October | 2011 | The Adventures of Rakotomirandava

This summer I have had a ton of fun and opportunity to go climbing with some great friends. Of course, I haven’t been so good at taking pictures. But I do have a few here and there. There are essentially two forms of climbing (safely) that I know of.

The first way is called top rope climbing. I’ve been doing this for about 4 years now. This is the perfect way to get into the sport. The basics are this: attach a rope to the top of the climb, tie onto the rope, have someone belay you (take up slack in the rope and secure you to the mountain so you don’t plummet to your death) and go for it. This is fun, but it’s just a beginning.

This summer I went climbing quite a bit with a new friend of mine. She had all the necessary equipment and experience needed for lead climbing. I’ve been wanting to get into this for quite some time, so this was my chance. In lead climbing, you start the ascent without being secured to anything on the mountain. You are on your own until you reach the first anchor that has been placed. At that point, you clip onto the anchor and you’re finally safe. This process continues until you reach the top. One of the big differences between top rope and lead climbing is the falling. If you fall while top roping you only fall a few inches (provided you have a good belayer) or about the equivalent of the stretch in the rope. Lead climbing, on the other hand, requires that there is slack in the rope between anchors so that you can keep going up without being weighed down. In this scenario, you fall the distance from you to the anchor below you plus that distance again because the rope doubles over. That being said, I discovered a whole different dynamic to rock climbing. I was able to lead a 70ft climb without falling, tried another climb and fell about 6-8 feet, and lived to tell the tale. So fun! It’s amazing the difference in adrenaline that rushes through you when you’re not secured from the get-go. It’s been so fun to challenge myself and improve my skills.

I’m so lucky to live where climbing is so popular and to have friends who love to go as well. It’s been a great year for the sport.

One of the climbs I learned to lead

Leading a route

Belaying

A baby rattler at the base of one of the climbs

A view of the Draper temple from the top of one of the climbs

After more than a year, I finally made it home to the motherland for a visit. As always these days it was a fast and furious trip with barely enough time to see everyone. But I’d rather make it fast and furious than not make it back at all. This time my buddy Jared came with me and that made the drive much more enjoyable. It’s a beautiful drive, but company always makes it better. We drove through the night after working a 12 hour shift at the hospital so that we could spend as much time as possible with family.

This year’s trip included:

A session at the Cardston Temple
Shooting at the Dugout
A tour of a Hutterite colony
Hiking in Waterton Lakes National Park
Lots of family in Canada
Brett’s Burgers
Granny Fried Chicken
“Real” slurpies
Awesome Canadian chocolate bars and other sugary delights
Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier National Park
Skiing and wakeboarding at Swan Lake, MT (since Echo was out of commission)
Lots of family, friends, and beautiful weather at the cabin
Montana grown cherries
Tons of driving
Tons of junk food

I was so glad I got to go back, even for just a few days. I love that part of the world. It is so beautiful and there are so many great people to see. When I got back one of the counselors in my bishopric asked me where exactly I was from. When I told him Cardston, he said “isn’t that close to Glacier?” When I told him it was, he immediately asked “And why are you here?!?” He and his wife had just gone up there a couple weeks before and loved it so much they’re already planning another trip back.

Here are some highlights of the trip: