How I got started...
I stumbled across my very first climbing wall during the first
nationwide Warp Tour. Standing beneath the burning summer sun,
I observed various and sundry dread-locked, sweaty bodies attempt
to climb to the top of a 20-foot high wall. Each participant donned a
strange belt-like apparatus, secured himself to a rope, then proceeded
to scale the steeply inclined surface by grabbing brightly colored
plastic holds that jutted from walls. While I was observing one
particulary determined youth, a California-blonde-type guy wandered
over and asked me if I thought I could climb it. Not in the mood
for attentions from the opposite sex, I curtly answered that of course
I could climb it, that it didn't look too hard, but that the line was
too long. Famous last words.
The guy turned out to be the owner of the rock
wall! He walked me to the front of the line, put a harness on me, and
motioned me to go. That taught me a lesson about boasting. But I did
pretty well for someone who had never climbed before, and I was hooked.
And of course, I ended up with an excellent instructor, although he was,
indeed, from California. ;-)
My first fear was that I was too short to climb. I am
5 feet tall and often found that holds were out of reach for me.
However, my inability to reach holds was really due to my lack of
climbing 
Learning to use my own physical assets, combined with good technique,
allowed me to race through intermediate level climbing into low expert.
What do I mean by good technique? Well, holds are better if you grab
then one way than another. Footwork can make a climb go much smoother,
and if you learn to rest (yes, rest! on a climb, you can give
your aching arms and fingers a critical rejuvination so that you can
make it to the top. I'm pretty flexible, so I compensate for my lack of
height by stepping up very high with my feet to get me closer to a hold.
However, the most critical factor in climbing well was overcoming my
I am not the hardest climber in the world. Nor the weakest. I
figure I am somewhere in the range of "above average." I have
climbed more often indoors than outdoors, but I'll list my
accomplishments for both catagories. If you don't understand the
following list, make sure you go to the