Year 6 Climbing Trip

Today was the day I had been looking forward to for months! THE CLIMBING TRIP! This was a trip to the XC Centre in Hemel Hempstead to acclimatise for the forthcoming outdoor climbing trip to the Peak District. 12 other boys and I were sitting in the school van, anticipating with elation the events to come. After we arrived, the instructors equipped us with a helmet and gave us a brief safety talk.

In no time, we had warmed up, stretched, and were on the bouldering wall playing games! Firstly, John, Tom, and Bradley taught us how to play ‘10 seconds’, a fun game where we had 10 seconds to attempt a challenge on the wall. For example, John would say: “Get off the ground with your feet above your head!” We played a few other games and practised some traversing and climbing techniques, before harnessing up to climb the higher walls.

Then, we split up into groups of 5, and my group started on the tallest walls with our instructor John, who organised us into pairs so we could belay each other. We challenged ourselves by only using a certain colour hold, and tired ourselves out quite a lot. After around an hour, our group started to climb the auto-belay wall section with Bradley and Tom. Time flew by and the next thing we knew, it was time to stretch and take off our gear. What a fun event it was!

Thank you to Mr Thomas and Mrs Pullen for organising such a thrilling trip, and also to Mr Fradd who also accompanied us.

I can’t wait for the next trip to the Peak District in May!

Christopher Pigott – Yr 6