SK Lee Stories: Climbing "The Pinnacle" at REI

For our Family Night out this week we went to climb "The Pinnacle" at REI. This was the first time the kids have attempted climbing. Before we climbed Collin says he "was a little nervous" - but I think he was more nervous than he was letting on, because Ella had to go first. In true Ella fashion she got the harness buckled on and went for it. She was not nervous at all. She was given a little instruction and then off she went. She started out strong and got about 1/3 of the way up before she paused and looked down. Then the nerves set in and she froze. It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to let go of her death grip on the rock and lean back to repel down. She finally did come down and as soon as her feet were planted on solid ground she was already asking, "Can we come here tomorrow"? I think once she realized it was safe she wanted to give it a fair shot. I felt a little bad for her. I think if she hadn't gone first she would have seen that it was safe and probably made it quite a bit further. I can't wait to see what she does next time.

Collin was excited to climb, but I could tell that he was nervous. I was guessing that he would make it about as far as Ella, maybe a touch farther. He is definitely our more reserved kid and it takes him awhile to get up the courage to try something he is nervous about. I figured he could give a try this time and maybe next time we came back he could give it a real shot. He was all business. Let's get buckled in and get this over with. He started up the wall and just took off. Before I could even snap a few pictures he was over half way up the wall. The next thing you know he is ringing the bell at the top. Now keep in mind this is a 55 foot wall - that is WAY up there. I am scared to look down when I get to the top. Still in doubting mode, I thought, "Wait until he looks down and has to let go, we are going to have to call the firefighters to get him down". But to my complete shock, he looked down, smiled, and repelled down like a pro. He never hesitated one time throughout the entire climb. Because he is the one that is usually doing stuff so that he isn't shown up by his little sister, you could just see the look of pride and accomplishment on his face as he got closer to the ground. I know he was really scared to do it, and I was so proud of him! He demonstrated such courage. It was written all over his face - I can do anything! It was so great. Shortly after he got unbuckled he even said, "Next time we go to Mall of America, I'm riding the upside-down roller coaster first". A roller coaster that we spent the better part of an evening trying to convince him to ride, but Ella wasn't tall enough to try it first and there was no way he was going to be the first to go. It was such a great thing, to watch him go for it and make it! I think we may have unleashed a new sense of confidence and courage, hopefully we won't regret it!

You would think that after watching the kids do such a great job, that I would think, "If they can do it, so can I". But I got half way up my wall. looked down and shouted, "okay - that's enough for me, (like let me down from here). But then I could hear Matt and the kids yelling, "come on you can make it". I couldn't let my 7 year old have more courage than me, so up I went. I will for the rest of my life tell the kids...."remember the time that I wanted to quit on the rock wall, but kept going.....". If I had to nearly die, at least I should be able to use it for example for the next 50 years!

Matt also climbed and made it over a cliff on his wall that had previously haunted him. All in all we had a great night, and I think learned a lot about ourselves through our little family adventure.

UPDATE: We went back to "The Pinnacle" this week. Ella was DETERMINED to get to the top. Collin went first and scampered right up again. Ella started out strong, but several times along the way, she would pause and look down. By the look on her little face, you just knew that she was scared to death and wanted to come down so bad, but she did NOT give up. Ella is one little determined girl. She was not going to let that rock get the best of her and she WAS going to make it to the top. And that is just what she did. After several pauses in which I thought she was for sure done, she kept moving and eventually she did make it all the way to the top. There was no way she was coming off that rock without first making it all the way up. We had such a great time doing this together. Collin learned that he can accomplish things that seem scary if he just gives it a try - and that it might even turn out to be fun. Ella learned that if she puts her mind to something she can do anything!