One of my goals every year is to take up a new sport or hobby. When I lived in Utah in 2006, I learned how to rock climb. I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to climb once I moved back to Raleigh, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I met some local climbers who took me to a gym in Durham called The Vertical Edge Climbing Center. This place is way cool- a great learning facility. It is also less intimidating to climb indoors rather than outside when you’re first beginning.
Even if you have never climbed in your life, Vertical Edge is the place for you. There is a class called the Vertical Edge Primer on Tuesdays and Thursday nights from 7-9 for anyone 14 and older. The class provides information and instruction on how to climb safely and how to belay. The cost is $30. If you cannot attend the primer class or prefer to have one-on-one instruction, you can pay $40 for the Personal Primer Class. Both classes prepare you for the belay test that is required for everyone who climbs at Vertical Edge.
If you are lucky enough to have a friend who is willing to teach you to climb, that is fabulous. You can rent gear at Vertical Edge. The rates for climbing and gear are as follows:
Daily- $11
Groups of 10 or more- $10/person
Shoes- $3
Harness- $3
Shoes and Harness- $5
Chalk bag- $1
Belay device and 2 locking carabiners- $1
There are a few deals available at Vertical Edge. Climbing at night (9-11 on weeknights and 8-10 on sat.) only costs $7. A coupon called rock bucks will save you $2 on your first visit to the climbing center. For those of you who decide climbing is something you love, I would recommend buying a 10-visit punch-pass for $90 or considering membership. When you use the punch- pass, you will get one more visit for free. Membership at Vertical Edge is available for all climbing fanatics, starting at $60/month.
Something that I love about climbing is that it is such a social sport. With climbing, it is necessary to have two people, one to climb and one to belay. At Vertical Edge, everyone is friendly so if you need a belayer, someone will usually volunteer. Otherwise, you can hire a belayer for $12 an hour. There are also options to improve skills independently, such as auto-belayed routes. It is difficult for me to explain how the auto-belay devices work, but they basically replace the belayer so that people can climb without human assistance. There are usually about five auto-belayed routes at Vertical Edge. Bouldering is another option for solo practice. Bouldering is a smaller version of climbing where you do not need ropes or a belayer, but you can still work on climbing techniques. In the back of Vertical Edge is a bouldering cave with tons of different routes to climb. The cost to boulder is $7 a day and $5 for nighttime only.
When you decide to make your way over to Vertical Edge, make sure you pay attention to the color codes for each climbing route. There are five different colors- the easiest is white and the hardest is red. You don’t have to worry about getting bored because there are over sixty climbs and the routes are changed every couple weeks.
Put your fears aside and try climbing- it’s mentally and physically challenging. Learn the basics at Vertical Edge so when the weather is nice, you can try outdoor climbing because it’s quite a rush. Then head back to Vertical Edge to practice your moves. Hop on the train and find out about one of the “nation’s fastest growing adventure sports”- rock climbing. Climb on folks!
