was had. It wasn’t until I was watching the other girls fight the fight on the first route that I remembered two things about outdoor climbing. 1, it is so much harder than indoor climbing, 2, outdoor climbing is 100 times more scary than indoor climbing. There is something about the lack of safety features outdoors that makes it feel… unsafe. Now, don’t get my words twisted here, outdoor climbing is safe when you have had proper training and an appropriate amount of climbing experience. Both of which I have, did I still feel unsafe simply because I was outside?…yes.

There is a certain level of sketchy while climbing real rocks. The first thing that comes to mind is, where do you put your hands and feet? In a typical indoor climbing gym you will see tons of colourful holds on the wall and each colour represents a route. Unfortunately, you don’t get that luxury outdoors. It truly is a guessing game on where you route is, and what the intended way to climb it is. Sometimes if it hasn’t rained in a while, and it’s during peak outdoor season you can see the chalk from other climbers, but that’s about it. Second thing that comes to mind, the threat of a rock you place any sort of weight on completely snapping off stares you in the face the whole time. For me personally, I think about it all the time. It’s not a fear you learn to climb with because if a hold comes off in an indoor climbing gym, someone has done something really wrong. I have had a hold break off while I was climbing once before and to keep a long story short, the rock just missed my belay partner and I fell really far down.

Although all of this sounds wildly unsafe, and I talk about feeling unsafe. With proper training and friends around you that also have that training, outdoor climbing is safe, and so much fun! It is my hope that I can squeeze a couple more outdoor trips in before the rain comes for the winter. Climbing outdoors and exposing myself to that unsafe feeling makes indoor climbing feel so much more safe. It is my hope that if I can manage even one or two more outdoor trips, I will have better success indoor climbing and feel less scared.