I have a friend who recently described me as her ‘partner in crime’. And I can’t disagree. She is mainly the ideas person, I am almost always happy to give things a try. In some cases, such as our upcoming trip to Queenstown, NZ, we exchange adventures. In the Queenstown example I have agreed to go river surfing with her, and she will come on a bungee swing with me.

Bouldering was Cilla’s idea. Her sons had taken her and she thought I would like it. We put some of her sons chalk into a freezer bag and went along. Waivers were signed, shoes were hired and we went upstairs to the ‘bouldering’ section.

For those (like me 3 weeks ago) who are not familiar with bouldering you climb indoor walls like the image above, they are around 5 metres high, with no harness but large soft cushions below. The walls are covered in different climbs arranged by colour and numbered (mostly) as per difficulty. Difficulty ranges from 1 – 10 and most walls lean inwards with some having overhangs to get around. The idea is that you stick to a colour for that particular climb, though for beginners it is fine to mix and match.

On my first attempt I was very timid. I climbed a lot but didn’t go very high. And discovered two things: bouldering is fabulous fun, and bouldering is an amazing workout that sneaks up on you while you are having fun and challenging yourself! I could not lift my arms without great effort for a few days afterwards!

I never considered myself scared of heights, but apparently when I am the thing keeping me clinging to a wall that changes. Being even a few metres up I can freeze if I think too hard about where I am. As my arms get stronger, my confidence is growing. I think my confidence is what is stopping me more than my skill, but they will grow together.

I have now been 4 times, another friend has joined us (and her daughter wants to come too). I even went on my own. I can now get to the very top of the wall on a level 1, my goal for tomorrow night is to do that on multiple climbs.

I have a second goal too: after watching my niece and nephew on the automatic ropes I want to try that! So Tuesday will see me putting on a harness and climbing much higher for the joy of ‘floating’ back down afterwards. I will let you know how that feels 🙂