Week of December 27th 2010: Bridges Rock Gym

So the end of a very busy week brought me to Bridge’s Rock Gym in El Cerrito for my friend Matt’s birthday. Matt, as you may have guessed, is a friend through climbing so it shouldn’t be shocking that he wanted to try a new location for his birthday.

Bridges is primarily a bouldering gym so most of the routes are only about 10-12 feet high and rope free. Although I’m not the biggest fan of bouldering, it was still fun to be there and be forced into doing it. The whole gym had a much softer floor than the one I usually go to which made falling much more comfortable.

The best part of the gym though was that all the routes “topped out.” That’s when you can climb onto the top of the route. Typically, you can walk around to place with an easy down climb or steps or something. It makes it easier to stay out of people’s way and get off of the route when you finish. 

Another feature of the gym was a slacklining area. This is kind of like tight rope walking and is really difficult. Eddy and I had a fun time trying (and failing) to walk across the different lines that were set up.

Overall, the gym was really fun, but even if it’s closer it’s not a place that I would become a member of. I love rope climbing too much to go to a dedicated bouldering gym.

I love the fact that my rock climbing family is growing. Last weekend I went to the gym and just about all of my rock climbing friends (along with half of San Francisco) were there. I also love that every couple of months, I find a way to write a post about climbing…