Go Climb a Rock

Indoor climbs offer a unique workout

By David Witte / Independent Staff Writer Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

Dorie Lim likes to spend much of her summer hanging around.

Not in a watching-"Gilligan's Island"-reruns-with-empty-pizza-boxes-at-your-side kind of way. More in a hold-on-to-this-rock-while-you-look-for-a-way-up-this-80-foot-cliff kind of way.

Lim is a member of the Yosemite Fitness health club on Willow and Nees avenues, which boasts a 35-foot rock-climbing wall as its centerpiece. "It's always new," said Lim, a registered dietitian. "It's challenging and it's an interesting form of exercise."

This unique workout is one that about 100 people enjoy each day at the club.

"The better shape you're in, the easier it'll be. But it uses muscles that are rarely used," said Yosemite Fitness employee Scott Isaak. "No matter how much you work out, you'll be sore. We get a lot of weightlifting people that come in and think it will be really easy, but they can't do it."

Lim, her husband, Jet, and their two children have enjoyed the sport so much in the past three years that on a trip to Thailand in May, they took a side trip to a place called Rai Lai to climb an 80-foot cliff.

A climb like that would be a bit advanced for a first-timer. Yosemite Fitness owner Sean Smith adamantly recommends indoor training before attempting an outdoor climb, and always going with experienced climbers.

"It's very dangerous. Typically when people make mistakes, they're bad mistakes," Smith said. "The injuries that you see with the indoor type of climbing are scraped knees and elbows. You're going to need Band-Aids to fix them.

"But once you ascend higher than 50 feet, the results [of a mistake] are usually [severe]."

With proper supervision, though, easier climbs can be done by children as young as 4 or 5.

The club organizes trips to several local climbing areas during the summer, and Smith said his goal is to make sure everybody comes back in the same condition they were in when they left.

"It's 10 times more intimidating outside," said Isaak, who regularly joins the trips. "There's no soft floor and you can't see what you're hooked into. A lot of people, it scares them because it doesn't have that safe indoor feeling."

The feeling of accomplishment makes it worth it for most climbers, though.

"For me, it's that whenever I want to do something, I can," said Clovis' Hannah Ruble, 16. "If I want to just do something, I can go find an easy climb, or if I want to push myself, I can practice and practice to get it. It's a reachable goal."

The trips cost $10 for members and $25 for the general public. Membership at the club is $39 per month. The next trip is Aug. 18 to the Grotto on Table Mountain.

The club's Fresno location at Shaw and Cedar avenues is open to the public, and a one-day pass for the 25-foot climbing wall costs $12 ($5 on Fridays).

Clovis Area Recreation offers summer rock climbing camps. This summer's sessions ended Aug. 9.

Game On is an occasional series profiling local recreational sports and activities. Suggestions are welcome and may be e-mailed to David Witte at dwitte@clovisindependent.com.