Love on the Rocks: A Post-Valentine Rock Trip (And Some Basics of Rock Climbing)

Let's talk about another fun outdoor activity that is very close to my heart: ROCK CLIMBING!

Just starting out at the Easy Philippines route at Po-og Area 2 rock face

In the love month of February, Ray, my partner for more than five years now, and I decided to do something unique. We signed up for the Love on the Rocks: A Post-Valentine Rock Climbing Trip organized by the Cebu Rock Climbing Community.

I have been rock climbing since I was 18 but I was never really a full-time rock climber. It is mostly a supplemental hobby to my first love, mountaineering. Rock climbing allowed me to stay physically fit and strong. I never like going to the gym so rock climbing is my way to stay in shape and to make sure I still have my biceps, triceps, delts, and traps bulging every time I flex, for added vanity. (Okay, I was just kidding in the last part. I'm really a skinny, flimsy person.)

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Rock Climbing Basics

Rock climbing is as simple and straight forward as going up a vertical wall using your arms and legs. Because we don't normally carry our body's weight on our arms, climbing vertically becomes an arduous task.

Normally, we use four points to climb: two hands and two feet. However, in outdoor rock climbing where there are real cracks and overhangs in limestone walls, I love jamming my knees, elbows, and trunk into those gaps to be able to pull my body higher. It's three more points in advantage but is quite risky and will probably get you hurt if not done correctly. Let's set aside my jamming stunts for the mean time and just focus on our basic four points.

We use holds to climb up. Holds are the things that we hold on to for us to climb higher. Hand holds or foot holds is how they would be called, obviously, based on how they are used. The holds could be as generous as pockets and horns which you can fully grasp in your hands or could also be as difficult as slopers which does exactly what its name describes and uses only friction to carry your weight. Other types of holds include pinchers where you will have to use finger strength countered by the thumb (like a pinch, obviously), and crimpers where you will rely soley on the strength of your finger tips.

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La Sportiva Tarantulace (left) is my training shoes because it is more flat on the sole. Boreal (right) is my competition shoes because it is bent aggressively and is very tight to wear.

Shoes are an important element of rock climbing. You need actual rock climbing shoes that snugly fit. I don't just mean snugly as in the best fit but I mean half to one size smaller than your regular shoe-size. It has to squeeze against your toes and heels for it to be an effective pair of shoes. Your toes have to be tucked together so that they become more rigid and powerful when climbing. Rock climbing shoes are made of high quality rubber that produces friction when stepped against a rock.

Other things you will need includes a chalk bag that contains a chalk ball and loose chalk to keep your palms from sweating. Harness, quick draws, carabiners, and belaying device are also very important rock climbing gear but I'll skip them for now because these are things already provided to you by your climbing gym.

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Eight Years a Newbie

I'm always a newbie in rock climbing. It is a physically demanding sport and requires consistent training to be able to perform substantially. I, however, would climb only sporadic occasions and have never really progressed into a competitive climber. I simply do it because it is both fun and difficult. It is fun because you meet other people in the climbing walls and you enter into a different state of mind when climbing. Because it is difficult, this sport makes me a humble person who strives to find out my weaknesses and work on them so I could climb stronger tomorrow.

In those eight years, I have done various forms of rock climbing including bouldering, indoor and outdoor climbing. Bouldering is a type of rock climbing that does not require the use of harness and ropes. It is usually just a few meters high and the challenge is determining which climbing holds and what techniques to use to finish a given route. Simply put, bouldering is a physical form of problem solving. Top Rope is another form of climbing that this time uses a harness and ropes and the objective is to reach the top of the rop. Top rope climbing is for building endurance and stamina as it requires more time on the wall compared to bouldering.

Belayers and spectators on the ground. (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

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Love on the Rocks

Our love is not on the rocks. In fact, over the years, Ray and I have ventured into so many adventures together - rock climbing, mountaineering, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, backpacking - that our relationship keeps on growing stronger. But yes, we do love rocks and we love rock climbing! On the weekend after valentines' day, we went on a rock trip in a climbing site called Po-og in Toledo, Cebu.

Along with the seasoned climbers of the Cebu Rock Climbing Community and some first-time climbers looking to be trained, we traveled to Po-og one early Saturday morning. The day before the trip, I was burning up with a 37.7 Celsius fever but with paracetamol and hexetidine to the rescue, I was back on my feet just in time for rock climbing.

