Today saw the start of the second week of Ellesmere College’s Adventure Plus activity program of the Summer. With a different bunch of young people enrolled on the course, we’ve had the freedom to repeat a few of the activities we did a couple of weeks ago, along side a few new ones to give a bit of variety.

With the weather forecast looking favourable, we took the drive out to Trevor Quarry for an afternoon of rock climbing. It seems like we weren’t the only ones to think it would be the perfect venue as several other groups had beaten us to it. As has become customary at this time of year, we bumped into a company called Adventure Plus. They are a Christian outdoor activities provider normally based in Crawley and, as you might expect, having the same name as Ellesmere College’s program can cause a bit of confusion from time to time!

However, there is enough space at Trevor Quarry to accommodate a couple of groups so it wasn’t too hard to work around each other. We started off with a bit of bouldering to work up the muscles and get used to the feel of the rock before setting up the ropes for a couple of climbs. The group was split into two teams, working independently of each other. One would climb as the others belayed off an Italian hitch at the base of the climb.

It was quite hard to find appropriate climbs to start with as it was so busy with other groups as well. However, we managed to squeeze in between everyone else with two relatively straight forward climbs, with one presenting a bit more of a challenge for the more ambitious members of the group. However, as the afternoon went by, more space became available as the other groups started to leave.  This meant we were able to work our way along the crag, gradually having a crack at harder and harder routes.

Everyone did really well on the climbs they attempted. That’s not to say that everyone successfully conquered every climb they tried, but there was a high level of commitment and determination to do their best. There were a few routes in particular which didn’t offer much in the way of obvious holds and trainers were struggling to find enough grip as they slipped about on the rock face.

Today was one of those rather chilled days when everything just came together – climbing with a great group on a fantastic afternoon. Not bad.