New this morning.
Sport climbing is one of four
new sports at the Tokyo Olympics.
So what exactly is it?
It looks kind of like rock climbing.
There's some Spiderman inspo in it.
Yeah, let's
do it. It looks dangerous.
Yes, so this morning we put our
newest Olympian in training on it.
Just winters, see how we do that.
Show up to work the first
day and they're like, hey,
let's put her in some climbing.
Welcome to today in AZ.
Jess 1st and. Foremost, what do you?
What do you got for me?
You got some skills on the wall
or you're learning anything.
Show us what's up out there as
the insurance policy kicked in yet right?
Rachel OK, first of all, yes,
it's my first day on the good morning
show and this is what you're doing to me.
If you didn't like me,
you could have just said it.
You could have just told me I could.
I count how much we like it.
I'm kidding, but a lot of first
because of course 4th climbing is
making its Olympic debut in Tokyo.
I've personally never done it,
so we're going to get going today.
It's going to be a first for me,
but before I start scaling this wall,
I want to bring in Chris Dodge.
He is the founder at Black Rock
bouldering right here in Phoenix.
Now tell me what is sports climbing?
First and foremost,
is it one of the same with rock climbing?
Because I think that would be the
assumption for many, that's fair.
So welcome. First of all, thank you.
Think of rock climbing as the
overarching concept of climbing rocks.
In general, most of the time you're
going to be climbing outside on rocks,
whereas sport climbing tends to be inside.
There's a number of different disciplines.
Obviously in the Olympics
you have speed climbing.
You have lead climbing and then
our specialty here is bouldering,
and the difference between those three
speed climbing is getting to the top
of the wall as quickly as possible.
On a very set pattern of climbing.
Let's go ahead and what
are the age ranges that could do this?
I mean, do you have to be
advanced as soon as you walk in
the door? Here? Absolutely not. No.
The youngest we've had on the walls,
I believe is 18 months.
Naturally their parent was with them.
We're keeping a close eye on him,
but we generally say about three
years old is a good age to be
able to actually get on the wall
and start climbing comfortably,
but no experience is necessary.
Necessary? That's one of the best parts.
About bouldering.
Just come in throw some shoes on
and we'll get you on the wall.
Yeah, I got my
cute shoes on and I'm
noticing there was no.
Robes, there is no harnesses,
but that's normal, right?
That's not scary. It was scary.
The concept to me.
At first I did do a little practice,
run Full disclosure,
but what's the reasoning behind that?
So we actually have
the padded floors here to
help control the falls.
You can see that the walls aren't
as high as some of the other
walls you'll see in the other
disciplines in the Olympics,
but one of the reasons we
specifically catered to bouldering
is because of the ease of entry.
You can just come in.
Like I said,
throw some shoes on as long as
you can climb a ladder,
you're able to do this board.
Chris, I'm as amateur as it gets.
I'm going to attempt going up here,
but you have to help me out along the way.
OK, OK, so one step at a
time is that the?
Is that the concepts that make sure that
you're staying over your feet there?
OK, yeah, a lot of people
think it's all about the arms,
but really when you're
starting out especially,
you really want to focus on your
feet and your legs.
I'm doing better than I expected
and Ryan and Rachel if you're there,
you can weigh in. I can't.
I actually can't go any further because
my Mike sure. Yeah, this is
a little behind the scenes
for TV right here, but I can't go
any further but let me tell you,
I would be able to reach the top. OK,
I would be mark my words so
our viewers, not my worry.
Do own wireless microphone
down climb. It'll help help
me do well.
I gotta let my photographer know that.
Garrett what are you doing to me easier?
What are you doing to me?
OK, I'm gonna come back down.
And Chris taught me the proper way to fall.
And obviously I'm not falling right
now because I did so amazingly well.
Absolutely.
But if you want to watch
a drop in the right way.
You kind of just drop down like this
and your role, wow. There you go.
They do it like if you catch
on fire. It's like it's like a little Roly.
It's like a little Roly poli Olie, but we did
it high 5 Chris, absolutely,
that's that's good.
'cause I didn't like how
he said control the fall.
I was kind of hoping to be
more like a prevent the fall.
But here we are.
You did great but but here we are.
What can you do? Thank you so much guys.
That means a lot and you know
what I'm going to get even better
by the time you see me at 6:30.
So stick around. Yeah,
Garrett's gonna hook you up
with a wireless mic.
We're gonna work on that Evan.
8 four month
old can do it. I mean,
Jess really look or the other option
if there's no really like maybe
Garrett can climb the wall with you.
So that way he can stay close to you.
Yeah Garrett,
right? Yes, OK, we're going to
get Garrett up there, I promise.
That's why I want to say alright,
we're working on that.
Jess will see you in about an hour.