We’ve been talking about it for over a year, and last weekend we finally had our first climb! We never got round to doing an indoor course and decided that learning out in the open in beautiful scenery would be much better anyway. We joined our friends Ruth and Dave, Brigitte and Tim in the Cal-Cheak area just outside Whistler, which has many different climbs for different abilities. I initially just went along to watch and hang out with the guys and maybe learn a bit of belaying but once I was there and had seen Graham do a climb and make it look pretty easy I decided to have a go.

We started off on a 5.5 (5.4 being the rating of the easiest climbs you can do) - I only ended up getting half way up because my feet were killing me in my borrowed climbing shoes. I’m not sure if it was because they were too tight or because I was flexing my feet in a way I never have before, or because I was wearing socks when I should have been barefoot, but when I got over the crux (the hardest part of the climb) I had to beg Dave to lower me because my feet felt so crippled. It was disappointing not to get to the top, but it was enjoyable enough that I have commited to trying it again.

Graham was a natural and he really loved it.

He went on to climb a 5.6 and a 5.8 before the end of the day, which looked a lot more scary than this little cliff. He’ll definitely be going back for more!

And on the way home we saw our first bear of the season munching grass along the highway.