Trying out the ropes

We were fortunate enough to be invited to go climbing at the Quarry by some of the staff who happen to be our neighbors (Stan & Robin). We went in the afternoon and had the place to ourselves- which was good because there were four kids running around and pretzels all over the place. They helped us do our first two ascents and then left us to try it out together.We like the adage "the family that climbs together stays together"... unless of course you lose one in the process. It made me a little nervous to hold my wife's life [line] in my hands, but it turned out okay in the end (she never slipped or fell).

We like to call her Spidergirl. Way to use those long limbs!

L'Anita was actually quite a natural at this. I did my first climb on a 5.5 while Robin had L'Anita do a 5.7 - two degrees harder. I would not be out done so I did a 5.8 next. L'Anita let me preserve some semblance of manhood and only did a 5.8 on her last climb. You can see her in the picture above using only the pegs with black tape under them which was the 5.8 route -not as easy as she makes it look.

Me too, me too!

Here's the happy climber family. Needless to say we had a lot of fun and we plan on returning soon.