Chicksclimbing’s Blog

Oh boy what a night – wind gusts up to 77 miles an hour at camp. In the moonlight, it looked like a refugee camp with flattened tents and people fleeing to their cars for shelter. I don’t think any of us slept. OK, maybe a little but it didn’t let up all night.

Dawn huddling with the Jetboils in the wind

In the morning, the Girly Guides huddled in Mattie’s car to make a plan….wind still howling. Our top priority was coffee, so we pulled the cars in close to the outhouse and brewed up in Dawn’s van while the breakfast buffet was set up in the outhouse overhang. Nice. We got it done and everyone remained cheerful despite that constant pounding of nature’s most amazing force.  It was sort of a spa day with the added bonus of the exfoliation of our skin.

Mattie teaching at the gym

We decided that a great back up plan was climbing at Red Rock Climbing Gym instead of battling the wind since it was forecasted to last the entire day.  The women were relieved to seek refuge and had a really productive day working on a variety of skills; including how to recognize the characteristics of safe anchors, building multi-pitch anchors, mulit-pitch rope management and transitions, lowering techniques and movement skills such as shoulder rolls and covering steep terrain efficiently.  If you didn’t know better, it looked as if we planned it this way. The women took away a lot from this session at the gym.

Carrie Cowan

Our wrap up meeting took place in the bouldering room sitting on comfy mats giving the gals their certificates of completion and listening to what they are taking away from the experience.  It was unanimous that Chicks Rock! went far beyond climbing itself and simply became a vehicle for camaraderie, support and digging a little deeper than each of them knew they could. Just that knowledge is useful in life….to push beyond perceived limitations and explore our internal resources. Plus, they learned a lot of hard skills and explored how to move their body in new creative ways.

Our Girly Group!

Three days goes really fast and I am always grateful that the women gain so much from climbing and learning from women. Our Girly Guides are top notch instructors and are perhaps, the best reason for being here! The gals dispired and two will stay on to take advantage of our Multi-Pitch day with Dawn Glanc. The rest of us will clean up and load the cars. End of a successful first clinic at Red Rocks!