[nabs-l] Blind people rock climbing

[humberto]

Hi, I'm not sure this topic is really appropriate for this list, 
unless so many students go rock climbing instead of going to 
college! * joke * But you can join a mailing list that is more 
related to this topic.  It is in the NFB-NET server as well; you 
need to send a blank email message to 
Sportsandrec-request at nfbnet.org with the subject line 
"subscribe." there will be more people willing to talk more about 
this topic than people in this list, students who are busy 
thinking about homework and school and how stressed up they will 
be for the next day and challenges with teachers/professors and 
stuff.  I'm sorry to rain on your parade.


> ----- Original Message -----
>From: Jamie Principato <blackbyrdfly at gmail.com
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:20:27 -0400
>Subject: [nabs-l] Blind people rock climbing

>Hi all!

>So my fiancé and I recently took up rock climbing and have been 
going to a
>local rock gym weekly for the past month or so.  We go with 
friends, but we
>are the only two in the group who are interested in top-roping.  
We're both
>blind, and we take turns belaying for one another.  I know a fair 
number of
>blind people rock climb, so I was wondering if anyone has any 
tips or
>techniques that you use when you climb, for any aspect of the 
climb?

>How do you choose a path up the wall? There are paths marked with 
colored
>tape, but this is useless to us, so we just wing it and feel out 
our own
>paths, but on harder walls this can be tricky.

>How did you get the hang of belaying? Did you use any special 
technique to
>determine when and how quickly your partner is climbing, like 
maybe have
>them wear a bell? Or were you able to tell how quickly to go just 
by feeling
>the slack in the rope? Our guide advised us to just take up slack 
when we
>feel slack, but I've noticed my partner sometimes doesn't feel 
when I get
>higher, and the slack in the rope makes me nervous.

>When belaying, how did you prepare to handle falls, since you 
wouldn't be
>able to see when your partner starts to fall? This makes me most 
nervous,
>and I've been told I keep the rope too tight at times for the 
climber
>(especially a male climber) to move comfortably.

>Right now I'm going with the advice that this will all come with 
practice,
>but I wondered what experiences other people have.

>Thanks,

>-Jamie
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