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Young Mountaineers with class
| Article
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20425 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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3 / 1992 |
2,330 Words |
| Author
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Karen Karvonen
Karen Karvonen is a garden writer based in Denver. |
The sandstone walls of Eldorado Canyon State park and the outcrops of giant boulders that perch in the shadows of these towering spires make a perfect backdrop for a picnic or hike. For the children enrolled in the International Alpine School (IAS) near Boulder, Colorado, the canyon is less a scenic paradise than a giant rock gymnasium. To them, every stone slab is potential playground equipment.
But rocks are not jungle gyms. And groping for hand and footholds while ascending fifty feet up the north face of Supremacy Slab is a far cry from crossing money bars in the park.
"That's why our courses stress safety," says Sandy East, owner of IAS, which has been giving two day basic and two day advanced climbing instruction to seven through twelve year olds for the past four years. "We make them aware of the law of gravity and teach them that climbing without proper equipment and techniques is dangerous."
Dexter Thornton is an eleven year old who has always liked to climb. While on family hikes in Eldorado Canyon, young Dexter, would try to be friend climbers, in hopes they would invite him along on their climbs. His mother, Donna, didn't really think anyone would actually take him up one his offer, but she still worried that her boy might get in over his head.
"Mom got really upset when I started scaling walls in the canyon for fun," says Dexter. "I wouldn't go up that far, but she still didn't think it was safe." Donna, who used to climb herself, decided the best approach was to sign Dexter up with IAS.
Dexter and Kai
On the afternoon of his first class, both Donna and her husband, Mike, watch as Dexter dons his safety helmet and ties into his harness for his first technical (equipment assisted) climb. He and seven year old Kai Hudek have spent the morning stepping into harnesses, practicing the figure-eight follow through knot (which secures the rope to the harness), and learning how to handle the nylon climbing ropes.
Dexter begins to climb up the thirty-foot east face of supremacy Slab. He is secured by a rope that is tied to his harness and goes from him up to and through a carabiner at the tope of the slab and then back down to AIS instructor Andy Brown, who is on the ground. Andy reels in the slack on the rope in the slack on the rope
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