Like a Bat Out of Hell

I happened to be in the western part of Canada this weekend and thought it would be really cool to do some bouldering in the rockies. I'm here for a really quick trip and so climbing was just going to be something I squeezed in as I drove into the eastern part of the mountains. I packed my shoes and everything seemed to be going really well. The guy I was going with was excited, the people I'm travelling with didn't care if we stopped for a bit and the weather was beautiful. Near the town of Coalman we spotted what looked like a great face. We pulled over, changed and started hiking. We just arrived at the site when suddenly a huge dark cloud lumbered over the mountain. It didn't waste anytime looming. It came fast and hard. We got stuck in a hail storm and didn't get any climbing done. The rain didn't let up until we were out of the mountains again. It was too bad. I don't know when I'll be back there.

The Brave and the Bould

WOW. Bouldering was amazing. I had so much fun. And my toes hurt so much.

We drove out and hiked in. At first we found many rock formations that weren’t tall enough or were just too boring. But eventually we found this boulder that looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the rock wasn’t very great on the one side and the other was very damp (it was a pretty moist day). But we’d found the right area. So we hiked around a bit looking for the perfect face. We didn’t ever find the perfect one but we did eventually settle on a wall. It needed cleaning and neither of us brought a brush (you use a metal brush like you would use on a BBQ to clean dirt, moss and other slippery substances from the visage) but we decided that that would just have to be part of the challenge today.

So we tied up our shoes and positioned the drop mat. This is my only complaint about the shoes I chose. Lace-up shoes take a significant amount of time to tie-up and untie if you ever want to give your poor feet a break. If I had chosen slip-on type shoes, I could have taken them off while I was spotting.

There were two routes up. The easy one was more than doable by me on my first time out but it did take me a couple of tries. Falling off the face is not nearly as bad as I expected. Your partner watches you as you climb and if you fall he’ll break your descent by catching you. This isn’t a falling-damsel-Superman-type save but rather you let the person’s legs land on the mat and get your hands under their arms. By catching their upper body you make sure that they don’t hit their head on any nearby rocks.

The second route was far more challenging. Although my partner made it up a few times, I could never get past a certain point. I tried and tried but I think it was just a touch too challenging. Luckily, the guy I was climbing with is very patient and a great teacher. I’m determined to make it to the top next time we go out there.

I was in pretty good shape after the climb (sore toes and feet and one bloody knee) so we continued to explore the area. It turns out that there are a couple of other pretty good looking climbs nearby and one amazing looking overhang.

I’m excited to get back out there and my climbing partner has promised to show me some of the other spots in the city’s immediate vicinity.

PS Apparently climber culture is filled with lingo and jargon.

Bouldering Batman

It’s only been one day since I bought my shoes but this evening a more experienced friend and I are going to drive out to the area I explored on my bike last weekend and see what’s out there for climbing.

Bat-Boots

This afternoon I biked across town to the largest sporting store in the city and bought a pair of rock climbing shoes. Oh, man are they uncomfortable. They are supposed to be really tight and mine are (I hope tight enough). But it’s a good thing that I knew exactly what I wanted because the service was really weak and I didn’t get much help.

So what exactly did I look for in a shoe? Price. Since I’m brand new to this, I don’t need the best gear. Plus, I need to have enough money for any other projects that I have on the go for this Building Batman. I expect Jiu Jitsu to cost a bit. The shoes that I settled on are a pair of Mad Rock. I hope they’re what the doctor ordered.

That's a lot of miles...

This weekend I spent a lot of time on my bike. Friday I did a 16 mile bike ride, Saturday a hard 25 mile ride and then on Sunday a final 25 miles but at a much easier pace. This wasn't just to get in better shape but also to explore potential bouldering sites outside of town. One of the locations has real potential but I think that before I can start climbing there I will have to be less exhausted from the bike trip by the time I make it out.

P.S. Batman doesn't bike. Batman flies. In a flying car. Everyone knows that - except The History of the Batmobile site which is uncharacteristically days behind the the current Batmobile (Batmobile iterations must be recorded on a day by day basis since it's changed so often).

Training - but not posting

Sorry about the large delay between posts. I know we all hate it when a blogger stops you from reading your favorite blog for an entire month (this is your favorite blog ever, right?). I've been working on another project and it took all of my attention. Sorry about that.

BUT although I haven't been posting, I have been keeping up with my training. In fact, I've started a whole pile of new enterprises. Firstly, I've started doing chin-ups and pull-ups everyday instead of so many push-ups in response to a comment by Thelonious_Nick on an old post. On top of that, I have been jogging three mornings a week, biking twice a week and swimming twice a week. All and all, I have never been in such good shape. As often as possible I am doing my flexibility training.

Why all of this exercise? Well first because Batman is supposed to be at the peak of the human condition. Now I'm not ever going to claim that I'll be in an athlete's shape but I would like to be in better shape than most of the people I meet on the street. And second because the next few Bat-skills that I'll be adding to my arsenal of superheroic arts are all physical.

I've found a friend who boulders. This will be great! Batman can ascend the highest skyscrapers with ease. I bet Batman is one mean wallclimber. We haven't gone yet but I'll let you know when we do and tell you how it went. Hopefully, I can get competent.

The second thing to learn is a martial art. I've been trying to figure out what to do first but wanted to go with someone. I finally found a pal who would like to learn Jiu-Jitsu. There's a school near our neighborhood. Hopefully, we can get in and learn a bunch. I hope that it's a good martial art to start with. I don't plan to master Jiu-Jitsu just learn the basics.

So those are my summer plans. Oh wait! There's two more things. I've bought a copy of Gray's Anatomy (standard textbook on anatomy from the turn of the last century - it's ok that it's old. The human body hasn't changed much over the last hundred years). I've been reading through it and making notes. Batman, always the scientist, would tackle his physical training with the precision of a surgeon. If I'm going to train my body, then I'll understand it too. I'll write you brief synopsizes of each component of the body. I promise that these won't be super in depth or boring. I'll spice them up with true comic book showmanship but they will be accurate and hopefully point those of you who want to know more in the right direction.

I'm also learning French (I know maybe not the most practical language but it is a language and if I'm going to learn multiple foreign languages in my life then it's time to start). Finally, I have some brain exercises that I'll be introducing to start getting the detective part of this project rolling.

So lot's of what I have been doing and what I will be doing for this season.

And finally a promise. I'm dedicated to posting more often than I have been. In fact, I'll have a post for tomorrow finishing up lock-picking once and for all.