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Climbing the Walls and Bouldering

Raymi on Scollard St pre climb before the gymLast Wednesday the middle of August we went to Markham rock climbing at The Hub with friends a plenty along for the ride. We were in a newish black Dodge caravan.  Casie was there, and so was Joel, and Martin and Steven Branco and ..

casie Stewart with Raymi the Minx - 15 August 2018

The smell of the Amicos deluxe pizza from Parkdale still lingers in that van, wherever it is now.

Raymi with Amicos Pizza in vanWe went straight up the Don Valley Parkway at rush hour all the way to Markham and somehow managed to get there in under forty minutes.  Reflecting back on the group conversations and laughs in the van, the drive was one of the best parts of the nite.

arrived alive at Hub Climbing in MarkhamRegistering and watching the Hub Climbing orientation and legal cover-your-ass videos were not. Uggh . Why does everything cool these day require filling out forms and signing waivers? Don’t answer. I know. Somebody somewhere died once and ruined it for everyone.

signing waivers at Hub ClimbingRaymi-signs-waiver

Now if there’s even a hint of danger there’s a form to fill out. Pretty soon there will be forms and waivers at restaurants when you order shellfish, or more than three drinks.

Brandon Rowland at Hub Climbing leads the orientation

The danger started immediately – we learned how to fall.  First from a small wall and then from a great height.

learning how to fall from a great height at Hub ClimbingWe fell.

falling off the wall at Hub Climbing in Markham

And then we had a bouldering orientation.bouldering orientationWhich is required before anyone can go off bouldering on their own.

Bouldering is what rock climbers call traversing or climbing over things without ropes to catch you when you fall (you don’t need them cause the ground is close by and covered in soft foam mats). Bouldering happens on a horizontal plane of stepping stone rocks and Brandon’s orientation shared wisdom regarding the alphanumeric codes and the colour of the rocks. And how to be safe.

Brandon Rowland takes group on tour of the Hub climbing gym in Markham

Brandon’s Orientation Tour took us all over the gym. He would stop now and then to caution us sternly about where to look up, and why, especially when passing under arches.  He used the technical term pancake to describe what could happen here.

And then just like that we were free to climb and explore all the challenges on our own. And we climbed the walls with abandon but of course we were still being supervised as that is the name of this particular activity – Supervised Climbing.

Raymi the Minx rock climbing at Hub Climbing in Markham - 15 Aug 2018

Then we did speed climbs – twenty four feet straight up in …. how many seconds?  This wall seems taller than the others.   Martin could do it under ten seconds, and Joel did it in 11 seconds.

Martin Dasko does the speed climb wall

My time was 18.61 seconds and that was a good score in our group.  I’m proud of myself for rising to the challenge in less than twenty seconds.

Raymi on the speed climb wall in under 18 seconds

I probably could have done it faster, but I kind of blew myself out climbing the other walls before I even knew there was a Speed Climb challenge.

Raymi Lauren - Raymi the Minx - climbing gym, speed climb, Markham, 2018

Next we tried a bouldering challenge which is the proper name for a length-wise climb without safety ropes across a traverse of boulders.  We started on the longest one in the gym, which is also the longest indoor bouldering traverse in Ontario, and maybe all of Canada..  Who knows?  The floor is only a few feet away and covered in mats. I made it all the way across in forty seconds.

The static line is a half-step tight rope that’s harder than it looks- i need one of these in my apartment.

raymi and Casie walk the line

At the slide climb wall the climbers can go over the top and then slide down. I helped Casie…

Casie Stewart at Hub Climbing - Slide Wall climb over the top with Raymi the Minx

Not really.

Raymi with Casie on the wallLast we tempted the Dragon.

Raymi climbing the DragonThe Dragon is a 23 ft foot plywood sculpture painted two-tone green and covered in small stepping-stone rocks, which everyone here calls boulders. Unfortunately most of the climb is at an acute angle.  And therefore impossible.

raymi climbs upside downThe Dragon is two challenges in one – once you fall from the neck of the beast you find yourself in the pit which is hard to escape from…

Raymi face plants exiting The Dragon gold foam pit at Hub ClimbingI just gave up.Raymi in the gold pit at The dragon

I’m still there now.

group of bloggers go bouldering

Come visit me and we’ll go bouldering.

2 thoughts on “Climbing the Walls and Bouldering

  1. Pingback: Deluxe Pizza Perfect for Rockclimber's Adventure Drive - Amico's Pizza Italian Pizza Restaurant Downtown Toronto

  2. Pingback: Rock Climbing and Bouldering in Markham - Raymi Toronto | Urban Lifestyle, Events Blogger

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