Rockclimbing

Tessa and I went rockclimbing on Saturday before our trip to Divas. Being a rock climbing virgin I was a little nervous but I knew it would be a lot of fun. We were introduced to the equipment and the space by a high school girl who had been working there for about a year. The staff seemed to be mostly men but not exclusively so, while the clientele held an even balance of genders. In the space sexuality was moot and there were same sex pairings as much as hetero pairings among the climbers.

As I find with a lot of the spaces I have been visiting in Saskatoon, there is a dominant power in the space but that power is unrelated to gender and sexuality. In this case the space is dominated by the athletic, the regulars who are consistent rock climbers used to the space and move through it freely or the people who are regular rock climbers and have access to more of the climbs through body strength. Tessa and I both failed to climb the walls that had any upside down angles, which consisted of most of the area, though we had fun trying.

However the area catered well to beginners with smaller walls and because of the colour coding, the wall could have a variety of difficulty levels that made the place inclusive to a first timer of any gender, sexuality or athletic ability. If you are afraid of heights don’t try it.