My hands are shaking, my arms are burning, my legs hurt, and i'm breathing as if i've just sprinted seven miles. I need to move my left foot so i can reach the next handhold and swing to the next two footholds. I lean, shift my weight closer to the wall, and grab onto the slick block of wood. I curse quietly as i realize this particular hold is smooth and there's nothing for my sweaty, shaking fingers to grip.

In slow motion, i unintentionally pivot on my right arm and leg a full 180 degrees, like a door on its hinge, and smack into the wall, now facing the empty space that holds my fate. I started this sport in eighth grade, when my father took me to my first climbing wall. I went home that first day feeling sore and defeated, and vowed never to climb again. That is – until ninth grade when our high school offered a project adventure program, and i decided to try climbing again.

In the first few weeks we learned the basics: knots, belaying, harnesses, and other equipment. I began to enjoy it and relished the challenge of conquering the harder wall, mostly because it required a lot of strength. After a few tries, i made it to the top, and i had discovered a new favorite sport. Then the teacher gave us more difficult challenges, like the caterpillar which resembles a telephone pole with rungs broken into three pieces that swing wildly as you climb , the trapeze you climb a wall to get to a platform which you jump off to reach a slick steel bar, hung vertically or horizontally , and the swings where you climb a flimsy rope ladder to get to swings that hang from the gym ceiling. It was very different learning to climb on an indoor rock wall rather than a wooden wall.

Rock climbing shoes are supposed to fit so tightly that the manufacturer suggests wearing several sizes smaller than you normally would. They are extremely uncomfortable but helpful because they can grip just about anything. On the wooden wall at my school, we wore sneakers, which worked fine on the fat wooden blocks, but on a rock wall, sneakers would have equaled disaster. On the rock wall, i learned a lot, including that a climber's worst enemy is sweat. Being macho or showing off is the number two enemy when you act strong and powerful, you climb too fast, which tires your arms and makes you fall.

While climbing, i also learned many techniques such as the dyno, the hand jam, crimping, the chest jam, chimneying, smearing, edging, and high stepping. The dyno is my personal favorite it allows you to move swiftly up the wall to a handhold out of your reach. You actually leave the wall for a split second, performing a sort of pull up and jump at the same time to reach the handhold. If you miss, your injuries can range from a few bruises to broken bones, but the feeling of exhilaration when you succeed is amazing. It's huge and extremely challenging, with endless boulder problems and techniques to try. Other climbers are always there, and people help each other by giving tips or offering to belay you. If you happen to fall and injure yourself, somebody is there to help and, more often than not, tell you how to avoid the mistake next time.

I know, you are probably thinking, there's no way this sport is safe, but, in terms of equipment safety, it is the safest sport on earth. Did you know that no climber has ever died as a result of a defective rope? sure, ropes have broken and people have died, but only because the rope was frayed or someone tied knots incorrectly. In 2003, only 118 climbers died, nearly half the number in 1986, which saw the largest number of deaths.