WE have just completed a 18.5 mile Crucible Footmarch that included a 200m swim across a frigid alpine lake. We have arrived at the Competitor Field, sight of the Challenges. In military terms, We have arrived at the scene of the battle.
There are 5 day time challenges. Mountaineering, Feats of Strength, Obstacle Course, Team Reaction Challenge, and Daytime Navigation. Each of these has a different method of challenging a person. We started at
Mountaineering.
After grabbing a quick bite and a :15 minute rest the first 6 teams to finish the Crucible hike were directed to grab our backpacks and report to Mountaineering. Once there we grounded our packs and donned our climbing harnesses, fit a helmet to our noggins and proceeded to the Rappel station at the top of the canyon. In proper military fashion the climbing instructors never assumed we knew what we were doing. They checked our equipment, instructed us, then allowed us to clip in to the rappel rope and gave us concise direction on how to walk backwards off the top of a 40 foot cliff. This was our welcome to mountaineering. On a double rope rappel with a firemans belay below we had to almost push the rope through our rappel device in order to descend. That was ok. The first time rappelling in about 20 years I can stand to enter it slowly. In fact the last time I was rock climbing most of these other competitors were most likely still in diapers or in grade school. After belaying for my partner, Jack, we proceeded to the next mountaineering challenge, Climbing.
We had chosen a medium difficulty climb to attempt. We were to be timed on how fast we could make it up 60' and ring the bell. The route we were given was called The Mantle, a 5.7 climb. About 1/3 of the way up there was a ledge we had to push / pull /scramble up and over. That was followed by about 20' of crack climbing, another mantle then more flat surface scrambling to reach the bell. I opted to climb first. Not because I was any better at climbing than Jack but mainly because I had watched someone else climb that route a few weeks earlier when I just happened to be passing by on one of my evening runs. (checking out the terrain where some of the Endeavor course may or may not have gone. Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared..Coast Guard motto. Semper Paratus (always prepared).) On my climb I was focusing on maintaining 3 points of contact at all time, but found my self in 5 or 6 points of contact on occasion. My knees are a little bit scratched and I may have used my helmet to maintain balance at one point. In the end it took me almost 4 minute to ascend to the bell, and about :30 seconds to be belayed down by the climbing instructor. That was about 10 times longer than it took my head and knees to stop shaking once I finally reached the top and chose to look down and see how high I was.
Jacks climb went a bit smoother. He had watched me climb and had a good lesson in what NOT to do. He reached the bell in about 3:30 minutes. It still took him a few minutes to settle himself before rappelling down. Jack has never been climbing on a rock face. He has only ever been climbing on a rock wall in a gym. He had good form but was a bit surprised at how life like the knobs, cracks and holds were on the rock face compared to the manufactured holds he used in the gym. Next on the agenda, Tyrolean Traverse.
Once we were settled down enough to walk, we continued on up the canyon to the Tyrolean Traverse. When I was climbing I vaguely remember seeing / hearing out of the corner of my eye a shadow or form slip past overhead. We looked up and saw a couple of strings stretching across the canyon. We were headed up to them. We were going to fly across the canyon on those lines. After a short hike and easy climb we reached the top southern wall of the canyon. We were given instructions about clipping in, attaching ourselves to the small pulley that would carry us across the 200 - 300 foot space. (Jack thought the distance was closer to 300' I thought closer to 200'. I'm suggesting we were both right by saying the anchor points were 300' apart and our take off and landing points were closer to 200'. Plus in all my stories I am going to use 300' because it sounds manlier...) I opted for the faster looking line. Ok it was the line closest to me with the easiest access. After our last second instructions about what NOT to touch, we both grabbed ahold of the pulley and said we were ready. The instructor just shook his head and said "NO, I said DO NOT grab the pulley." We corrected our grips and nodded our acknowledgement, and were ready for the countdown. We were to be timed on our crossing. Both partners taking off simultaneously, the last one to touch ground stops the clock. I hoped the guy across the canyon was the one with the clock and not the guy at the bottom of the canyon...
Three, Two, One, Jack ran a couple quick short steps and pushed off. I was already at the edge, thinking my massive body weight would be all it took to do the job of overcoming inertia. I heard Jack zip on by as I was hanging about 3 feet off the edge if the cliff, motionless. I guess my weight was not enough to overcome motionlessness. What that saying? E=MC2? I was energy at rest. I at once laid back and grabbed the rope above my head, which was technically on level with my head and began pulling for all I was worth. I was a mere 1.5 seconds behind Jack when we landed on the other side. I do not know how our times compared to the other smaller, young, faster looking teams.Thus ended our venture in to Mountaineering. We both agreed rock climbing was thrilling and invigorating, and a good workout. We both look forward to climbing again, hopefully in the near future. At the checkout tent, we were directed to head to the competitor field for our next Challenge, Feats of Strength.
On our hike back to the competitor field we were met by a couple of strange looking creatures. they didn't have a large hump sticking off their backs. How does that joke go? I don't recall their name, but their face rings a bell... Actually it was our brother Keith and Jacks friend Laura. I had a feeling we were in for a surprise when we got to the next event....
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