My first outdoor climbing experience!

On my way to Regina, I stopped for a day in Thunder Bay, where I stayed with a friend from the orchestra. Hoping to get some exercise on my one day not spent sitting in a car, I went to the local climbing gym., Boulder Bear. 

Climbing gyms are great because the eccentric demographic of people who enjoy climbing mountains (and, although this wasn’t the case in any of the climbing gyms I’ve been to in Southern Ontario, indoor climbing in Thunder Bay really is regarded mostly as a training regimen at best, or at worst a pale imitation of outdoor climbing) also tend to be game for pretty much any type of physical activity that presents itself. Thus, climbing gyms tend to have weight rooms as well as odds and ends of any other pieces of athletic equipment they can get their hands on. (In this case, they had just installed a trampoline, although the lack of safety net meant nobody was allowed to use it sans harness and extra fee.)

I did a quick leg workout and some bouldering, and then the owner of the gym mistook me for someone else and greeted me enthusiastically. Once we had sorted out that we didn’t in fact know each other, he invited me on an outdoor climb that some of the gym members were going on that evening anyway. I’d never been outdoor climbing before, and had actually previousy assumed that you had to be able to lead climb to do it, which I can’t, but he assured me that they would be setting up toprope courses.

We went to Silver Harbour, about 20 minutes outside of Thunder Bay. I’m looking back on the pictures fondly since the enjoying-the-outdoors season is quickly drawing to a close here, and there are no indoor (or, obviously, outdoor) climbing walls in Regina (other than a crossfit gym that costs $170 a month, has a seasonal bouldering wall, and advertises with a big picture of a banana-back handstand on its outside wall… no thanks!!) IIRC, I managed all four of the courses that the more experienced climbers set up for the topropers in the group.