Saturday, April 28, 2007

Which would you chose?

Background:
As anyone that has read my blog before knows, my husband likes to climb. Specifically he likes to boulder. Bouldering means that you climb shorter, tougher routes and also that you don't use ropes. Instead you use a crash pad (little mattress looking thing) to fall on and spotters to make sure you don't, say crack your head open and die. When we moved here last July he purchased a membership to the local rock gym and has gone climbing twice a week pretty much every week since. Well, now that the weather is nice enough to climb outside and since Northern Utah has some good bouldering areas he's taken Saturday mornings to go bouldering. He goes alone and since he doesn't really like to talk to people once he's there, he tries to find problems where nobody else is.

Your Choices:
Option A
You spend your Saturday morning worrying about the fact that he's hiking and climbing someplace alone-ALONE. This means that if he falls wrong he could crack his head open and nobody around would know until the next climber happens upon him an hour or two later. By that time he may have lost too much blood from the gash in his skull with his brains exposed and Charlotte and I are left alone. He does take his cell phone, but he doesn't keep it on him so if he got his arm caught someplace he couldn't call for help. (Of course I would know he's out there and the general area where he climbs so he wouldn't have to cut his own arm off. He'd just be stuck there for a long time. I don't really like this idea either.) Or perhaps he could fall through the rocks or into the stream while he's hiking to the boulders. It's not a very fun morning for Charlotte and me. Charlotte is a worrier.

Option B
You decide that since it's good weather you'll just go with him and you and the baby can enjoy the outdoors. You wont be much good as a spotter because of the baby, but you'd at least be on hand in case of an emergency. Of course what could happen when you get there and get the one month old baby strapped into the snugly on your front is that he plans to take you right up the side of the mountain. Then he might think that, even though you can't see where your feet are landing because of the baby, you can hike with him through a talus field to get to the next spot further up the mountain. (For anyone that doesn't know what a talus field is, it's a big pile of huge rocks that have fallen off the mountain higher up and are just sitting there. These rocks are huge and so are the gaps below them.) At one point in the talus field you might look below you and see that if you place your foot wrong you and your precious baby could fall a good 10-15 feet onto sharp rocks below. Of course your caring and trusting husband has so much faith in your abilities that he knows all you will need is a hand to hold while you are angling your body across and around two huge rocks. And in the end he would be right. You would be able to do it. And you'd then have a good story to tell and the knowledge that you can do it. Plus, when you get home you can notice the nice tan you've developed over the few hours in the sun. Wait, you're a red-head so all you see is more freckles (even though you stinking put on SPF 50 before you went out). Of course, what could happen is that the boulders are in a big field and all you have to do is go on a small, well defined hike and relax in the shade of some trees while your husband climbs. You never know it could happen that way. It's a gamble.

Three weeks ago I chose option A. There will be a photo soon to show you which one I chose today.

5 comments:

Anth said...

Option B totally sounds like something my husband would try to get me to do. Except I would skillfully convince him to carry the baby instead.

Katie said...

Exactly, Anth. Option B all the way, but with Dan carrying baby C. He's much more agile than you are.

Maggie said...

That sounds good, but the problem is that Dan was carrying his crash pad, backpack, blanket, and food for lunch already. At that point it was safer for me to carry my baby.

Anonymous said...

Oh Maggie - you make me laugh!! I love you sense of humor (& your writing style). You are such a good complement to my quiet son. Together you make quite a team.

the narrator said...

option c:

find a sitter and start rock climbing and bouldering with him.