Rock climbing: safeguards, tutors

My "Memories" on Facebook brought me photos of this experience in Big Cottonwood Canyon three years ago. I love mountain climbing, but haven't done as much of this type of rock climbing.

It's a thrilling experience to go straight up a sheer rock face for a few hundred feet, connected only to a thin rope the diameter of your finger. And then you descend, rappelling back down, almost free-floating, bumping onto and off the cliff as you gradually lower yourself on the rope. It's incredibly exhilirating to achieve something that looks so unachievable. It's a thrilling experience! And not as terrifying as it might look, if it's done right.

And "doing it right" means meticulousliy following safety procedures. You don't just climb straight up a sheer cliff (unless you're a special kind of crazy and profoundly experienced, and there are some people like that). Most of us use many safeguards: harnesses, tethers, ropes, belays, anchors - a whole protocol of safety measures.

On the climb represented by these pictures, I was tutored by some good friends,

Paul Richins

and

Shari Beyer Richins

, who are highly experienced in this activity and are excellent teachers. I would literally trust my life to them, and that's pretty much what you do in this kind of event. One slip without the safeguards could be fatal. And safeguards not properly done can be just as fatal.

We're always blessed by having experienced guides and tutors, especially in the more complicated aspects of life. We can "do what makes sense" or "do the best we can" on our own, but an experienced teacher brings to bear not just his own lessons, but by virtue of shared learning and training, the lessons learned from many, sometimes hundreds or thousands, of others who have gone before, who have seen the dangers and challenges, and have developed the "best practices" to survive and thrive.

And the safeguards! How critical it is to know how to protect ourselves from "falling." In today's world, with a multitude of different challenges and dangers we face, we desperately need to employ every safeguard, preventative measure, lifeline, and safety net we possibly can - for ourselves and those we love.

I #GiveThanks for the wise people who have taught me life-skills through the years, including the safety precautions that help me to avoid at least some of the more dangerous falls I might have otherwise.