Journey to V8

The brand new and beautiful rock climbing gym was before me and as I looked through the glass doors with my gym bag filled with almost 8-year-old rock climbing shoes, chalk and a chalk bag I headed inside.

Like any rock climbing gym, I entered and my vision was drawn to the large walls filled with colourful holds. A sign of a new gym with the walls being straight with sharp edges and colourful fibreglass holds littering the walls. I was excited and then turned to the front desk to be told to sign a waiver which I promptly did then bought a day pass. They asked if I needed to rent shoes which I didn’t so they just told me where to get ready and then said I needed to go through an orientation.

Like every gym I walked in, looked at the walls and climbs. My previous experience made me feel confident about some other climbs not as much but I was excited. So I quickly put on my shoes, which were uncomfortably tight and slightly painful as the shoe is aggressive which means the toe was pointed downwards and the toe box was more narrow.

Next was the orientation and exciting bits. It’s different for every gym but as this gym is only a bouldering gym we went over how to safely fall, then showed I could do it before they explained the grading system for the gym.

The grading system at the gym was great not only for simplicity in understanding but also for how it can push you to try more challenging climbs.

The grading system at this gym was fun as it used symbols in the shape of Hexes to determine the difficulty of the climb from one Hex to six Hex. It also told you what holds you could use by the colour of the tag at the start of the climb. Additionally, at this gym, the final hold of the climb is the finish and volumes were always allowed to be used.Grading Scale

• One Hex: V0

• Two Hex: V0-V2

• Three Hex: V2-V4

• Four Hex: V4-V6

• Five Hex: V6-V8

• Six Hex: V8+

My First Climbing Session

The First Climb

Like any self-respecting climber I started by warming up, remembering my old drills, I warmed up my waist, wrists, arms, ankles and fingers before jumping on the wall.

I started with a One Hex I found it pretty easy which brought me some relief as it meant I wasn’t completely starting from nothing but then again, V0s are the grade most people can at least do with some effort as long as fear doesn’t get them.

Feeling confident I tried a Two Hex and it went okay, I had a bit of trouble but I could manage it. So deciding to warm up more by climbing I continued to do the One and Two Hex’s around the gym.

Then it happened I fell trying a Two Hex It hurt a bit as I knew I should be able to do it no problem. I used to climb V4s and a Two Hex is at most a V2. I felt honestly bad when it happened but more so I wanted to get it and get better. So I got up rested slapped some chalk onto my hands and tried again.

This time I got it.

I climbed and climbed until my arms were tired my hands were soar and my feet were in pain due to the shoes. It was fun and eventually, I managed to do a Three Hex which might only be a V2 to V4 but it felt good. The problem-solving, the exercise and the generally fun atmosphere of the gym were a blast. It was interesting and I planned to come back again.

Now where does this leave me?

Now as I left the gym with the simple goal of getting into better shape I smiled excited to come back and climb on the walls. Fingers aching, toes hurting but a desire to get the climbs I failed to redo the ones I did and try climbs I never gave an attempt as a new desire beyond getting just into better shape was starting to be born.

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