She said "I saw an ad for this rock climbing gym and I want to go try it."

We went and climbed for about 3 hours, left the gym, went to Sun and Ski Sports from the gym and immediately bought our harnesses, shoes, and belay devices.

We've been climbing together ever since.

Mike

my first was years and years ago, as a kid, went up some easy TR routes with my friend's boyscout troop. that didn't really get me hooked, but years later when i moved up to asheville (mountains of NC), it was all over. my first climb up there was some little TR route with a safety class. ever since then i dream about rocks when i'm not near them.

Are you still in Asheville? I was actually there this past May for a friends college graduation. It was quick trip up and back so I didn't get to climb at all. :(

Wow, what a beautiful area though!

Mike

nope. sadly enough i'm not still in asheville. i LOVE the place though (i was there for about 4 years). good vibe (even though it's filling up with more yupee retirees), nice people (i even like hanging out with the bums - if you ever get a chance to run into "the ram", sit and talk a spell with him; it's worth it), nice downtown (drum circles in the park on fridays!), and GREAT scenery out of the town (blue ridge parkway right next door), and of course the climbing (looking glass is a stone's throw away, table, ship, grandmother only a little farther).

i had to move down to central NC for school and work (the vet school is in raleigh)

not too many days that go by that i don't miss the 'ville.

are you in the NC area much? if so, maybe we should get out (as soon as the rains are done rolling through). i have a bum knee right now, so it'd have to be moderates, but i'm really looking forward to getting out ASAP. let me know if you're around and interested.

My wife is recovering from an arm injury as well so she is climbing easy/moderates right now as well. I'd love to have someone show us the area even if we're just running a bunch of 5.7-5.8's.

Mike

I dont have a first outdoor climb yet, however, I'd like to go to Batu Caves in MY. Check out some pics here

http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/photos/search.cgi?AreaID=24064&AreaID-opt==

Enjoy!

regards

It is nice to have Brad right here in the same area with me though; We've actually climbed some of the same rock and hopefully will be hooking up to do some climbing together soon.

Then Chilli is only about a 5 hour drive away and has some excellent rock in his backyard so hopefully later this year we'll be able to meet up and he can show me around that area as well.

Mike