On an overcast Wednesday this past week a group of 15 extreme outdoor education students walked through a forest path, located off of a mountain road, and found themselves face to face with a monster!!! OK I may be exaggerating a little, but for the newbie rock climber I have to admit that my first look upward was a little intimidating. Guided by Walden Darwin of Wilderness Adventure Outreach, with the belaying assistance is Mr. Loewen, the students got a first taste of climbing in the great outdoors. Students learnt climbing lingo as they communicated their intentions with their belayer, solved problems on the wall such as where to place their hands and feet to actually get to the top, and conquered their fears and the monster in the process. If you’ve only done indoor climbing you definitely need to sign up for this trip next time; It’s a whole new beast!!! Outdoor Education students please leave a 100 word blog response below.
Mouat Extreme Outdoor Education 
This last Wednesday, the extreme outdoor ed class took a trip to the Sumas Mountain Bluffs to go Rock Climbing. Personally, I had never been rock climbing so I was a bit apprehensive, but our instructor from the Wilderness Adventure Outreach gave us clear instructions and explained everything we needed to know. I climbed the bluffs three times, once up the climb rated ~5.6 and twice up the one rated ~5.7. On my first attempt at the 5.7 climb, I lost my grip and fell, but I was eventually able to find the proper footholds and make it to the top. I decided to try again, to prove to myself that I could do it; the second trip up was much smoother and felt easier overall. Rock climbing was a lot of fun, I would definitely recommend it!
I feel the same way-indoor rockclimbing is nothing compared to what we experienced here.
I really enjoyed the sumas bluffs rock climbing! This was my first time rock climbing on actual rocks, rather than man-made climbing holds or indoor rock climbing. It was definitely tiring, but touching the carabiner at the top after struggling was really rewarding! I would really like to come back some day and be able to complete the harder level!
I agree outdoor rockclimbing is a whole new world!
the outdoor rock climbing at sumas bluffs was a lot of fun. I got the chance to try real rock climbing, even if I didn’t make it too far up the cliff. my fear of heights did get in the way of my climbing, put not as much as I thought it would. the biggest thing keeping me from the top was my footwear, as there were no climbing shoes that fit me. overall the trip was a lot of fun, even while falling.
We will have to invest some money to purchase some larger shoes. Still glad you worked at overcoming your fears!
The Rock-climbing trip was cool to do. It was the first time I did go on real outside rock-climbing and it was tough to do at points but I got through it. I had fun with friends of assisting me to climb and talking with friends on the side. What I learned on the trip is that you need to really think of a strategy when going up because it leads to the finish up top, that’s your goal is to get to the top. If you don’t think of a strategy then you going to end up stuck a lot wondering where to go next to latch on to for holding on with your legs and hands. One thing I learned about myself is that you need powder chalk for some parts of the rocks if you want to or not because the chalk can provide you with better grip going up then without chalk on the sharp rocks. It could help you get up possibly faster if you use it then going without chalk. Something I wish that I had gone differently is that I wish I had the strength to get up the top of the hardest rock climbing rocks because I tried to do it with chalk as well to help with grip but it didn’t work. I got part of the away up but couldn’t reach the next rock with my hand or foot it was too tight and small to get to. If I did get to the top it would been cool to accomplish all of the climbs at the rock climbing site, only 2 people got the hard one done which was Caelan and Ethan which was cool to watch them do. I think to prepare for the adventure next time I wouldn’t bring my sweater if it was sunny again or wear during climbing because it was really hot that day and I was sweating while I was climbing. So it would be less hot being able to climb not being all the time while running, walking or climbing around. Overall though I had a fun time going on this trip for the first time with friends and I would like to go again if the opportunity was given to me at anytime.
Sounds like you took a lot of lessons away from this trip. Well done!
Going outdoor rock climbing has been one of my absolute favourite trips of this year! We started off by doing a short hike in the forest to a huge cliff. Then the instructor explained some basic rules and knowledge of how it will work. I had only ever outdoor rock climbed once before so I was quite excited to learn more and get more practice. I was third to go and I was very excited after watching the first two people go on the first climb. The start was quite easy than I reached a tough spot but I soon realized that the climbing shoes are super helpful and they aided me to finish the climb. Once I completed it, I was having so much fun and I ended up doing 4 total climbs that day! They were all quite fun and I really enjoyed the different variety of them. It was also a nice day outside and I was wearing the perfect athletic clothes for it so I was very comfortable. I hope in the future sometime I will get to go again because I really did enjoy going and I learned many new things this trip.
I feel like an elf in those climbing shoes but they definitely help with the grip.
Outdoor rock climbing is way harder than indoor… wow
In indoor climbing, all the hand and footholds are really clear, but in outdoor climbing, you have to find them on the spot which I found pretty difficult. Many of the holds in outdoor climbing are also a lot smaller and harder to grip which doesn’t help either. It’s definitely a unique experience but it was pretty hard for an inexperienced climber like me.
I completely agree with you. I thought the two would be a little similar but when you get on the rock and are like, “umm so where do I go now?” you realize it just got real!
We went to Sumas bluffs for the day. We enjoyed the nice temperature and got to do some outdoor rock climbing. The guide had 3 different climbs with top ropes set up. They were in the 5.5 to 5.9 range. Later in the day I got to help belay some of the other students. This was very beneficial for the group as it allowed more people to climb at once. It was a very fun trip and would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about this trip next year.
Thanks for your help with belaying. It is impressive to watch you perform in your element!
for this trip we went up to the sumas bluffs and went rock climbing outside, we first had to hike like 5 minutes to the climbing spot, then were taught how to get in the harness and then were given helmet s and climbing shoes, we then talked about the terms used to communicate when climbing like saying only when we are ready to climb. I wish I had brought proper climbing shoes because my feet were too big to fit into the given ones and I talked to the other people and they were saying it makes a big difference. next time i would probably bring shorts and better shoes because it was really hot and shorts are less restricting.
Yes gear is an important part of every outdoor activity.