Climbing Sandstone Cliffs
Posted at: 09/26/2012 6:19 PM
| Updated at: 09/27/2012 2:48 PM
By: Laura Kennedy
lkennedy@wdio.com
To overcome fear, you often have to face it head on. These young men did just that when they tackled the Sandstone Cliffs near Hinckley.
After spending a week practicing on a rock wall at Camp Nathanael, these guys gave climbing and rappelling a try on some real rocks under the watchful eye of James Lundberg.
"They have control over their own descent and I can pull them and stop them if I want, so the instills a little more trust and confidence," Lundberg said.
13-year-old Ryan Brown had mixed emotions as he approached the edge. "It was kind of half and half. I got some thrill and then I got a little nervous because I've never really rappelled before," Brown said.
And 16-year-old Kyle Crowell thought the first few steps took the most courage. "Right as you go over the edge it pulls and you drop a couple of feet," Crowell said.
"Your heart kind of skips a beat for a second because you're in freefall for just the tiniest little second. It kind of scares you but it's a nice easy glide the rest of the way down. It's cool."
"It makes me a little nervous. I know I'm tied in but it's a cool feeling to be able to look over the edge and see how far down everything is and how it looks from so far up," said Jack Harper, also 16 years old.
Harper had rappelled and climbed here once before and will never forget that feeling.
"The first time I rappelled down this cliff I was pretty scared when I had to lean back over the edge," Harper said. "But I just trusted the person who was holding my rope and I had a great time."
The event taught the climbers trust and encouraged them to push themselves on even bigger challenges.
"I think they have confidence to overcome other fears," Lundberg said.
"There's always a different way to climb it. I can always go faster and push harder," Crowell said. "It's a really good challenge."
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