Climbing in Kalamazoo

Ever since our wedding weekend our nephew Asher has been asking to go climbing again. Sadly it took us til this July (almost three years later) to finally get them out again. But given that we got to take my brother's kids out climbing a few times while we were in Nebraska, we really wanted to make it a priority to at least take out my sister's two oldest kids, Charissa and Asher, during our time back in Michigan in July. 

So a couple of weeks ago we made it happen. We first drove to Battle Creek and met the whole crew at the mall so that Tanya could pick up some pictures from a JC Penney. Oddly enough though something had happened to the power in that area, so her efforts for getting those conveniently were thwarted. But it didn't affect our climbing plans at all thankfully. We then loaded Charissa and Asher up in our car and made our way to Kalamazoo.

It took a little bit to get to the gym. We had to first find some lunch, which was more difficult than expected since the power was out in the whole area where we picked them up. Eventually though we found a McDonald's, and the kids were happy. It also took a bit because we had never gone to downtown Kalamazoo on a weekday afternoon before, and Katie and I don't like to pay much for parking. So we had to seek out the cheapest metered parking (a quarter an hour). We eventually found said spots and will now take note of it for future uses.

Charissa and Asher both did awesome climbing. Charissa was especially impressive on top rope given how well she made use of her extra length and good balance. Asher excelled at bouldering, climbing up and over walls 3 times his height. It was very fun to watch!

Asher and Charissa learning to boulder with Katie's help

Asher and Charissa especially liked the cave bouldering area

Charissa working her way up a corner route

Asher atop the slab wall

Asher was the first to brave "topping out" where the goal is to climb up and over the boulder wall without a rope 

Charissa had to prove she could top-out as well

Charissa projecting a harder route. She had to take several breaks, but she stuck with it and eventually made it to the top!

Asher trying out the auto-belay system

After climbing we drove the kids back to Hillsdale with a quick stop again in Battle Creek for Culver's ice cream and to pick up the pictures for Tanya. The mall's power had finally been restored. We stuck around in Hillsdale for dinner and had a small celebration of birthdays. Tanya and Steve had gotten Katie and I some wool socks. And Katie and I had a few birthdays of our nephews that we had missed. So there was gift/card exchanges happening all around. It was a good way to end a fun day. I hope we can do a better job in the coming year of getting the Briixs' out climbing again, or at least get Charissa and Asher out again since they did so well.