Vital Grand Opening

With so much going on lately, climbing is the only thing that keeps us sane. It's a constant, bubble of happiness, in the midst of the on-goings of life. I look forward to these family climbing sessions, which luckily suites all of us. We made the trek over to check out another new gym's grand opening at Vital Climbing.

The kids are sort of getting more interested in climbing. They are definitely more interested in creative play with non-toy gym equipment (which is a no no), but for a short period of time, the kiddos, especially Emilia, will have a desire to climb some routes. And if Liam sees Emilia climbing, then he usually wants to climb too. Emilia will walk around to look for climbs that suite her and she'll give it a go. Ryan usual helps her with picking out climbs and spot her. We haven't taught her much technique, but she is naturally starting to figure out her body position and movement.

Game face! She wants that next hold and can see her looking at it, trying to figure out how to get there.

Emilia really tries. The struggle is real. It's awesome seeing her focused and determined as she tries to figure out how to make the moves. And of course, it's disappointing when you can't make that move... but that's part of it, more times than not, it is about failing and not giving up, because it only takes 1 time to get it right.



Ryan giving Emilia tips on using the heel hooks.

Think maybe it is time to start teaching her technique. She definitely has the capability, but needs to get over the fear of heights still and needs to learn how to take a fall.

This green route was an easy one that was well within her capabilities. With coaxing from Ryan, she did it all her own even though she was skittish at the top out.

Creative play with non-toy gym equipment. They got lucky this time around and did not get scolded by anyone. But yes, we usually do not allow them to play on gym equipment.



Ryan shows how it's done. He makes it look easy! I couldn't make it past the first move. No grip on those slopers and Ryan's advice was to use compression and just squeeze the holds. Yeh. Right.



So.. I have to add in his bloopers too. Climbing looks effortless and easy once the moves are figured out, but it does take some figuring.





You may have noticed something interesting about the kids... to be continued in the next post.