11/03/15 Steve Acuff

My last entry was in Bajia de Los Angeles in Baja California, Mexico. I wrote about how I had no idea about anything relating to sea kayaking but was thrown into it anyways and learned quickly. Well, I was put in a similar situation in Joshua Tree National Park in California just yesterday. I had been pestering Jeff for the last few weeks about teaching me how to rock climb. Since Yosemite and talking to climbers there, I have had the urge to try and learn this extreme skill. I finally got my chance. Josh, Meaghan and I had the privilege of breaking off from the group and learning the trade from Jeff who has done quite a bit of climbing in his day. We packed our bags full of ropes, webbing and other climbing gear and headed out to the rocks. Before we were allowed to climb we went over every piece of gear and different knots so we wouldn’t fall to gruesome deaths when we finally tried climbing. Double fishermen’s, figure eight follow through, hexes, bolts and cams were all gone over in detail. With all these tools we then learned to set anchors which would be our lifelines and security while climbing. We learned techniques of building the anchors and went over acronyms that would serve as a mental checklist to ensure the anchors were set properly, securely and safely. Then we built our own anchors on top of a small cliff and set our ropes. We were to test each other’s skills and Josh was first to test my anchor. As he started to rappel down the cliff I wished him luck and prayed that I had listened well to Jeff’s teachings. Of course I had listened and been taught well and Josh made it safely to the bottom. Now it was time to climb. It’s not easy but you’d be surprised how you can stick to a rock wall and how little of hand and footholds you need to climb. I was immediately hooked and want to learn and try much more. I’ve learned yet another skill on ECOEE and added yet another passion.