Stone Gardens

Two days after the Alaska Lake trip, Austen and I decided to make our first visit to Stone Gardens climbing gym in Bellevue. It had been about a year since either of us climbed so we had to do a little refresher course of the rewoven figure eight and proper belaying techniques prior to leaving. We arrived at the gym a little after seven. This place is huge. After getting paid for and checked in, we put our climbing shoes on and headed for one of the two bouldering sections for a warm up.

There were so many different routes aimed at all skill levels. After about half an hour of this, we decided to take the belay test so we could top rope some of the longer routes. The test was a breeze and we both passed no problem. The top rope certification they gave us is good for a year. We got tested on tying the rewoven figure eight with a safety knot, properly setting up the belay device, and proving we could belay properly.

We started out on the auto belay and climbed a few routes before getting together to belay one another. I headed up the wall first and we practiced some falls and takes. Austen got a little confused at first by which hand was supposed to be on the brake line so I was glad I hadn't ascended all the way up yet. Once he got it figured out, I climbed the 5.6 route without any problems.

After this we switched and Austen ascended no problem. It was the perfect route to get back in the groove for belaying. At this point my fingers were definitely starting to feel it. We decided to try some 5.9s. They turned out to be harder than we thought at first. Clearly some of my climbing strength had disappeared in that past year. We managed to make it up a couple with beta from the belayer. After this, our forearms and feet were both feeling it so we called it a day.

It was a great time and definitely refueled the climbing fever in me. We will be returning again in the next couple weeks. The staff and facilities at Stone Gardens were awesome. It seems like a great gym to train at and is only a half hour drive away from home for us.