Climbing

I have always viewed myself as coordinated and at least somewhat graceful. According to my daughter, I am about as graceful as a “bull in a China shop.” I must be somewhat coordinated, however, because I have stayed on bucking horses, and I played the snare drum in the high school band. As for a graceful, I was never chosen for any sports, and I was a straight “C” student in a gym class. I remember walking across the balance beam but still getting a “C.” I suppose it is because I walked across the beam with the same grace as I cross a road.

When I worked at the gymnastics camp, they had just finished building a “challenge course.” (Climbing gyms and such were not invented yet.) The course started at a tall tree with four, 40 foot walls build around it and a platform around the top of the walls. One side was a door with steps to get up to the platform. The other three sides were “climbing walls:” one easy, one intermediate, and one difficult. Off the platform, 40 foot in the air, was a balance beam, with a safety line leading from the tree to a tower. At the tower there was a “zip line” over a pond to another tower on the other side of the pond. The challenge was to climb the wall, cross the balance beam and zip down the zip line. All the time, of course, you wore a safety harness and safety lines. If you ran into trouble, the safety spotters could haul you to safety.

I was asked if I would like to try the course to help train counselors, instructors, etc. Of course, I said yes. I was strapped into my safety harness and positioned at the bottom of the “easy” wall. I reached for a rock hold, put my foot on another rock and started to climb. The first 20 feet was easy, but I was getting winded. I took a deep breath and continued up. Finally, I hauled myself over the top of the wall and landed on my stomach. Standing up, I caught my breath and headed for the balance beam. My harness lines were unhooked from the wall and reattached to the safety line over the beam. Even though I was 40 feet in the air, I stepped out and had no trouble crossing the beam. (The gymnastic campers would do all manner of splits, handstands and other stunts on the beam. Things I am unable to do on solid ground.) After the balance beam, my harness was attached to the zip line. The first step off the platform into space was a little scary but the “zip” down was fine. The campers say the “zip line” was their favorite. For me, however, it was anticlimactic. The best part for me was the challenge of climbing the wall.

Years later, when I was traveling, I camped at Tippecanoe Indiana State Park. In the park they have a 90 foot fire tower that was built in the early 1900s. During the World Wars, when the men were off fighting, the farm women “manned” the tower. One of the criteria was to be able to climb up into the tower twice in a row. Of course, I had to climb up. Up the steep stairs I went back and forth to the top. Again, I landed on my stomach at the top, catching my breath. However, the climb was well worth it. Besides seeing for miles above the treetops, you looked down at birds flying below you and sitting in nests.

I have climbed many mountains and hills including Scotts Bluff, but the view from the tower is completely different. I believe there is one substitute for firsthand experiences.