Having started rock climbing earlier this year, I have found a real passion for it. I am always after a challenge though, so thought to myself “Why not bring the two together?” So, I decided that my challange for 2014 would raise money and awareness for Open Sight, a Hampshire based charity that has helped me so much within my sight loss journey, that I want to give something back.
So, a climbing challange it was to be. Simon too needed to agree as I can’t climb alone. He has on occasions climbed wearing a blindfold, so that he can understand how I climb, so he agreed that any challange we took on, he would ‘equal the score’ by wearing a blindfold. He has many many years of climbing with challanging himself to reach a higher grade, he agreed that he too needed the challange, so he suggested the blindfold.
The type of challange was decided, the who was involved was decided. Now to decide the distance…..
Something BIG. Something ICONIC. Something even those with no sight could understand its SCALE.
IT HAD TO BE A SKYSCRAPER !!
The Shard in London was suggested, but at 310m (or there abouts) it was too big. A buiding that comes in at just under half its size came in as a suggestion. The Gherkin, named as such for its fully glazed exterior and dome shaped top resembling that of the pickled vegetable.
It measures 180m or 510ft in old money. As the building is completely glazed it isn’t physically possible to ACTUALLY climb it. So, between me and Simon, we will climb the equivalent distance of it at Calshot Climbing wall.
Me with my limited vision and Simon wearing his blindfold.
I think he is beginning to regret that decision, as he is probably now facing a larger challenge than me!
So, now for the ‘over to you’ part of this post.
This is a personal challenge for both me and Simon, but in doing this we wish to raise money and awareness for a great charity Open Sight…. We can do the climb (I hope) but we can’t raise the money without your help.
Please support us via our Just Giving Page www.justgiving.com/gherkinblindclimb or click the button below.
As you will all have realised, April has been and gone, Easter is over and we are all awaiting the rain of the school holidays!
I am now a member of Calshot climbing wall, having completed my course three months ago. With just the odd week missed I have been up a wall every week since!
And how things have changed.
I still climb with my buddy Simon, who I now belay while he climbs, but the guidance I get from him has greatly reduced, not because of a miraculous improvement in my sight or a change of colour to all the walls and holds!
But because I have found a way of my own to climb, which may not be conventional. But sod conventions…… It works for me!
I find my triangle point so that I am safe to move either an arm or a leg off of the wall and the sweep it to find the next holds. Doing this means that sometimes I miss a much easier hold, but then where would the fun be if I only held the easy holds.
I am still enjoying it as much, if not more than I did all those months ago.
I now have my own harness which is so very comfortable and I am looking to what I can achieve in the future with my climbing.
It has been a busy few weeks and I haven’t had a moment to catch my breath or update you all on what has been going on in the world of Tee.
After months, months and months of putting it off, I booked myself on a new course to really test my ability to do something that you wouldn’t usually find a VI doing. I did a taster course in rock climbing.
I know, many have questioned me “why rock climbing?’
The answer is simple. Since loosing my sight I have also lost my fear of heights.
So in answer to them, “Why not?’
I have a friend who introduced me to it, a few years ago when he spoke of how he used to climb, but as his climbing partner had moved away and life had got away with him, he hadn’t been.
So, I booked the course and off we went to Calshot, a fabulous climbing (among other things) facility.
Unfortunately, like many great places, it is a 60 mile round trip. But definitely worth the trip. But as you can see from the images, they have some wonderful climbs.
I was incredibly nervous. More so, when we arrived and I was the only girl doing the course. Other than my friend, the seven other men were on a work night out. My nerves were soon settled by the course instructor Adam.
Upon completing the online booking form for the course, I had detailed my visual impairment, so Adam was prepared. He was happy to take his time with me to feel and understand the harness before I put it on. He explained that he had never worked with a visually impaired climber before, so if I needed more help or even less, to just be honest with him, so that he can ensure me the best possible experience whilst being safe.
We all went out to the first wall after we had put our harnesses on, ready to start our experience. As their was nine on the course, we were put into groups of three’s. That gave each team a climber, a belay and an anchor, giving each of us the opportunity to have several goes within each role.
It is hard for me to put into words how it felt the first time I started to climb. It was a mixture of nerves, panic, strain and probably the biggest dose of adrenaline I have felt in an incredibly long time.
Having had the opportunity to belay before I climbed, the concern I had about someone holding my weight was quashed. The guy I belayed was quite tall and heavier than me, but when I was helping guide him down, he didn’t feel it. (I am a girl after all and weight it always a concern, one that doesn’t decrease as my sight does!)
So, standing in front of the wall (the blue wall shown in the photograph above) and looking at it in such closeness.
I froze.
I literally hit a wall.
I could see the blue of the wall, but I could only make out the occasional climbing holds, which all seemed to be much further away than my hands and feet could reach. So I started, reaching first with my hands and hap-hazardly with my feet, but I was on my way, very slowly. This was where Simon came in, he started to explain to me where I could move, simple instructions like “left foot left knee’ but it was enough… It meant that although I couldn’t see the holds by my feet or even my feet for that matter, I could see my hands and where they could go, with the explanations from the ground I made it about half way, before fear and emotion kicked in.
Once getting back on the ground and speaking with Simon and Adam, they explained that often the belayer will give such instructions from the ground to the climber, regardless of skill. As it was often easier to see a hold from the ground.
After we had all had a chance to scale this wall, we were taken to a different wall, this was where Adam showed his concern for my sight and my ability. As he had moved us to a wall that had an over-hang on it, which he was concerned that if I were to climb it, I may hit my head. So he placed my team on a wall slightly away from the main group. To a yellow wall, that went straight up.
The yellow was easier to see the holds on (well most of them) as the lighting on this side of the centre was clearer too.
I could go on and on about what it was like to climb this wall, but I’m not here to bore you.
After we had climbed, we went back to the team room to de-harness and this was when after the others had left, I was able to have a very honest conversation with Adam and Simon. Adam was already able to see that I had ‘caught the bug’ and he was so kind as to talk me through different harnesses, climbing shoes and different options for learning to climb.
As we were leaving, he even gave me my own piece of 10mm rope so that I could learn to make a ‘figure of 8’ and practice it in preparation for taking part in the induction training course.
So, my new love affair began…..
That was six weeks ago now!! My induction course is booked for April, but in the meantime I have been climbing pretty much every week as Simon’s guest at the climbing wall.
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