Last year, when we were training for Tough Mudder, we decided that indoor rock climbing would something fun to have a go at. Steven has been involved with Mine Rescue for most of his career and ropes and abseiling has always been one of his favourite aspects of the training associated with it. He was all for it.
We decided it would make a perfect father’s day outing and headed an hour away to what was touted as the best indoor climbing gym in Adelaide. It didn’t disappoint. We spent the next 4 hours or so literally climbing the walls and would have happily stayed longer if we didn’t need to head home for dinner. It is something our whole family can’t wait to do more of but it will have to wait until after summer when summer sports commitments are finished with.
We started with a safety briefing, were shown how to use the ropes systems and then let loose on the walls. There were always staff on hand to help and they were quick to remind us if we weren’t maintaining two hands on the rope at all times.
Even J had a go. There is something pretty awesome about watching your three year old scale a five metre wall then ask to go again immediately when her feet touch solid ground.
Indoor rock climbing is an amazing confidence builder. We went climbing at a time when S was feeling pretty disheartened with school. He was struggling with literacy and that was translating in to a lot of negativity coming from our five year old boy.
Spending an afternoon wall climbing was a turning point for his confidence. The sheer joy and feeling of success he got from scaling the increasingly more difficult climbs was fantastic. That one afternoon of success was a confidence builder and really helped change how he was feeling about school.
It’s incredible how strong some kids are. Miss L has an incredibly strong core, I’ve known that for a long time but watching her climb walls that I had no help of scaling was seriously impressive. Her forearms hurt for a few days but I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy.
It was a great team building exercise for our family. It is easy for four kids to find a million ways to annoy each other, and there are plenty of times when my kids do just that. Spending an afternoon with no niggling fights just lots of words of encouragement, clapping and cheering was enough to keep us smiling for days. We had dinner time conversation about wall climbing for days.
It was something fun for a Sunday afternoon that I would go and do again happily!
Leave yourself plenty of time, depending on where you go you'll need an adult for each child on the wall at a time, so our kids had to take turns.
Here are a couple of tips:
- Make sure you take plenty of snacks, water and the camera.
- You don't need any special gear but wear clothes that leave you free to move and you won't get your feet tangled in.
- Lightweight shoes are best, a pair of Nike Frees or Vibram 5 Fingers but a pair of dunlop volleys would do the job just as nicely.
- Lift yourself with your legs rather than pulling with your arms, the muscles in your legs are a whole lot bigger than the ones in your arms.
- Be prepared for the kids to nag you to take you back.
- Relax and have fun.
Vertical Reality in Adelaide was awesome, I can't reccomend the place more highly. The staff were fun, friendly and great with the kids.
Here are the google links for climbing gyms in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, Tasmania and Canberra.
Have you been indoor rock climbing before? Do you have a centre that you can reccomend for us?
Tatum xx
