After a small delay due to covid restrictions the first Extreme Outdoor Education trip of 2022 finally took place with an indoor rock climbing trip to Project Climbing Center in Abbotsford. Over 30 students got in their harnesses and challenged themselves by attacking various pitches in a top rope climbing experience. Students learnt how to adjust their harnesses, and basic rock climbing terminology and safety procedures. While not on the line students challenged themselves on numerous bouldering routes deviously set up by the staff at Project Climbing Center. Highlights included the multiple students who conquered the wave wall, with special recognition to those who chose to complete this challenge without use of their lower body, as well as the head to head races up the wall, particularly between Jakob “wallrunner” Kwan, and Nathanael “Powerhouse” Coleman. Though Mr. Rahe may have lost most of his races, he will fondly remember when he won his race against Sam Pratt and retired from wall racing quickly afterwards! Outdoor Education students please leave a 100 word blog response below.
Mouat Extreme Outdoor Education 
I realized that rock climbing and bouldering is not as easy as it people make it look you need the have the body strength for it and definitely do not. There isn’t anything I would change or how I would prepare differently
Sounds like some good lessons. What other things will you take from the experience?
This trip was pretty poggers going rock climbing for the first time. Furthermore, some of the rock walls were a bit sus and challenging but I ended up completing some of the more difficult rocks later on which was pretty gratifying also it was a very congenial atmosphere and we ended up doing pretty magnificent gigs. Subsequently, some of the tenderfoot walls were unfortunately mulching and due to this, I lost my nerf dart during this mulching aberration despite me coming prepared with zippered pants. Moreover, when Mr. fire cut Rahe climbed the wall I said OHHHHHHH and was particularly impressed when Mr.fire cut Rahe because he ended up hornswoggling Sam Pratt during this great race of two absolute rock climbing troglodytes. Additionally, I was a bit disappointed in the mulching, but also the fact that they used the color green in some bits of the counterfeit rock walls because green is not the color of realism or life due to it only being on are electromagnetic spectrum and it partly ruined my emersion of being in the outdoor climbing rocks because in elementary school I was nicknamed Alex Honold Jr and this part of the rocks being green ruined my impressions and affected my performance gloomily. Finally, if I were to go rock climbing again I would go climbing in real life so the rocks wouldn’t be goofy colors and I would also avoid the mulching.
This response is fire…
I was super excited for this trip and was a bit upset when it got delayed but it was definitely worth the wait. I had such a fun time trying out all the different chanllenges and techniques that I had to learn and use to be successful. It was even more exciting going with friends and having races, along with surprising myself how easily sometimes I was able to pull my body up to reach the next part. This was an amazing experince that I would love to have again and I found out I really enjoy rock climbing even though it was only my first time. I would enjoy coming again and challenging myself even more and trying out new things.
I’m glad the new date worked for you to attend. What might you do to prepare differently next time?
On February 9 we took a trip to the Project Climbing centre. This was my second time bouldering and my first time climbing with a harness at this gym. I was shocked at how gassed out my arms got after even 5 climbs. I went from comfortably climbing levels 3s to struggling on level 0s! The next time I go I will climb at a slower more controlled pace so I don’t get gassed out from adrenaline. My hands will definitely be more calloused next time too since they were pretty beat up after those grips. To sum it up climbing is deceptively hard and I have much more respect now for climbers.
Climbing is definitely taxing on your upper body strength.
For this trip we went to project climbing for 2 hours. It was very interesting to be back in a crowded gym. I had a lot of fun helping others with climbing and seeing so many new people in the gym. I think that this is trip is great introduction to climbing, with the Olympics including climbing last year the interest has increased greatly. It was very cool to see a diversity of people enjoying a great day of climbing. The trip schedule was very well adjusted to fit the new school bell schedule. I would highly recommend this to anyone who would be interested in climbing.
I too was quite excited by the number of people who attended this trip. Hopefully that leads to more people getting in the gym!
On this rock climbing trip I was expecting to excel. I went on a rock climbing trip last year and I was decent at it. This year I am significantly bigger and stronger so I believe I would have improved. My presumption was quickly disproven. I learnt that having to carry more weight up the wall was much harder than I had expected. Nevertheless, I had fun challenging myself with this unique activity. Watching and encouraging friends to challenge themselves was also amusing. But, now I know why rock-climbers are all 100 pounds of sinew.
Good observation. I guess you need to keep working on that upper body strength!
Rock climbing at Project Climbing Centre was a blast! I loved trying out the different walls and racing with my friends. After attempting the difficult walls and accomplishing them or just getting halfway, was so rewarding. One thing I learned and would do differently was figuring out the form situation earlier on (Sorry, Mr. Rahe!). My friends and I had gotten confused of which forms to sign since original rock climbing day was cancelled because of a school closure. Thankfully, my dad was able to send in a copy of the proper forms signed at the last minute. My thanks goes toward the random guy my dad was having a meeting with, who signed my form as a witness and Olivia Naslund who helped me with the situation :). But that whole fiasco was totally worth it and I would totally go on another rock climbing trip!
