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Let The Smith Rock Climbing Guides Give You The Advantage You Need

By Tammie Caldwell


The beautiful state of Arizona is home to some of the best, most well-known rocks for climbers to indulge their somewhat dangerous hobby upon. So well known are some of the sites that they have been used in Hollywood action and adventure movie scenes since the early days of film. What few people know is that there is a school in that state, complete with the renowned Smith Rock climbing guides.

The school possesses the coveted accreditation from the American Mountain Guides Association. Their classroom is outside, and their goal is to teach students to seek out that place both inside and outside themselves, where the sky reaches down to kiss the land. First, the student must overcome their own agoraphobias as well as their animal instinct which tells them their feet belong on the ground.

These twelve men who provide instruction to students are possibly the best mentors both young people and their parents will ever meet. They are experienced in their craft, having travelled the world over to throw themselves upon the cliffs. They do not inhabit offices or push papers, as the mountain and sky are their office.

Most of them started to climb as children of parents who already understood the benefit of challenging the elements of land, wind and sky, as well as the limitations we all tend to set within ourselves. As children we lack the fear associated with danger, and little ones are a pleasure to watch. Go to a repelling park where people practice this hobby and one will find many children able to climb in seemingly impossible directions.

The AMCA does not recommend that small children be present for any serious climb; however, the average teenager is ready both mentally and physically to attend these classes. The life skills they can acquire while under the tutelage of a guide will make them the leaders of tomorrow. These young people can go on one day to provide mentoring and instruction to other adults interested in acquiring these skills.

For anyone with weight issues, fifteen minutes engaged in a serious climb will provide them with the same workout they might get in an hour-long fitness tape. The soreness and tightness of muscles is a pleasant sensation for the human body. Engaging in this hobby one or two times a week will provide a person with all they need to meet their physical fitness goals.

These classes will help condition both the body and the mind for the challenges that await one on a serious, sheer-wall climb. It is the job of the guide to help people learn how to gauge their climb, and make use of even the smallest stone outcropping available. They get a chance to learn their own personal limitations while also increasing their strength and stamina.

Naysayers always love to claim such hobbies are too dangerous. These people prefer to stay inside watching television, and living their lives vicariously through the passive viewing of actors on a screen. However, a climber knows that life is dangerous, tomorrow is not guaranteed, and the only thing we take with us at the end is the experience we gained through active participation.




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