Love on the Rocks is a rock climbing event for beginners. I wasn't entirely a beginner but I have been on hiatus for months now and a refresher would be nice. Ray isn't a beginner as well as he has been climbing since around 2016. This is, however, his very first time to climb outdoors on a real natural limestone rockface.

We started the day with the basics of using a harness, a rope, and a belay device. I may have learned these things before but it's great to have someone show you how it's done again just be really sure. Proper gear usage is very essential in rock climbing because it can cost you your life. A harness is worn around the waist with leg loops for support. The harness allows you to be clipped on one end of the climbing rope. The rope goes all the way up the route and loops back over an anchor and down to a person on the ground similar to a pulley system. The person on the ground is called the belayer whose task is to hold the other end of the rope so that in case the climber falls, he is still securely held by the rope. A belayer is able to support the weight of the climber through a belay device which has a mechanism that automatically locks the rope when the climber falls.

Reviewing how to tie an 8-knot. (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

After practicing how to use the equipment, we were given a crash course on how to actually climb. The CRCC climbers gave us to tips on how to maximize our strength and how to balance our center of gravity when climbing up. They also gave us important tips on safety and how important it was for the climber and belayer to focus and communicate with each other.

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Climbing Time!

After the crash course, we were now ready to climb. However, because it was lunch time, everyone gathered around a boodle fight lunch over banana leaves. I do not like eating when climbing. I feel like it adds too much discomfort in my body. I helped myself to a few bites of spring rolls and decided I was going to start climbing.

Boodle fight lunch in the wild (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

I first scaled the route called Easy Philippines and mind you, it was far from being easy. This route is 18 meters high and is anchored to the limestone wall using 9 clips. I had a smooth start in this route, maybe because my energy was still fresh. However, I reached large cracks on the wall and it was impossible to do a jam. It was just too wide with an overhang roof. I opted to come out of the crack and navigated the sharp inclining wall. It gets harder when the wall starts to incline because your body is being pulled downward and your arms are struggling to not let go. My arms were pumping and my legs shaking. I looked up and saw that I was less than three meters to the top. I gathered all the strength I could get and inched my way to the top. First route done!

Ray climbed next and I was very impressed that he also nailed this route despite being a newbie in outdoor rock climbing. I saw that he struggled in the same part of the route where I struggled earlier but he too was mentally and physically convinced that he will do everything to finish the route and he did.

Ray at Easy Philippines (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

After one route, our blood vessels were pumping too much blood and it took forever to cool down. We had to rest for awhile to get our breathing and heart rate back to normal before starting off a new route.

Our next route was Italian Stallion, a 13 meter high wall with nine clips. The difficulty rating is the same with Easy Philippines but I felt like it was easier because of the absence of tricky cracks. I inched my way to the top in a good rhythm and stopped in the middle for some photo opportunity by Lilay Marquez of the Cebu Rock Climbing Community. Another route finished!

Me scaling Italian Stallion (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

Ray tried Italian Stallion but I didn't realize that he was struggling with route reading. He went up in a nice pace but got stuck a third of the way because he couldn't find a decent foot hold. I can see from my view at the bottom the best place for a foot hold but somehow he did not. He ended up with pumping veins and decided to let go of the wall. I belayed him to the ground where he took another round of rest.

Ray's attempt at scaling Italian Stallion (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

My next route was Miss Valenzuela which is a little harder than the first two routes. Honestly, it was harder by the dozens. I managed half of the route and then got stuck. I was already so exhausted that my veins pumped right there the same way Ray pumped at Italian Stallion.

My attempt at Miss Venezuela (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

Ray and I each took another shot on our unfinished routes but we failed at those ordeals. It was already late afternoon and although we wished we finished more routes, our bodies were telling us that we have reached our endurance limit. Two and a half routes isn't bad and I'm happy to have been able to climb again. I'm happy to be with friends from the Cebu Rock Climbing Community and to meet other people who were on the crags that day as well.

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Love on the Rocks Climb Team (Photo by Lilay Marquez of Cebu Rock Climbing Community)

If you would like to try rock climbing, look for the closest indoor rock climbing gym in your area and make friends with people there. Chances are that they are going to teach you how to climb or will include you in the rock trips.

All photos are owned by the author unless otherwise stated.

!steemitworldmap 10.310972 lat 123.682044 long Po-og Natural Outdoor Rockface, Toledo, Cebu, Philippines d3scr

Thank you for your time and hope you try this sport out soon too!

Cheers,
@xaydtrips