I love getting active for Girl’s Night Out and on Friday, we headed to Lethbridge’s new bouldering gym Coulee Climbing for a night of fun and swollen hands.
I have my belay certification and have gone to the University climbing wall a couple times, but I’ve noticed a pattern of freezing up once I hit the height of the windows. When Cat told me about Coulee Climbing, I knew it was a perfect way to practice climbing without fear of falling.
The walls all have super thick, memory foam mats beneath them which make beginner’s feel really safe.
When we arrived on Friday night, there weren’t a lot of people there, but the ones who were there were crazy experienced climbers! Our little group of beginners laughed as we watched kids do much harder routes than we could.
It’s a $14 drop in fee and $2 for shoe rentals. We didn’t do the chalk rentals thinking that was for hard core people. Big mistake! Get the chalk rental! It will help spare your hands.
Jenna was the most confident of our group and was able to tackle harder routes than the rest of us. We stuck to the pink (aka. beginner) routes.
Holy cow is this activity ever exhausting! It’s truly a full body workout and I was so impressed by the strength and agility of the experienced climbers.
After about 45 minutes on the main wall, we decided we wanted to use the kids wall to boost our self confidence. Climbing across the kids wall helped me feel a little more competent. HA HA!
After a little more than an hour of climbing, our hands were so tired and raw, gripping the climbing holds became almost impossible. When we left our hands were red and swollen and stayed sore throughout dinner afterward.
I woke up the next day and my shoulders and hands were sore, and today my forearms are feeling stiff.
It was such a fun night, full of laughs, and I can’t wait until Ty is old enough to take in!
