Some Climbing Fun for the Tech Team

On the second Saturday of each month, our technical rescue team gets together for a regularly scheduled, all-day training. This is in addition to other random trainings throughout the year, such as ski lift evac training at Arizona Snowbowl, avalanche courses given by the Kachina Peaks Avalanche Center, and foul weather navigation. 

For November's regular training, one of our team leaders decided that we should celebrate our recent success in the Mountain Rescue Association rock rescue test by doing some climbing instead of training per se. So, we headed out to the Mt. Elden climbing area for some fun. It was my first climbing experience.

For a new climber like me, those are some pretty big walls...

Being a Saturday with mild weather, we had plenty of company on the cliffs, including a class from Northern Arizona University...

Okay, here are a couple shots of me. How's my form? (Don't answer that.) I even once used my face, but, hey, I didn't fall onto the rope until I was ready to come down. Not that I'm going to tell how far up I got. 😉

Would you believe me if I said I was 100 feet off the ground here?