Yesterday, the Otago University Tramping Club headed out to put some ropes theory into practice. I wanted to go because I've heard mountaineering stories where they talked about needing ropes. I figured learning about ropes would be a good idea if I want to keep going into the mountains - you just never know when a little knowledge will come in handy.
The Tramping Club ventured to Long Beach, a scenic area known for it's rock climbing. There, we were greeted by this really cute seal:
We split up into groups and veteran club members showed us the proper way to set up our harness, tie ropes, belay, and all that jazz. I've done indoor rock climbing before, but this was way cooler than that because it wasn't a manmade wall.
It's kind of hard to see the group on the right hand side in the picture above. Here's a close up...
My view after a little rock climbing...
I also tried abseiling for the first time. I was nervous about it, but I had the kind of week where I needed to do something that challenged me a little to serve as a reminder that I'm tough, independent and can do whatever I want as long as I'm willing to try.
My view before abseiling back down to the beach (there were a handful of really neat caves in the cliffs, you can see them from this picture)...
Here's Tiff giving Leo and I some directions before we head down...
This is my favorite picture of the day...
The people on the left are from the Tramping Club and their ages are probably somewhere between late teens to mid 20s; the people on the right are a couple who appeared to be in their early 60s. The woman went up first and I was just amazed by her physical strength. I love that she's such an awesome role model (age is just a number!).
The next course that I'll take will properly teach me about tramping (like how to use a topo map) and then I'll be ready and itching to lead my own tramping trip. YAHOO!!!!!
