Trapped at Berkeley

I went to Indian Rock yesterday with a few friends and saw that someone had setup top-ropes on the back side. After checking out the anchor configuration and the condition of the rope, I stupidly decided that it’d be fun to prusik up one of the ropes. I normally don’t bring my climbing harness with me to Indian Rock, but since I did have a few slings and carabiners, I decided to try using my belt as a harness.

Bad idea. I was jugging up the rope and decided to rest on my upper prusik. My belt broke almost instantly, and I took a short little fall onto my crash pad. You can see the aftermath of my experiment in the picture above. Maybe next time I’ll be wearing a stronger belt…

This winter and New Year has been more turbulent than usual, and I’ve lost contact with a lot of friends and possibly upset some others. Work has also been keeping me on my toes, so I haven’t been able to keep up with all my contacts and volunteer work.

It seems that things are finally beginning to settle down, so I’m going to try to move forward and mend fences: check up on the people I care about, re-establish friendships, devote some time to helping others, and get back into my cycle of rock climbing and exercise.

It’s what rock climbers do when bored…

I’ll probably be hosting slacklining sessions every few weekends. Contact me if you’re interested; I’ll probably be setting up a slackline near the south-side entrance to the VLSB or near the Campanile. If you want to purchase your own slackline, Slackline Express is a good place to check.

I led a small group up to Indian Rock on Saturday morning. It was the first outdoor rock climbing experience for almost everyone in the group, and we had a great time. We started out with some simple slab climbs and worked our way up to some more difficult traverses. We’re planning on going back every Saturday; we meet at 9:30 AM at Sather Gate. If you’re interested in coming, please leave a comment.

Unfortunately, I took a fall practicing some parkour near Sather Gate that morning, so my ankle is currently busted, and I’m on crutches. Thankfully, I didn’t break any bones, so I should be back to my climbing self soon enough (hopefully by Saturday).

Lastly, my prayers go out to someone who was injured in a car accident on Friday. May she recover fully!