Wooing my wife began with promising an adventurous first date – scaling the walls of Thrill Seekers, a local climbing gym.  The date never happened.   

The promised first date changed when Flogging Molly came to the Ogden.  Rock climbing was postponed for Irish rock.  Things still worked out.  After all, I did marry my wife. 

For our first Christmas as a married couple, I surprised my wife with Thrill Seekers gift certificates.  She gleefully insisted we go climbing the first weekend after the New Year. As a successfully married man, I offer this advice to the single men out there. Rock climbing is the perfect first date.   

The first step in climbing is fitting the harness and learning some basic knots.  Checking the harness and knot for safety requires close inspection.  Then, one person climbs the wall while the other belays.   

Rock climbing is physical.  Physical dates are great…enough said.  Plus, the adrenaline and constant physical exertion gives you something to talk about for coffee, ice cream, drinks or the resulting second date. 

With the limited vertical space of indoor climbing, you do not necessarily trust the other with your life.  It’s more like trusting that your date won’t let you fall and splinter your femur.   

While not life and death, it does foster immediate trust.  If trust is there, a bond is instantly formed.  If not, there’s no need for a second date. 

Since our official first date, four months after the wedding, my wife and I have been to the climbing gym several times.  We’re getting closer every day.  Belaying each other definitely pushed the trust factor to a whole new level.   

Guys; take my advice.  Try rock climbing for the perfect first date.