New year resolution realized. A trip report of my mother's first climbs. Pylone Crag, Quebec City July 1st, 2000
It's late evening on Friday, June 30th and I didn't find anybody to climb with on Saturday. I wished I could climb a long route in the Parc des Grands-Jardins, but I was now looking to go fishing, alone. So my mother enters my room while I'm lurking on rec.climbing and asks me 'Can I climb with you tomorrow?'
I wanted to climb with her since last autumn, but we didn't had time last year. It became one of my new year's resolutions and now I could realize it. But...
She almost died last winter due to medical complications which happened after she fractured her right knee while cross-country skiing on January 4th. She was not able to walk at all for three months, and she's been walking for only three months now. Her leg has not yet recovered all his strength. So in my mind climbing with her this year was out of the question.
But she was now willing to give it a try. I didn't know if it was a good idea, but we could just go to see how it goes, and stop it immediately if anything was not perfect. Also, my father moved today (divorce's not always a very fun thing) so I thought it could make her day a little bit happier.
So climbing we did this morning. She's not much of an athletic person, so we headed to Pylone Crag, a 40-50 feet crag in Quebec City, an outrageous 15 minutes car ride from home with a monstrous 150 yards approach on flat terrain. This is the area which contains the largest variety of routes around here. There are about 40 top-rope routes from 5.3 to 5.12+, so everybody can find what he wants.
I taught my mom how to climb, belay and rappel at the base of the first climb, and up she went on her first climb ever. The climbs we tried start with some face moves and finish with low angle friction climbing. We started on a 5.3. The first moves were difficult for her, because she can't push with her right leg (her muscles aren't strong enough yet) but anyway she succeeded and finished the route. She rappeled the route and wasn't afraid, even if she usually doesn't like heights at all.
She seemed really happy of her success and decided to try a 5.4 with a more vertical start. Once again she had some trouble because of her leg (she will be better when she has completely recovered from the injury) but overcame the difficulties. The top part contained more friction climbing than the route before, so she did what I taught her (weight on the feet, don't stay close to the rock) and easily finished and rapped back.
Big smile on her face. 'I did it! I did it!'
We took a short break and I moved the rope to another 5.4, more sustained this time. She was a bit tired, but decided to give it a try. She easily climbed the face moves (including the small overhang!) and cruised the friction moves. Another great climb, another huge smile.
The day is now over, she's tired but seems happy. She says she never tought she could do it; she only wanted to try to climb 10 feet and be happy with it. She asked me to go back again, maybe with another of her friend who wants to try it too. If they both like it, she would like me to teach them how to top-rope safely so they can climb during the weekdays when I'm not at home. Why not!
Is she hooked?
Marc-André Giasson Charlesbourg, Qc
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