I took Skylar to the gym today and taught him how to lead. I was so nervous , but he was totally relaxed... maybe even a little annoyed with my anxiety about the whole thing. At first I made him just go up 2 clips and come back down on the easiest climb we could find... one that he could practically climb without a rope at all. Once he seemed to get the hang of it, I let him climb higher. He talked about taking a fall to see what it was like and I just don't know if I can do that. It's one thing to watch him to do all this dangerous stuff, but to teach him how is just a heck of lot more nerve wracking than I thought. I told him we'd do the belay part when I had someone else to belay while I explained how to do it and then to be backup while he belayed me. I can't very well be climbing and instructing, so next time we climb with Michele, I'll teach him how while I belay Michele and then Michele can back up while he belays me.
I was really impressed though. He didn't back clip or z clip at all and got the hang of maneuvering the clips fairly quickly. Even if he did miss or fumble, he never panicked. Got to admit, I am pretty proud of him :)
We did a little bouldering, which I find somewhat boring compared to the amount of difficulty and then we headed back home before it got dark.
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