Yoga and rock climbing?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Sounds like polar opposites. But after a recent session in Estes Park, Colorado, I've changed my mind. For one, I really didn't think I'd "do" yoga. Sure, I do a few poses to stretch and keep my back healthy, but I mean, yoga is for girls and nut jobs right? Well, I "had" to sign up for the yoga part of the class in order to do the rock climbing.
If you aren't familiar, there are two kinds of rock climbing. First is what I call 'free climbing'. This is the kind of climbing you see the pictures of with (usually) guys hanging by one hand in the middle of nowhere. The other is called 'top roping'. In this kind, someone gets to the top somehow and sets a rope so that the climber is assisted by a spotter (called a belay) on the ground. This is also the kind of climbing you typically see in on 'climbing walls'.
One of the really cool things about rock climbing is the view you can get from the route. Another is the what you get to experience while you are waiting your turn. For our trip, we had a great group of guides. The other great thing about this trip was the support that you got from basically complete strangers. I mean here are 25-30 people who, for the most part, didn't know anyone else in the group. But we had all just gone through a hour and a half to two hour yoga class and were now climbing together and encouraging each other.
The coolest thing that happened to me was the lady I met from New York that was afraid of heights. She climbed (reluctantly) the first, easiest route. I talked a bit to her after that and her attitude was basically, "OK, I did it, I'm done". This route was relatively short (about 40 feet) and kind of enclosed (like climbing up an inside corner). Shortly afterward, I climbed a longer route that overlooked the lake about 500 feet below. I found her and said "you have got to do that one". It is about a 80-90 foot exposed climb up a kind of ridge. Well, she did it and you could hear her say "WOW" probably in Estes Park! This was a fairly common theme. One girl, who had never climbed before went up the fin on her fourth climb of the day! After the climbing was done, we did another 30 minutes or so of yoga right there under the beautiful, Colorado sky.
Now for the weird part. Since I had never done yoga before and only really know ANYTHING from watching and listening to Carol, I had planned on 'hiding out' in the back of the class so that I could 'follow along' with what everyone else was doing. No such luck. I got there just in time to get the very front spot in the room. Oh yeah and the only spot in the room with direct sunlight THE ENTIRE CLASS. I don't care if it is in the 50s or 60s outside, if you're in the sun that long, it gets HOT. Fortunately, I had a towel :-). Oh well. I had a friend tell me one time, when you first start a job, screw up big time (not on purpose). That way, years later, everyone remembers your name, but they don't remember why.
So, yoga and rock climbing? Yoga for guys? Not so weird after all. I have started my own little routine that I hope will increase my flexibility to make climbing easier. One thing that it has helped is that after my twice weekly boot camp workout, I do about half of my normal yoga routine which helps to unload my back. As such, I think I am recovering quicker from these workouts than I did before I started my yoga routine.
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