Rock Climbing at Kuji

This past June a couple of our friends (Scott and Jen) invited us and a couple of others to go rock climbing with them. Amy had done some before on a climbing wall, but I had no previous experience. So, this was our first experience up a true rock face.


Several of them were experienced climbers, so they had all the necessary equipment we needed. The location was just outside of a town called Kuji on the east coast of Japan. It's definitely a beautiful location (a large stretch of nearby coast has been designated as a national park).



It was amazing how steep a face you could climb up and how much energy it took. Amy and I couldn't make it to the top on the first try, but on the second one we made it. One piece of advice I would give anyone doing this is to wear pants. It pretty much trashed my knees.



The method was quite simple. The climber wore a harness around the waist/legs and you tied one end of the rope to the harness (which was double checked). The rope was put through a ring at the top of the cliff and the rest of it was controlled by someone sitting on the ground. The person on the ground pretty much had your life in their hands, so you didn't spit on them.


Once you got to the top, you were rewarded with some amazing views of the coastline. Fortunately, no injuries occurred and fun was had by all.

The only time there was a risk of injury was when I tried this "Cliffhanger" move to start my first climb...I almost landed it