Rock Climbing...
 

Okay, so this is a sport that sounds like so much fun to me. I've just moved and my new roomate is really big on the rock climbing (it's kinda nice, she's always on trips and not at home :)). So she took me out with her friends last week and figured I could walk around since I didn't have any gear, see what it was all about and explore the mountains a bit. Well I found a cool stream, and was later offered the use of someone else's gear.

The shoes fit fine. Not one of their harnesses would fit me.

I've been looking around online and there are some harnesses that based on the online measurements would fit, but they're pretty darn close to not fitting.

Is this just not a sport for big people? I found a free one week membership to a climbing gym so I'm thinking of trying it out in a slightly more controlled environment before I try to go straight up a mountain, but I'm slightly worried of going and not finding any harnesses there either.

Makes a girl feel fat.

Ooh, that is a tough one. I would call and get measurements of their harnesses first. If their stuff would fit, i would definately do that first to make sure you will enjoy it before going out and buying a bunch of expensive equipment. You will need training anyway, so that sounds like a good place to start. but like you, i would be leary of just going in there with the thought that it might not fit...so definately call first.

Rock climbing is really something that I would like to try eventually even though I'm scared of heights. Currently, I do hiking that includes rock scrambles. It is quite challenging to use all your limbs to climb up rocks and it would require a bit of strength to climb rock faces if you aren't overweight, let alone if you are overweight. That might be the reaon that larger sized harnesses are hard to find. I'm wondering if there is a training class in your area? A shop that has classes? You could talk to them about it and tell them you are interested in learning and are concerned about harnesses.

There's actually a bouldering gym nearby that I'm thinking of maybe checking out. Bouldering is like rock climbing but without the harness... I guess the idea is that you never really go up more than 10 feet or so, and there's 12 inches of padding to catch you when you jump or fall off the boulder :)

I think I might go try that out for a bit. I've done a rock wall at a ropes course before and they could fit me with a harness easily, so I was quite suprised by the lack of larger harnesses among my friends! Anyway, wish me luck.