This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

Climbing. Climb On.

Posted by Miro

Typing is difficult. My right index finger and thumb are each short a chunk of fingernail.

We went climbing in Squamish, British Columbia today. Sean led us up a series of increasingly difficult climbs. On my second to last climb, I was supposed to hang my fingertips over a vertical seam of rock and use my feet to push my hips away from that seam creating enough friction to inch my way up the rock face.

Imagine trying to pull a tough weed out of the ground. It’s so firmly rooted that you plant your feet next to it and put all your weight into yanking it out such that you’ll fall over when it gives away. Now imagine doing that standing on a vertical cliff face with your side parallel to the ground. Trusting your grip on that 1 cm rock seam not to give way like a weed was tough; or rather impossible for me at this point. Seeing a chunk of fingernail fly out of the crack when I jammed my fingers in didn’t help.

Let it be known, however, that rock climbing rocks. Every muscle feels used, and I conquered that cliff in 4 different places today. I even made it past the fingernail shredder on the second try, though Sean provided a little assistance on the rope.

We also got a brief lesson in some of the climbing lingo:

Line: a climb. As in “which line do you want to do next?”

Protection: any of the devices climbers place in the rock face to prevent themselves from falling all the way to the ground

Bolts: Metal loops, drilled and permanently set into the rock

Sport climbing: climbing a route where bolts have already been placed

Belay: Both the person on the ground and any example of the class of devices used by that person to prevent you from falling too far

Beta: Information. This is the single most important term to sound like a climber. Use this term liberally and apply it to everything E.g. “What’s the beta on that line you just climbed.” Or “W totally stole the election. I’ve got some beta that the MSM is hiding from the people.”