I went to a different gym this time, as it's much closer and I wanted to see what it was like. For starters, it's much smaller, almost entirely for a type of climbing called "bouldering." Bouldering differs from regular climbing in that the goals are not so high (no ropes) and instead of routes, you do "problems." (This is what I've read on the internet.) There are hundreds of holds bolted to the wall, most marked with one or more colored strips of tape (I think I mentioned this last time), marking the problem.
For the first hour or hour and a half, I climbed by myself, negotiating laterally across the wall along a kind of route, just above the well-padded floor. Then I ate lunch and came back for another three hours or so. At this point, though, another climber, a Japanese man, started working on the same lateral route, and we began chatting a bit about how to get past one part. (That is, I tried in my poor Japanese to understand what he said and to offer my own suggestions.) Then another climber started working with us, although he was more experienced. It was fun, and a good work out, both for my arms (which are not nearly so sore nor tired as last time) and for my Japanese.
One amazing older woman, maybe 50 or 60 (I'd guess 60ish), was climbing and doing so very, very well. I was very impressed. Very. I hope I'm that strong and agile when I'm her age. She was intrigued by me (being the only white person there) and chatted with me a bit.
I'm definitely going back next week...might even buy a month membership, which will save me a bit if I go at least 4 times.
Fun, fun, fun. In a few months, I hope that my arms will be able to keep up with my legs for endurance...
As I don't have any pics from today, I'll post one from last week: King (there for perspective) and me in a position I actually later sort of got into (difficult to explain).
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