Gardner WebLog

I waited a little to start talking about this subject, as to make sure my parents knew my intention over here was to see London, and not spend the whole time climbing.  But I do have to cover this topic a little, it does occupy some of my time.  About a mile away there is one of the largest climbing gyms in all of Europe.  Not only are there three floors of glorious man-made plastic geological rock features in this gym, but what covers it all is an enormous castle.  It used to be a water treatment facility that for some reason was designed as a castle.  I heard sometimes they let people climb up and rappel (the brits call it abseiling) off of one of the big towers.
 

I got a student membership that lasts for three months.  Unlike everything else in this city, this deal was much cheaper than anything you can find in the states.  The most difficult part about climbing out here is the different rating system.  For those of you who have not taken up climbing yet (its never too late), the U.S. uses a system called the Yosemite Decimal System.  It comprises of different “classes,” ranging from class 1 which is walking, to class 5 which is climbing with ropes.  Class 2 is basically steeper walking, class 3 and 4 are usually called scrambling, in which you look for hand holds and foot holds.  Then, the classes get broken down once you reach class 5.  Easier climbs are around 5.4-5.7.  When you get to 5.10, we start to add in letters.  So, the difference between a 5.8 and a 5.9, is the same between a 5.10a and a 5.10b.  The reason for this came with the evolution of climbing difficulty.  No one wanted to say “I was the first person to climb a 5.11,” when the hardest rating at that time was a 5.10, so they said, I’ll call it a 5.10a.  Now, people are climbing routes as hard as 5.15a, which involves some form of superpowers.  I have not found the source of these superpowers, but my search is still on.  So, after all the explanation, I get to tell you they use a completely different rating system for routes here in the UK.  

 
As far as the UK system, I don’t know how it started, I just know it starts at 4a and goes until about 7c or so.  Here, they only use a, b, and c, whereas the YDS uses a-d.  It took me awhile to figure out what I was able to climb and what I couldn’t.  I hope I haven’t lost everyone here, I just had to clarify.  The way you climb by yourself is called bouldering.  It involves more physically demanding, powerful and shorter climbing techniques, and rarely goes above 10-15 feet or so.  Below are thick pads, so it’s soft if you fall.  In trying to climb a certain route, its often very hard to figure out where and how to position yourself while climbing, like solving some sort of a problem.  In fact, that’s what they call bouldering routes, problems.  Last week I was working on a certain problem, and ended up figuring it out with the help of a Swiss guy named Marcel.  After that we chatted for a little, thus building up enough of a relationship to become climbing partners.  He is almost done with school here in London, working on his dissertation.  So now we try to meet together as much as we can, in order to climb higher and use ropes, which is a different kind of fun than bouldering.  We climb at about the same difficulty, so everything works out.  I often go just before practice, because the gym is halfway between where I stay and Finsbury Park. 

 
For those of you who didn’t know much about climbing, I hope now you know enough and are interested enough to go try it, which you should, it’s a lot of fun and never too late.  I’m hoping to find some good outdoor places outside of London, but I’ll let you all know about that when it happens. 

Cheers,

 
Kyle