Overheard at... The Portland Rock Gym

“They carry a big pipe.”

I admit I am still trying to figure out exactly how a pipe would help climbers pee when they were up on the side of a mountain. The individuals were talking about the risks of belaying, and the story of being below flying, um, garbage came up.

Every sport has its risks. Baseball has hurt elbows. Soccer has hurt knees. Swimming, well, okay, I’m not sure you hurt anything by swimming. But football has hurt everything. Apparently climbing has falling or being hit by falling stuff.
(*picture courtesy of National Geaograhic)

I don’t see myself ever doing mountaineering (a fancy word for saying you are climbing a rock outside). However, I do see myself possibly belaying my daughter as she mountaineers. So, I suppose I should get to know the equipment she will need. Personally, I would want a really big, soft, squishy, mat underneath her. Sadly though I don’t think I would be able to haul it around Yosemite and get it to the base of El Capitan.

Certainly there are more dangerous sports she could have chosen. Take for example, doing gymnastics on the back of a moving horse. Oh yes, that’s right, she does do that. It’s called vaulting and is actually a competitive sport. With her first competition coming up in May, I will get a chance to practice my mat chasing skills. Again, it is pretty
unlikely the judges will want me running behind the horse dragging a big red mat.

I’m not sure how we got here in terms of her activities. Two years ago we were doing gymnastics (okay, a bit dangerous with the high beam and all) and swimming. Still, as I watch my otherwise anxiety prone daughter scale a 40 foot climbing wall, or pull herself up onto the back of an enormous, moving equine I am struck by the sense of empowerment and freedom she must feel.

And although I hope it is years away, I can still imagine her real sense of freedom when her only toilet is the huge pipe hanging below her.