Thursday, May 17, 2007 9:16:18 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Climbing is awesome fun!

I went once, when I was up in Aberdeen and I climbed for 6 hours solid (yeah, I felt that for a few days after) and I never went again.

So, I signed up to an intro course with Ben so we could do a few hours supervised before making it a regular thing (or at least until I go to Reading at which point I'll need to find a new belaying partner). FREAKING AWESOME.

Just spent the past two hours being  a complete monkey, did some really easy climbs to start then jumped into some E1s (5b/c) and E2s (also 5b/c). Just fantastic, obviously shimmying up "stuff" comes naturally to me because I get hyper and just tend to climb whatever is around, but it's so good to be doing it with a friend who can take the piss and know that if you do jump around and swap feet and do crazy things if you DO fall, you're not going anywhere.

I got over the initial vertigo a lot faster than last time, I barely froze at all on my first climb as opposed to Aberdeen where I ended up hugging the wall and refusing to come down. 

I'm going again next Monday, and it turns out that if we come in at lunchtime for a session, we can do an hour, then come back after work for no extra charge. I think the plan is we're going to go twice a week.

I'll buy my own gear in July providing I can get a belay partner and spend the summer working out this excess energy and itchy feet. This is what I've been missing, and it's one of the many reasons it's right that Em and I have split. We need to get out and have some fun, and this is it. (Plus beer).

Looking forward to the summer providing I can keep this level of activity up. I'm aching all over and I love it.