| Things to Do |
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| Bird Watching in the Hudson Valley |
VHV Reviews The Inner Wall (Rock Climbing) | |||||||
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This very rainy summer had us scrambling around for some indoor activities that would allow the kids to use up some of their excess energy. What better way to tire the kids out than to take them to an indoor rock climbing facility.
The Inner Wall is just the place. It has been around for about 10 or 15 years and is located on Main St in New Paltz right behind Rite Aid. If you don't pay attention you'll miss it. Actually, when we pulled up, we thought we were in the wrong place. Driving behind Rite Aid into an ally is not something that gives me little warm and fuzzies. After overcoming the surprise about the location, we walked into the Inner Wall to be faced with walls and ceilings equipped with various size rocks on various inclines. Not having rock climbed before, I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of scaling the walls. Rock Climbing Safety Before being able to rock climb, we were required to sign the necessary waivers and rent rock climbing shoes (be sure to wear socks). After signing the waivers we were giving safety instructions. We were harnessed (can you spell wedgie) and carabinered. A carabiner is the hook that attaches the ropes to the harness. We learned how to belay each other. For the non rock climbing folks, belaying is a safety process whereby the person on the ground is roped to the rock climber via a For smaller belayers, there is a ground anchor which helps them to keep their feet on the ground. Therefore, if the larger rock climber (er, let's say, me) loses her rock climbing grip, she doesn't snatch the smaller belayer (let's say my tiny little daughter) off the ground. The anchor prevents the belayer from being tossed up into the air and crashing into the ceiling beam from the sheer weight of the heavier rock climber (there is about a 100 pound difference between me and my youngest daughter). The Rock Climbing Experience Once we got all of the safety issues out of the way, we began to climb. The kids and my child sized adult friend were like little spider monkeys. Up and down the walls they went. Me? Well, I was more like the very mature, very stayed spider monkey. In the loft area there is a cave where all of the rocks are on the ceiling. In my opinion, only Spiderman could scale those rocks. Overall Opinion We had a very enjoyable time at The Inner Wall. Maybe it's the nature of rock climbing, but my only negative about the experience is that the Inner Wall is a little grungy. Maybe it's because everyone must put their feet on the walls, creating a less than clean situation, but it seemed that the non walled areas could use a bit of cleaning too. Recommendations:
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safety harness. The rope is affixed to the belayer, tossed over a ceiling beam with the other end attached to the rock climber. The rope is pulled taught preventing the rock climber from crashing to the ground if she loses her grip.
After one or two walls I kept my spider monkey feet on the ground. I make a great belayer.