SPORTS REPORT : Climbing the Walls

With my forearms throbbing and fingertips screaming, I desperately clung to a tiny piece of rock 23 feet above the floor of the Rancho California Gymnastics building in Murrieta. Looking down, I asked myself: “Is this what sport climbing is all about?” Bad time to ask.

Once restricted to die-hard, death-defying fanatics, rock climbing has become increasingly popular thanks to dramatic innovations in its safety gear. Sport climbers, unlike traditional rock climbers, ascend routes that have pre-placed bolts that they clip their ropes into. My interest was sparked last summer after a weekend of camping in Joshua Tree National Monument, which has some of the best climbing in the country. The park was swarming with rock climbers, and I watched two scale a 50-foot wall of granite. Their display of grace, balance and raw power immediately inspired me.

Within days, I checked out Rancho California Gymnastics--specifically its Rock & Roll Climbing Gym, one of several sport-climbing facilities that have recently sprung up in Southern California. After instructing me about safety gear and knot tying, my teacher led me to the base of a climbing wall with an overhang so pronounced, I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. I put on a safety harness, tied on a rope that ran up through a ceiling anchor and back to my instructor, and started up a beginner’s route. My climbing shoes, tighter than vises, had special rubber soles that helped me move up the ever-steepening wall as I gripped a series of holds. In less than a minute, I was at the top.

Climbing up was one thing, letting go was another. Mustering my courage, I leaned back from the wall, held onto the rope (tightly, I might add, very tightly) and was lowered slowly to the floor.

With my knees still shaking but feet firmly on the ground, I looked back up the wall with a sense of accomplishment. Next stop, El Capitan.