Thank you Mr Rahe!
It’s been that kind of year…glad that we were able to sort things out and get you on the trip!
I’ve been rock climbing at Project Climb a few times before, so I was excited to be back there again to see if I could do better than my previous visits. I managed to get up some of the walls with harness fairly quickly, which I was happy about. I also managed to get up a few of the walls without a harness, so that was nice. I attempted to get up the wave wall, and since the last time I was there I got pretty far, I thought I would probably be able to make it even farther this time, but unfortunately the last time was several years ago so I was a lot lighter, and apparently I have no upper-body strength, so I was widely unsuccessful. If I go rock climbing again, I would try to do the harder walls first before my arms get tired, and before the rocks get slippery from other people’s sweaty hands. Overall, it was a fun trip.
Good to hear that you made some progress and challenged yourself!
I really enjoyed our rock climbing trip. Especially how fast and efficient the stuff at the rock climbing hall have been, we never really had to wait anywhere.
The staff at Project do a great job! What were some memorable things and what might you do differently?
I learnt that i have no upper body strength and I struggled to support my own bodyweight.
A couple highlights of this trip were spending time with friends, racing to the top of the walls and missing two blocks of school. The trip was very safe and sanitary and there were no injury’s.
If i were to do this trip again I would probably bring some water and better footwear. At the end of the day my body was extremely sore but it was worth it for the fun I had climbing rocks.
I think most people who try rock climbing learn that lesson fairly quickly. Good idea to bring water and better footwear as both of those items would make a big difference!
It felt good to go back to project climbing centre after not being there for a few months. I felt quite proud of myself until Ethan Black decided to campus the V2 I was attempting in the cave. Pro tip: rent climbing shoes so your feet won’t curl over the crimp sized footholds, as that will lead to a tendency to fall. Later on in the day, I heard large amounts of shouting and screaming coming from the far side of the gym. Apparently project decided to open up the race wall fornus outdoor ed kids, where Jacob thoroughly beat people up to the top of the bell. I had fun, and I would recommend that others go on the next trip to project.
Sounds like a good experience-just never try to compare yourself to Mr. Black on the wall!
Heading to the rock climbing gym was a really good experience for me. I’m glad I convinced Mr. Rahe to race me and started his 30-minute rock wall racing career that ended with that spectacular victory against poor Sam Pratt. Starting the day on the climb was easy and some of the harder climbs were a piece of cake but after 45 minutes of my noodle arms working hard, they were no longer fully functional. I just wished I had saved my energy to really try that wave wall for real. ‘Twas a fun time and it’s nice meeting new people especially since I’m the only one in my grade in the class.
So I guess I should have waited until the end to race you…what a rookie mistake lol
It took a while to get the trip to happen, but once it was finalized we had a pretty good attendance there. They took us through a short introduction and then had us do bouldering ( which is 15 m or less and without a harness). The we did some climbing with a rope ( i ended up ripping a piece of my skin off during it bit it was still fun). Then at the end we all had a race up the speed wall with Jakob being the winner every time we did it so we dubbed him the master of the wall. All in all, a pretty fun day and I hope we do it again.
I shall train and train so that in the future I shall be dubbed the master of the wall!!!
I really enjoyed going on the rock climbing trip, especially since I hadn’t gone in so long! I learned that the smaller walls, where you did not have to get your harness attached to a rope, were still very difficult to climb! I assumed that the smaller walls were going to be easier to climb than the bigger walls but that was not true! Something I learned about myself is that it became easier for me to climb a certain rock wall after doing it a couple of times. I originally thought that after climbing a rock wall it would be harder for me to climb it the second time, but it became easier for me. Next time I definitely want to try and go on more of the racing rock climbing walls. I’d also like to prepare for the adventure differently the next time I go, by deciding on all the rock walls I want to go try and succeed on.
I think you highlight the importance of the technique side of rock climbing and how familiarity with a route helps you tackle it easier!
Rockclimbing is one of the sports that includes heights that I really enjoy. When we went rockclimbing, the wall I enjoyed most was the race wall. Racing my friends was really fun. All the staff who were belaying us, were very nice and very patient with us. I didn’t try bouldering but I tried climbing a few of the walls and I would’ve like to have tried a few more different walls. Although I did slip and sent the belayer across the floor, he was very patient and kind about it. If I was presented with the opportunity to go rockclimbing again I would definitely take it.
Good to hear that it was a positive experience for you!
This was my first extreme outdoor ed trip and it was really great! I’ve gone rock climbing before so I already had a basic idea of what to expect but nonetheless, it was a few years back so I had to revisit the basic idea of maneuvering around in order to get myself to where I needed to be. Once I got the hang of putting my feet in the right places and grabbing onto the right spots, it got a lot easier. I learned that I’m actually pretty quick and was able to get to the top a lot faster and easier than I expected.
