Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District. Wednesday 27th July 2016.

Yesterday, Iain spent the day with John Richardson, his son Oli and John's mate Dave at St Johns in The Vale at a new venue for one of our Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District.

We had been asked to work with these clients on behalf of Mark Eddy at Mountain Journeys and Mark had suggested the Rock Climbing venue- Church Crag situated on Low Rigg close to St John's Church.

This pleasant little single pitch Rock Climbing venue is split into two distinct buttresses with lots of bolts at the top - just ideal for setting up top ropes for a "top rope/bottom belaying session.
It is clear to Iain that the venue is used by a local outdoor centre for the purpose of providing outdoor Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions here right in the middle of The Lake District.

So what is a top rope/bottom belaying Rock Climbing Session? Well, it is one where a climbing rope is anchored at the top of a climb. This system is most commonly seen in indoor climbing walls - both ends of the rope hang down to the foot of the climbing wall or rock climb and the rock climber ties on to one end whilst the belayer clips the rope into their belay device on the other side.

The rock climber then climbs up the wall whilst the belayer "takes in" the climbing rope through their belay device on their side of the rope. The belayer must keep the rope tight between themselves and the rock climber in order to prevent a shock load should the climber fall.

Photo two sees John belaying his son whilst Dave provides encouragement and guidance for six year old Oli as he takes his very first steps on outdoor rock.

Photo three sees Oli toward the end of the family's Introductory Rock Climbing Session in The Lake District and at this point, he is on around climb number eight on the south buttress of Church Crag.

Johns primary aim on this Introductory  Rock Climbing Session in The Lake District to to give his six year old son confidence in climbing on rock  and during the day, we saw Oli's confidence grow in leaps and bounds.

By the time this photograph was taken, Oli's confidence was such that he was happy to stand on the rock face and give Iain the thumbs up.

It was great to that that one of our Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District could be used to improve a little six year old lad's confidence so much that he was now literally scampering up all over this rock face whereas a few hours earlier, he had been scared to go more than six feet off the floor!

As well as introducing Oli to outdoor rock climbing, both John & Dave wanted to get back into it as well. Both guys climbed some rock climbs on both parts of Church Crag before Iain spent some time coaching John in the art of "setting up" anchors for top rope belay systems - this involves being able to place appropriate and strong anchors in cracks in the rock face and being able to bring two anchors ( you must always use two anchors when setting up for any belaying system whilst climbing!) to a central attachment point for the climbing rope using either static (pre-stretched rope) or slings and karabiners.

In photo four John is having a go at setting up his own anchor system and he picked up the information well; although he has climbed in the past so, these systems were probably not completely new to him.

John paid just £160 for his full day of Introductory Rock Climbing in The Lake District for himself and Dave and Oli came along for free! All of our Introductory Rock Climbing Courses in The Lake District come with helmets, harnesses and walking boots if you need them as well as expert tuition by one of our qualified instructional team. Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions are great fun for the family and these sessions are also ideal as part of a team building Event for a Corporate Event.

Contact us here to book your Introductory Rock Climbing Session in The Lake District today!