Saturday saw the final outdoor climbing trip for the year.

We were lucky with the weather with a day of glorious sunshine and just a gentle breeze. Ten keen boys travelled to Elephant Rocks near Duntroon to try outside bouldering for the first time. Bouldering involves climbing without ropes and using pads to land on to break the fall.

The boys found the climbing challenging to start with compared to the indoors climbing they are used to. When bouldering they have to make better use of their feet and not just rely on their upper body strength to drag themselves up. Many problems required standing on slopey footholds and palming on bulges in the rock. After some acclimatising the improvement was rapid with everyone climbing harder and harder problems.

In the afternoon we moved to a neighbouring area called Hulk Hogan. The problems are short but very steep in nature, which some of the boys found easier. Again, improvement was rapid although energy levels were soon depleted.

The standout performer was James Hulyer in terms of the grades climbed getting two V5s and a V4, which is outstanding for a first time.

The ice-cream stop at Hampden was greatly appreciated by everyone on the way home. Special thanks to Angus and Alex from Resistance Climbing for coming along in support, Tim Adler for driving the van and helping our boys.