A couple weeks ago, our very own OGHS Rock Climbing club offered a course for experienced climbers to extend their skills in lead climbing. Four of us seized the opportunity to take part in this programme, Jasmine Potter (Year 10), Mae Baker (Year 11), Ariana Oswald (Year 12) and Bella Potter (Year 13).

Lead climbing, also known as sport climbing, is a technique where the climber uses quickdraws to attach the rope to bolts in the rock as they climb. This is opposed to top rope climbing which is commonly used at school where the climber ascends to the previously placed anchor at the top of the climb.

In this weekend course instructed by Tim Bartholomew from Dunedin Adventures we were taught the process of lead climbing both as the climber and belayer. Furthermore we extended our skills with cleaning an anchor at the top of a climb, to collect all our equipment off the wall, and either being lowered or abseiling down.

Due to bad weather on Saturday, Port Chalmers Quarry was too wet to climb so instead we spent the day in the Logan Park climbing wall. In hindsight this was favourable as we were able to learn and practise more technical skills and focus on specific actions such as placing the quickdraws. The day went by fast, getting to know the basics, strengthening our skills and practising the safety procedures.

On Sunday we were fortunate enough to have a sunny blue sky allowing us to drive to Long Beach as planned. Once we arrived at the caves we were tasked to find our three climbs of the day, which were called William Shatner Handbag, Bob Zimmerframe and Like it or Tlingit. After a review of our previous days’ learning, we transferred the skills we had practised to real rock. No longer having the safety of a top rope, which we usually climb with, definitely made the ascent more thrilling but reaching the top was even more rewarding. Once we became confident cleaning a climb and being lowered down by a belayer, Tim showed us how to abseil using both a self-protected and fireman technique to end the day.

Overall this was a great opportunity for some of our experienced climbers to extend their horizons by having the doors opened to a whole other side of the climbing world! We are very thankful to Dunedin Adventures in particular Tim Bartholomew for making this weekend possible as well as Mr Bleckinger for organising the course.