Climbing

Climbing last night was a blast. The first thing I had to do when I got there was pass my registration test, proving I know how to tie in properly and belay someone safely. That was a piece of cake after having been taught all that in the course on the weekend. After that, I got a monthly pass, and decided to kit up then and there. After pricing things out, if I go 30 times (that's only 3 1/2 months if I go twice a week), then buying the equipment was the same cost as renting, and I'll have had the advantage of better fitting shoes. If I'm going twice a week, then the monthly pass is slightly more than half the cost it would be to pay per session, plus it's a lot more convenient.
As far as the actual climbing went, I had so much fun. Having my own shoes, and being able to go barefoot in them seemed to help in a few spots. I was able to hold myself on my toes better than with the rental shoes. I tried a bunch of different grades. I did a F5 (YDS 5.7) and a F5+ (YDS 5.8) without too much difficulty, and managed to get up a F6a (YDS 5.9) using everything I had, including using my knee on one of the features. I got about halfway up a F6a+ (YDS 5.10a) before falling. There was an overhanging lip, with the next hold about a foot past the edge of the lip. The only handholds below the lip werr small, and on the underside of the lip, so it was hard to hold myself up against the wall with them, seeing as I was leaning out from the wall because of the lip. In addition, those hold were down at about navel level, when I was standing high enough to be able to reach the next hold past the lip. With my hands as tired as they were, when I let go of one to reach for the next hold, I just couldn't hold myself up, and fell off. I was too exhausted to even try again, but I might give it a try on the weekend.