Rock Climbing

People always ask "Do you play any sports?" And yes I do, but people don't like my answer. I rock climb... and yes it is a sport. It frustrates me to death that nobody gets that. My daddy taught me everything I know and climbing is something that we enjoy doing together. So many of our vacations are centered around "Yea! that place has awesome bouldering! Let's go there!"

I talked to my daddy after getting so tired of "oh. You climb. That doesn't seem like a really competitive sport." or "Oh my goodness I love climbing too! Main Event Rocks!" While I agree Main Event has an outstanding climbing area for being...well Main Event, it bugs me that climbing doesn't get its props. And in truth it never really has. Just because I throw sometimes throw the football around the backyard with with my daddy, doesn't make me a football player. Anybody can climb...and that's what makes it such an awesome sport... anyone can do it... but you have work at it, and work hard, and be dedicated, to get good... to get really good. People don't understand that there is more to it than the easy stuff that everybody can do. When people say its not a sport I think "well then why are there rock climbing teams? Why are there national rock climbing competitions? climbing festivals? Stores that sell climbing equipment and gear? Climbing magazines? And professionals who make a living from the SPORT?!?

Climbing is amazing....and probably one of my

favorite things to do.

You can break climbing down to two things: top ropes and bouldering. Top ropes is climbing in a harness, clipped into a rope attached to an anchor at the top of the route. A person at the ground called the belayer takes up the slack as the person climbs up the rock. Bouldering is when you work problems without a rope. These climbs are shorter and you have people spotting you from the ground. You're just free climbing and if you fall you fall, but you're spotter directs your fall towards the crash pads. You can climb indoors in a gym or you can climb outdoors. Outdoors is way harder, but way funner!

Climbers climb routes. In a gym routes are marked with tape and you can only use the holds that are marked to get to the top. Outdoors, climbing a route is like a section of the rock that you climb and you can see a route, sequence of holds that will get you to the top. Each route, whether a bouldering route or a ropes route is given a level of difficulty (but they both have different scales). You pick a route to work and you try it and you'll fall, or slip, or your arms will get tired, but you go back and try it again and again and again until you finally finish it. It could take you mulitple trys or even trips to succeed. Some climbers will travel to a country, find a route that they fall in love with, and not get to the top until a couple summers later. Climbing takes persistance, but once you succeed... WOW, does it feel good!

My mommy says I have the build of a climber. It truly is something I enjoy. However I honestly do not have that much upper body strength. What I make up for my lack of strength with is my technique. Both me and my daddy are working on getting stronger because we could be really good if we did. One of my dreams is to be on a collegiate rock climbing team and get a scholarship for rockclimbing...yes they do give those out! Like I said rock climbing is gaining popularity! If I were in Colorado and I said "yeah I rock climb" not a single person would look at me funny because that is a very common sport there as well as in places like Whistler etc. I want to work to get really good. I want to travel with my daddy to places like Las Vegas and New Zealand and Whistler to climb. It's a passion and it will be for life.

Check out this video lint...THIS is climbing!!!

Chris Sharma