A ripple seems to go through the fur - and probably the skin somewhere beneath, but his fingers aren't long enough to actually touch on it through the giant hairs - but it dies down after a moment, and nothing further happens, there's no change in the pace of breathing of actual movement.

Scaling the wall isn't too hard for him - there are small footholds everywhere, and every once in a while he'll come past a ledge large enough to sit down on it and rest. It just is a good distance up, confirming the estimations about size. The climb does, however, eventually bring him to where the cave starts caving inwards, so he's starting to climb more and more upside-down instead of straight up.