Monday, November 17, 2008

Monkey Girl

This past weekend B took Ella and Lily to Louisiana so that Ella could compete in her first rock climbing competition. She was supposed to go to one in Dallas last month, but it was the weekend after Elizabeth was born, and we were a tad preoccupied.

Ella has been so excited about this competition that I though her head would explode if she had to wait another day.

She did a great job climbing, placing second in her division. I'm still not sure exactly how the competitions work. The basic explanation is that they have a set amount of time to climb as many "problems" as possible. Each problem is worth a certain amount of points, and they get scored by the total number of points the rack up. Ella's final score was 8,000.

B said that Ella climbed as many routes as she could, but that there were some she couldn't manage because she wasn't tall enough. Another six inches of reach, and she'd be fine. He also said that other climbers and spectators would gather to watch her climb and to cheer her on. While watching the video of her climbs, I could tell she was a bit embarrassed by all the attention.

Here's a clip of one of her toughest successful climbs. I think Lily may have been doing the filming, which is why it's so unsteady. And B is the one spotting her.

2 comments:

The Kretzings said...

Go, Ella! That is awesome! Did you ever think you're first baby would now be rock climbing?? Wow!

And I'm impressed that you've got 4 kiddos, a house, and a husband to take care of, and you still find time to knit.

Anonymous said...

Whoa, Ella, Awesome! Rock on! (hehe, get it? yes, I'm a dork)

That blue cabling is gorgeous, hok. You make it look fabulously easy. I just tie my fingers in knots.