Getting to the top

Danette Goulet

Children scaled towering orange walls peppered with strategically

placed rocks.

They could make the experience as difficult as they chose, but it

could only be made so easy.

“I got a big blister,” said Mandy Rosen, 12 of Huntington Beach

cradling her injured hand. “I need a Band Aid.”

While the other six children in the rock climbing camp at ClimbX gym

in Huntington Beach were scrambling up the false rock walls, Mandy was

learning a new skill.

Children who sign up for the three-day camp -- some attend every week

-- learn more than just climbing from instructor Bryan Leipper.

Mandy was learning a technique that although rarely ever used could

save her life one day, Leipper said. She was learning to prusik, which

allows her to make her way up or down a rope solo.

The only place most people have seen this, Leipper said, is when Tom

Cruise did it in the “Mission Impossible” movie.

As for Mandy’s hands, Leipper assured students that eventually their

hands would become accustomed to it.

“It’s just like gardening --- you’d have to develop the calluses for

it,” he said.

Nothing worthwhile comes without its price, right?

As an extra incentive for climbers, one wall has a big clown horn at

the top, which they have the satisfaction of honking before repelling

down.

It serves well as a goal for children, and even some adults.

“I had a women come in for her 82nd birthday to do it because she’d

seen her grandson do it or something,” Leipper said.

One after another teams of children worked together to reach that

goal. One would climb while the other acted as the belayer and then they

would switch.

The climber has to depend on their belayer and the belayer has to be

responsible for that climber.

“It fosters cooperation, commitment and teamwork,” Leipper said. “It’s

a place where we’re trying to develop character. They have to accept

responsibility for their actions and be involved the entire time.”