Fall Program 2022

After a successful first programming in Summer 2022 we launched our Fall 2022 Introduction to Rock Climbing with After School Matters with a new batch of teens.

Starting on October 4th until December 8th this program was run every Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours between 5-7PM.

Week 1

A great new group of teens joined us for the start of Fall 2022 Intro to Rock Climbing. Everyone was immediately immersed in the world of climbing. The first week focused on the fundamentals - how to climb safely and an introduction to the basic techniques with our new instructors Kale and Will.

Week 2

Building on the foundation of week 1, this week focused on training techniques and tools to become a stronger climber. To set a baseline the teens completed pull up, deadhang and plank challenges and will aim to improve those metrics over the coming weeks. The teens were then given a choice to complete a yoga class along with instructor Kale, or learn how to use the kilter board with Will. We were really impressed with everyone’s attitude and ability to push themselves outside of their comfort zone.

Week 3

This week focused on practicing the foundational techniques and additional strengthening exercises. From hangboarding to flagging the teens gave their best efforts to showcase their growing finger and core strength. Check out the human flags form instructor Will and assistant Hayden.

Week 4

Every week we are seeing amazing improvements in strength, technique and determination to send harder routes. To help push things further this week focused on introducing more advanced techniques including drop knees. But not before our limbo challenge!

Week 5

The more techniques you learn the more tools you have to take on any problem. This week we looked at sit starts, hip turns and tackling slopers.

Week 6

Time to introduce more techniques. Knee bars and toe hooks were demonstrated by assistant Hayden before the team took it in turns to try themselves!

Week 7

Climbing is fundamentally creative. To bring that essence to our teens we decided to try twister on the kilterboard.

Week 8

This week was our first session at the Lincoln Park location which focuses on rope climbing. We saw some competitive spirit on the speed wall, a demonstration of lead climbing and falling, and an introduction to top roping. During the second session we were lucky enough to be joined by climbers from Adaptive Climbing Group, Queers on the Rock and Adaptive Adventures who talked us through their own climbing history and the great communities offered by these organizations.

Week 9

All good things come to an end. It was a fantastic Fall 2022 program with an incredible group of teens. Week on week we saw the growth in confidence and self-belief and we hope to see these faces again regular in our wider climbing community