Rock Climbing Garden of the Gods

Apparently, Cody and Anna have wanted to try real rock climbing for awhile now and asked Shawn if they could do this while on vacation at Garden of the Gods.  I thought they were going to hate it, but they LOVED it!!  First of all, their instructor was top notch.  We couldn’t have asked for a better instructor.  Beginning attempts at the first rock made me question if Cody was going to back out of this adventure all together.  He was the first to climb and encountered a huge hurdle which, to me, looked quite impossible, but, with some guidance from Jameson, Cody got it.  After that, Cody seemed to mentally know that he could handle any of the other challenges.   I took a close up photo of the thin lines in the rock that Jameson said to use for their footing.  He constantly said things like, “Trust your footing,” but with thin lines like that it seriously creates some trust issues!  Shawn took a photo on his phone at the bottom of the rocks , far away, looking up at Anna on the massive rock.  She looks like a tiny ant! (See if you can find her.) Jameson told us that the ones who struggle the most are young 18-20 year old men.  They are more aware of the gravity of a fall, and he has had to talk them down or, in some cases, go after them himself.  I was so incredibly proud of Cody and Anna for giving their best!  It was hard work!  They immediately told us they want to do this again.  They had such an amazing experience!