Have you ever stood at the bottom of a mountain and said “I can climb that”? Chances are, you probably haven't. There's a pretty good chance you'd never even consider climbing that mountain. It's no secret- with your feet planted on the ground, your head craned back as far as it will go, eyes squinting through the rays of sun trying to find the top- It's a little terrifying to picture yourself clinging to the side of that rock. But even more than it is terrifying… it's exciting! You strap your harness on, clamp your helmet to your head, tie into the rope- and even with all that protection, all you can think about is you and that rock… and falling. You take your first step and you're off the ground. Your blood starts pumping a little harder. You can feel the shape of the rock on your finger tips. It's warm. You feel like you're going to fall but you stick to the side of that rock like duct tape. After that, it's just a few series of hand and foot moves and you're nearly at the top. You can see it. A few more moves and you're there. You've done it. You've made it to the top! You not only defied gravity but you conquered your fears! Not just your fear of heights but trying something new. Dude. You did it! It's a rush. You're breathing a little hard. Did you breathe at all on the way up? I can't remember. Your blood is pumping even more. You can feel it. Your muscles are burning. There's sunlight in your hair. Your friends are cheering you on from the bottom. You want to go down. But to do that, you'll have to release your death grip on that hand hold and lean back in your harness. You'll have to have a li
ttle faith and trust. Trust your harness. Trust your rope. Trust your belayer. Trust yourself. That's a lot to think about in just a few seconds. You lean back a little and your foot slips out from under you and its terrifying. All those fears that you left on the ground have found you again and you cling to the rock. You lean back a little more. A little more and from the ground it looks like you are lounging on the beach. You take another step back, tears welling up in your eyes. You took another step but you didn't slip! You take a couple more steps back and start thinking that this is a piece of cake. You lose track of how many steps you are taking and pretty soon your feet hit the ground. And you've done it. There's not many people who can say that they've climbed that mountain. But you can. You go girl.
As of today, 37 of our girls have gone rock climbing. During the approach, the majority of them thought they couldn't do it. They were super nervous, even scared. But with the encouragement of our Inner Passage guides and our Summit Hut volunteers, all of them gave it a try. And all of them made it to the top and back down again. There have been some tears shed and some scraped knees and elbows…but there have been 37 accomplished smiles seen from the top. The girls all tried something new, conquered their fears and encouraged their friends. It has been an AMAZING experience and I can't wait to take our last two groups climbing tomorrow. Matt, our Inner Passage guide asked the girls to sum up their experience this afternoon in one word and here are the ones that I could remember (tomorrow I'll have to write them down!): Scary. Fun. Amazing. High. Supercalafragilistic. Exciting. Cool. Awesome. Spectacular. Rocks. Super. Incredible. Isn't that fun? We had a lot of awesomes and cools. Matt crowned them all Rock Climbing Princesses 
Big thanks to our Guides from Inner Passage, Matt and Sam and to our Summit Hut volunteers so far- Allison, Frank, Meagan and Jeff!
