Senior Sports at Hutchesons': Rock Climbing
Senior pupils at Hutchesons' have the chance to choose from several different sports on Wednesday games afternoons. Josephine O'Boyle [S4] describes a typical afternoon of rock climbing at the Glasgow Climbing Centre.
"I want to come down," Steffi called impatiently. I had kept her up there for minutes now. The clock was ticking away, but she had only meters ahead of her to finish the wall and I knew the same groan would only be repeated if I let her down. All over the room, you could hear the rustle of ropes and harnesses being jolted around and, if you looked up, you could see at least three Hutchesons' pupils dangling in the air a good five meters above. Once in a while, maybe a few times an hour, you would hear the crash of climbing shoes and hands bashing off the climbing wall as the pupils who 'lead climb' had fallen from their last hold with a crash.
Despite these formidable noises and crashes we all had a go at the walls which hung at such an angle that most were doubting whether it would hold your weight or if the climbing wall would fall off the building completely.
It didn't stop this group, though.
How many times had we heard the usual clapping when you saw the predictably red-faced, panting climber holding on to the final hold, smiling down looking at the distance travelled. A true success!
When we had finished climbing up these walls, which we innocently tried to jolt up before taking a more tactical approach, we went downstairs for some bouldering. There was a different thrill in bouldering, perhaps the freedom from the safety of a harness, which even lead climbing could give you. Just ten minutes of it at the end before it was time to pack up and leave. We started with a game of 'Lava', during which we would stand nervously until someone shouted "Lava" and we would jump at the wall, desperately hanging on to the first hold we encountered. When there were only a few left who had managed to get on the wall before the others, a test of strength would suddenly arise and we would be asked to take off a hand or a leg to test who really could stay on the longest.
Though winning a game of "Lava" was a true victory in strength and endurance, it was short-lived, as everyone would then spread out to attempt his or her own bouldering problem.
Afterwards, when our legs were tired and our arms felt exhausted yet strengthened from the work out of another testing and extraordinary games lesson, we walked slowly back to the bus, talking about the bouldering, the climbing walls and the day's achievements.
Each of us has a different story of improvement and unbelievable gratification.
Wednesday rock climbing trips!