At some points I did get sort of stuck and didn’t really know where to go from the point I was already at so I’d say next time I would try to observe other people and see how they get themselves to the top and come up with a strategy of sorts on how I can make it easier for myself.
The best part of the trip for me was getting to watch everyone race and getting to cheer on my friends. It was also pretty great watching Mr. Rahe attempt.. to win a few races. Overall it was a really awesome trip and I’m really glad I decided to go on it!
Hey hey I won one race against Sam Pratt and that’s all that matters!
The rock climbing trip that we participated in on February 9th was such a fun trip to go on and one of my favourite experiences so far in Outdoor Ed. As it turns out, I’ve learned that I am actually not half bad at rock climbing, especially when it comes to racing up the wall; I would even go so far as to say that I am the best rock climbing racer in the country, but I will continue to be the humble person that I am and note that I am improving day by day and am nowhere near professional standards yet (I guess).
Since learning, improving, and perfecting my skills as a professional wall racer, I have come to learn how weak your muscles can feel after rock climbing for long periods of time, as well as how much you’re actually using your core when climbing. It was a very interesting discovery that was made.
One thing I wish had gone differently was for me to not have cut myself about 20 times while also breaking every single one of my nails; however, these types of events tend to happen throughout one’s lifetime and I like to think they build character. These events have taught me that, in the future, I need to prepare better beforehand by bringing bandaids because Mr. Rahe will not have them on hand for you. I should also have probably prepared better by wearing running shoes instead of platform converse, but despite that slight error in my ways, I will likely not do so the next time I go rock climbing, considering how much grip my converse gave me (which is also another thing I learned).
In conclusion, I look forward to participating in future expeditions.
20 times?!? I think you might be doing something wrong… 🙂
I’ve only been rock climbing once before but that was all the way in grade 6. I really enjoyed trying it again. I liked how the walls had different levels of difficulty. I sometimes found coming down from the top a bit scary, But as the day went on it got easier. Climbing the walls which didn’t require a harness were more challenging but were fun to figure out. I raced against Olivia and I won and in our next race we tied. Overall I had a lot of fun on this outdoor education trip and would definitely go again!
I too find it a little nerve wracking coming down from the top…there’s something about putting that much faith in a stranger that concerns me 🙂
I enjoyed rock climbing a lot. It was actually my first time rock climbing ever, and I had a great time. It looked very easy but once I started I realized that it required quite a bit of upper body strength, which I don’t have much of. After trying new things and practicing. It became a bit easier, it was so exciting to finally get the hang of it. I was so surprised our harness was attached to the workers, that must be very exhausting for them. Racing my friends and watching the races was very interesting as well. I would definitely do this again, since it is different from conventional exercising. To improve my rock climbing experience next time I will go to the gym and workout my upper body more often!
Sounds like a quality experience where you took away some positive lessons!
I’ve only been rock climbing once before and that was several years ago, I think because I was smaller the worker who was helping hold the rope was pulling me up part way. So going rock climbing now I realized there’s much more of a challenge with lifting yourself up. I feel that the only issue I had was when we were being brought down from the wall and some of the workers struggled, and you would almost drop all the way or slip. But it was fun and understandable considering how many people they had to carry. And though I sadly didn’t win any races it was still cool to be able to have fun with mixed classes. Overall, I really enjoyed going and being able to have another experience that was more realistic.
It’s always nice to be able to interact with other people in the program in a new setting. Anything you might do differently next time in terms of your preparation?
Rock climbing was loads of fun! I have a fear of falling/heights, so it was scary just letting a random person stay on the ground as I floated down safely. I learned to trust strangers and be nice to them because they could let go of a rope and watch you die :> I wish I would’ve gone higher on some of the walls, and just climbed and get more of an adrenaline rush.
Anything you might do differently in terms of your preparation if you did this trip again?
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to project climb, this was my second time going and it was just as fun as the first time. I learned that I can still climb the black wavy wall so I haven’t lost any of my rock climbing ability which is a positive. Although after climbing for some time your hands get all sweaty and that mixed with the dead skin on the holds in the wall makes for a less enjoyable experience but still a fun one for the first 95 percent of the trip nonetheless. next time ill bring some chalk so I can get a better grip on some of the walls. and the only reason I lost to Mr rahe in the wall climbing race was that I slipped on one of the steps. it is the only race he could ever beat me in, well maybe he’s just better than me at everything…definitely a better Clash of Clans players…really time to re-evaluate my life.
-Sam Pratt
This is ridiculous mr rahe edited my comment i will be taking this to the administration
Mr. Rahe is the greatest teacher I know and I want to be just like him. I will be going to the administration to ensure that he gets paid more.