It seems like you can’t swing a chalk bag around in this city without whacking somebody bananas for bouldering. Or, for that matter, scroll through Hinge without watching some guy clambering up a wall at Rainbow Rocket with the prompt “Me before coffee” and the caption: “A project I’ve been working on”. We get it, Ryan.

“I am mystified by how anyone can love this enough to come back every week and commit to what feels like a public humiliation ritual”

Unwavering as I ticked the ‘I am aware all climbing activities can result in serious injury or death’ box on the climbing centre’s waiver, I was guided through my first session by my friend and recreational heights junkie, Jemima. “I wouldn’t like to ever compete, so I don’t put much pressure on my progress”, she said, supervising my attempt at a level 3 wall. “This is a hobby, and if I get serious about doing well in it, I won’t enjoy it anymore – try putting your right foot in that upper hold”. I’m about 4m above the ground, I can feel my feet bleed inside the rented climbing shoes; even without a fear of heights my entire body is shaking, my palms slipperier than ever before. I am mystified by how anyone can love this enough to come back every week and commit to what feels like a public humiliation ritual.

“That was a really great go for your first time, do you want to try and overhang?” My arms are starting to shake, so I suggest one of the conveniently positioned sofas instead. Looking around the centre, I’m surprised by the range of people there. I ask Jemima why she can’t enjoy climbing and be serious about it at the same time, as (unbelievably cool person that she is), she’s also a great drummer.

As her band does gigs, I wonder how that doesn’t impact her love of drumming. “I think it’s because of the competitive aspect”, Jemima suggests, “gigs don’t really have that”. She used to play competitive club football, but it completely ruined her passion for the sport: “my coach wasn’t very supportive, and it got to the point where I just wasn’t enjoying it anymore.”

Attempting the overhang, my noodle arms finally give out and, falling back, I momentarily lie in uncanny likeness to an overturned beetle. We call it a night.

“Climbing definitely presents a mind-body problem”

There seemed to be a lot of truth in what Jemima said about competition ruining hobbies, maybe even more truth for student climbers, so I talked to Catrin Hughes-Gibbard, co-captain of the Cambridge Competitive Climbing team, to find out more. Catrin has been competing since she was about eleven, and has just led Cambridge to a clean-sweep victory in a recent Varsity head-to-head, as well as multiple triumphs across the London University League and BUCS competition.

For Catrin, climbing definitely presents a mind-body problem. She tells me she “loves how strong climbing makes me feel – it’s pretty cool as a woman to know you can do more pull ups than most boys”. I certainly wouldn’t challenge her to an arm wrestle any time soon… Well, at least not with my left hand.

She also loves the sport’s emphasis on problem-solving, though the mental side can pose much more of a challenge. Catrin explains, “especially on ropes (and especially outdoors) I can let myself get scared and not climb to my full potential, which is definitely frustrating. I think your mind can definitely hold your body back in the sense of fear – sometimes you have to push through mental blocks like committing to a big jump or trusting a small foothold. But it can also be used to ‘unlock’ your body in the sense that it’s on your mind to come up with the way to do a route – if you don’t use your brain you won’t be able to climb it, particularly when you’re moving up the grades.”

"It is a project you can come back to, rather than complete in one go"

Finally, I asked Catrin about the recent surge in climbing’s popularity across Cambridge, from the elusive Night Climbers to the multiple centres encircling the town. She has noticed a similar rise, possibly attributable to the British gold at the 2020 Olympics, and was surprised by how many strong climbers she’s seen considering the relative flatness of what used to be a bunch of boggy marshes.

Through the kind staff at Rainbow Rocket, I gathered a few perspectives from the wider climbing community. Some people find the focus required in climbing meditative, and come to relieve stress from work or university; some highlighted the social aspect which avoids competition but encourages collaboration; many enjoy the blend of accomplishing a physical challenge and solving a puzzle simultaneously; a few set their sights higher, using the centres to train for trips to the Alps or peaks in Scotland. A lot of people liked the freedom of the sport in particular, because its lack of structure allowed them to climb at the pace, time, and difficulty level best suited to themselves. It is a project you can come back to, rather than complete in one go.

Having reached the final rung of my journey, I went home unable to squeeze my toothpaste. Muscles that I didn’t even realise I had were utterly spent. I woke up the next morning still aching, but with a strange kind of itch in my fingers, wanting to grab another hold. I don’t know whether it was my mind or my body, but I definitely felt an urge to go back without fully knowing why. Climbing is a challenge in more ways than one, but if you’re looking to surprise yourself and chase a (mostly) safe thrill, maybe catch a bus down to one of our local centres sometime.