Coach: Roger McKee
ROCK CLIMBING AT SALISBURY:
This is a recreational, afternoon sports offering: Climbers meet five times per week. Climbing is recreational, but not without rigor. Participants learn knots and safe belay procedure. Time is divided between bouldering and toproped climbing and sports specific training in the fitness room. For more images and film of the group go to
www.sarumrock.blogspot.com
Climbing is a joyous, instinctive activity; unless restrained, most children will scurry up trees, garden walls, building facades and anything else steep and enticing. While society, in the form of parents, teachers and the law, discourages these activities, some determined individuals persist and eventually find their way to the mountains. Those, on the other hand, who have submitted to social pressure and forsaken the steep and airy pathways should, and usually will, content themselves with hiking, and leave rock faces for those who are comfortable and happy there.
From Mountaineering, the Freedom of the Hills, Fourth Edition
Toproping is climbing with the security of a taut rope from above. In the so-called 'slingshot' set-up, the rope runs from the climber to a secure overhead anchor and back down to the belayer, who is positioned on the ground. Safety is maximized and communication made simpler. This is the type of roped climbing in which Salisbury students participate, on crags near the school and at the climbing gym.
Bouldering is the game of climbing boulders, which can be as short as five feet or as tall as fifty. Usually, bouldering is practiced on blocks no taller than fifteen feet, which is about the mental limit for most people climbing without a rope. Bouldering is the most difficult and gymnastic of all climbing disciplines. You can spend days simply figuring out and executing the moves on ten feet of rock. The only gear needed are a pair of climbing shoes, a chalkbag and a crashpad. It is also the most social aspect of climbing, one where you climb with a few friends and work on pushing your climbing skills and improving your power.
Click here to view a slide show of photos.