Climb 18 - Wednesday Sept. 17 - Scouts

I am the venture scout leader in my ward (boys 16-18).  At my first meeting with the stake venture leaders I was asked what I do for a living.  I told them I do marketing for a rock climbing company and their very next question was whether I would be willing to take the boys climbing some time.  I said I would be happy to and we planned it for this evening.  Last week I gave a little presentation on climbing and went of some safety and gear basics.  I tried to stress the importance of coming early tonight since we have very limited daylight at this time of year.  I went up with Stacy, Jer, and Jer's friend, Calvin around 5.  We met up at Dogwood in Big Cottonwood Canyon and began to get ready to have the boys meet us.  I was hoping we were going to be the first after work group up there and we would be able to set up a few ropes and stake out our territory for the evening.  This was not the case.  We arrived to find several other groups and even more on their way.  We were able, however, to still kind of take claim on the far left area of the first section of the wall.  I led three climbs and we set up the top ropes.  They were a 5.7, a 5.8, and a 5.9.  Each were fun climbs and I figured the boys would enjoy them.  We were met by Mike as time went on and we all climbed and waited for the boys.  It wasn't until just before 7 that the first group showed up... and it was only one boy with two leaders.  This boy got the best deal.  He got to climb all three routes and the one leader that wanted to climb got on two routes as well.  The last group of boys didn't stroll in until around 7:30-7:40 making it difficult to get much climbing in since it gets dark at 8.  We were able to get them on rock and each of them got the chance to climb one route.  I suppose they just didn't get the hint when I told them to come early as it gets dark.  Oh, well.  I think they had fun and they may have just got enough that the sport will interest them in the future.  I had a good time since I was able to climb three routes.  I liked the 5.9.  If I make it back to Dogwood anytime soon, I will certainly be climbing that route again.  On Rock.