Speed

By Maggie Rubin

The crowd roars as someone falls, then again, as another one makes it to the top. I am still marveling at how huge these walls are. Finally, the pizza gets here and Dad goes to get a piece. He’s been helping to belay so he gets FREE pizza. It is so unfair. Meanwhile, I am sitting and talking to some of friends. I already know I have absolutely no chance of going on to Divisionals in sport. All that’s left now is speed.

Regionals were at Carabiner’s this year. The walls there are enormous. I have only ever been there once before so they still amaze me. Unfortunately, I only got to experience the exhilaration of the height on one of the walls. I didn’t make it to the top of the other two. Oh well. That’s one less thing to worry about, so now I can focus on speed. With this thought running through my head, I went upstairs to practice and warm up. I started with some basic stretches and then headed over to a short bouldering wall that was an almost exact copy of my speed route. It was only about nine feet high, so I was able to do it without needing to tie in or find a belayer. A couple of stretches later, I was ready to begin.

One of the great things about speed is, well, the speed. The feeling of just going fast and not having to worry about technique or anything is so thrilling. I mean, you have to make sure you’re going smoothly and not stopping, but with speed walls, that’s not hard. Kind of like running except that you get the added exhilaration of going up. There is nothing like it. This is how I felt as I practiced my quick starts and worked on going smoothly; and as I was taking a break, I thought about this and how I pitied anyone who had never known the feeling.

After about half an hour, some other girls came up to practice speed as well. A nice thing about climbing is that, unlike in other sports such as soccer, everyone is so nice to each other. There is no trash talking or anything except from a few, and you notice after a while that those people always seem to be alone. Other than those select few, everyone is not exactly friends, but, just so kind to each other. When the girls came up, they were looking for a good practice wall, so I showed them mine. We took turns climbing it and gave each other tips so that by the time we were done and the real thing was about to start, we were all a little better at climbing, happier, and closer than we had been before. Well warmed up and happy, I went downstairs to where the speed walls were and where the real competition would soon begin.

As I said before, Carabiner’s was huge. The walls were at least 70 ft tall, probably more like 100. Thankfully, the speed walls were only about 20 ft. I hate being low on the list for sport. You wouldn’t believe how stuffy Iso (isolation) gets. Also, as time goes by, you begin to forget the routes, but the first people have it fresh in heads. However, in speed, I don’t mind. It means I have time to watch other people. I get to find what works and what doesn’t. I get to plan my route exactly. And most importantly, I have time to get worked up and enthusiastic. Run over my techniques and get ready. Finally, it’s time.

They tell me that I’m on deck, so I do my last couple of stretches. Then, when the person ahead of me comes down, I go and clip in. After chalking up, I run over my techniques one last time. Most of them are rather obvious, any good speed climber knows them: keep going, place your feet, be smooth, and don’t fall. A few others such as the way to get a good start are pretty obvious as well. However, when I was first starting out, my coach let me in on a little secret. It’s a very good way to get the power you need. You envision the face of someone you truly hate on every hold, and then try to rip it off the wall. Very simple, really, but it works. With these thoughts in my head, I go up to the first hold and hunker down into start position. Excited and tense, I wait for the starting commands.

“Ready…Tension…GO!”

I said it once, I will say it again. I seriously pity anyone who has never felt the feeling of speed. It’s like flying; flying up the wall. As I go, barely notice the crowd or the other climber or anyone. I am totally focused on the wall, the holds, and the top. When I reach it, I realize that I forgot to breathe. The belayer lets me down and I look at my time. “11.00 Exactly. Dang! I was hoping to break 10 seconds. Well, I have one more climb. Let’s make the best of it.” After saying this to my father and unclipping the carabiners, I headed over to the last route. All the while, thinking about what I messed up at on the first route and, more importantly, how to fix it this time.

The second route looks a lot bigger than the first, even though it is exactly the same. This is probably because I am pumped. Oh well, here goes nothing. Time to make it or break it. I walk up to the wall and put on my final chalk. I get into position and once again wait for the starting words. They come at last, and I’m off. The flying sensation is back, but this time there is a sense of anger, too. I realize that I am thinking of the person whose face is currently on all the holds. I also realize that I am going faster. With a Final grunt of “GET OFF MY WALL,” I leap the final distance and slap the box. The belayer is looking at me strangely and I realize that I must have said that louder than I thought. I feel myself blush and I started to get embarrassed, but only until I see the time I got. I got a 9.25! I did it! I broke 10 seconds!