By Frank Pfiffner
Climbing is an experience that I think everyone should try once. At first, you’re scared of the thought of climbing up a piece of rock that is 50 feet high and straight up. It was scary the first time I tried it. I was scared of the thought that the person on the other end of the rope might not stop me if I fell, then after you make the climb, you learn to trust the person on the other end of the rope. After the first time, you want to do it again, but you have to take turns with the person belaying you. When you belay somebody, you’re either on the ground or on the top of the cliff with the rope around you to stop the person from falling. Now you learn how to repel. Repelling is the method of descending a cliff. The person is secured to the rope which is attached to the top of the cliff. The climber repelling has control of letting out the rope as he descends. There isn’t very much to learn except how to let yourself down without going too fast. The hardest part is to back out over the edge of the cliff and start down, but there is no way you can fall if you have a good teacher. Mini-School has had a number of day trips to Taylors Falls which is a good way to spend a day and learn how to climb. We are also running climbing classes at school for anyone who wants to learn how to climb. The classes are free so I think that everyone should attend them, even if they don’t want to climb.