Internet Edition




Issue 10
Spring 2000

Going up?

Welcome to 'The View's new climbing column which gives me the opportunity to promote a personal passion.

'Why climb?' people ask me - often with looks of disbelief. I think there are many reasons:-

• Climbing has a tremendous combination of physical and mental exertion. Working out the puzzle of a sequence of moves for your hands and feet and then making them is one of the most exhilarating aspects of the sport, especially when you are perched 60 feet off the ground;
• No other activity promotes such a mixture of emotions - nervousness, excitement, fear - in quite such a way, often leaving me on a 'high' for days after a climb. I can still picture climbs I did 12 months ago;
• Friendships flourish as the sport demands the ultimate in trust - the person holding the rope literally holds your life in their hands. Add to that the possibility of sharing a two foot ledge high above the ground - what better way to get to know someone!
• Climbing gets you to places you simply couldn't get to any other way, often opening up a new perspective on what you thought was a familiar landscape.

Here in South Wales we have some of the finest climbing to be found anywhere in Britain - indoors as well as out. The Welsh International Climbing Centre offers a superb venue where you can graduate to Gower, Pembrokeshire or the Wye Valley with the appropriate support or instruction. If this is enough to entice you, why not give me a ring on Cardiff 2062 1586 and find out more.

Roy Carr explain the pull of climbing in the first of a regular column

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