Years ago, during my studies in Cluj-Napoca, I chose to attend a two days local climbing camp. I can’t really remember what exactly drove me to try it, but I am sure I was as a curious person back then as I am right now.
I couldn’t learn everything about climbing safety and techniques that weekend. What I remember is the cold weather, receiving so much information in a very short period of time and a lot of hardware around me I had never seen before. At the end of the climbing camp everything was a mess in my head, a mess that developed into my strongest passion. However what lasted was the idea that climbing was a serious “business” that I needed to aproach with caution.
Other camps and climbing courses followed in a short time to nourish my need to learn more and get better, more secure. I started to adventure independently with a few trusted friends on some easy routes and so the passion grew bigger and bigger and new horizons revealed.
I still climb those easy routes from time to time and I still enjoy them a lot. It is true that after a first climb of a route or a summit, the second time, you do it with less desire to explore and less “unknown ground” to uncover. But there are always new ways to explore yourself. Such routes become your playground, a more secure place where you feel like testing more about yourself. They inspire you, and sometimes, as in my case, they also offer a place of work.
Recently I’ve climbed two routes in the Turzii Gorges on a cold, wet weather. And because it`s still winter we enjoyed the entire climb in winter boots and backpacks filled with “unecessary” gear. It was a good day out, motivating and rewarding, letting us know that we can’t push it to our hardest all the time.
Alex Prigoană leading the first pitch.
