Climbing For All Sheffield

A climber with a limb difference reaches the top of the climbing wall

SPRING TERM UPDATE – AND A ZOOM IN ON CLIMB FRIDAYS!

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Climbing for All Sheffield

You’re wanting to hear how our new session formats have been working out, yes?! In one word: FANTASTIC!

We have a full programme of sessions arranged this term, up until Easter. That means our Climb Fridays and SEND Saturdays are happening every fortnight and our Buddy Thursdays are happening every week. (All these sessions are fully booked. But do get in touch via our Contact Form or by email if you’re wanting to climb and we’ll see what we can do.)

The big advantage of our new session formats is that climbers can do more of what matters to them, and nothing showcases this better than Climb Fridays. The Friday sessions have plenty of volunteer assistance, and we have a range of kit and techniques to address our climbers’ varied ascending styles, their passion for height, speed or wall contact, and their aspirations.

Team of three belayers operate ropes for unseen climbers above on the wall. Other people are climbing the wall behind.
Belay team: Hazel J, Klaudia and Noni

We held a total of 20 Climb Friday sessions last term over the course of seven Fridays. We booked three to five climbers into two-hour Friday morning sessions, and the same number into afternoons. In between, we ran a two-hour midday session for a small group of keen climbers from PACES school, a specialist school for children living with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders. We don’t usually arrange climbing for groups (though we can put groups in touch with the Foundry, whose coaches have plenty of experience with differently abled climbers). However, school groups are sometimes an exception, where they have pupils who definitely want to climb. Working with PACES was very rewarding: the young students had fun, and their climbing skills flourished.

Tada – 2025! Last week was the first Climb Friday of the new term. A six-hour climbing extravaganza!

  • In the morning we had 13 climbers from Seven Hills School. All of them were new to climbing and it was a very exciting session. They had great engagement and determination, and all of us had a lot of fun!
  • For our lunchtime session, we had four climbers from PACES school. Two of these had climbed with us last term, and two were new climbers. We had some really strong climbing, using the pulley and the swing.
  •  Four climbers came in the afternoon, adults and young adults. Each had an individualised session, exploring and developing their skills and working on their climbing goals.

Rose is wanting to upskill on hand holds while developing leg stamina and standing. Her aim is to have an upper-body and core-strength workout focused on reaching and gripping.

A smiling climber grips handholds while her belayer standing beside gives a thumbs up, and an unseen side supporter gives her harness a steadying hand
Rose works on the Pinks

Rose wears a standard sit-harness with a belay rope attached. The Foundry isn’t averse to some temporary changes to facilitate her session – last time we put up a couple of extra holds.

A man attaches a climbing hold to the wall using a cordless drill
Foundry Manager Jacob installs another hold

Zanib is an advocate for Disability Sheffield and has featured on our Facebook page several times already. Last year her goal was to conquer the ascent without a side-climber. This week she was smashing it.

A climber with a limb difference grasps a hold at the top of a wall and swings up to mounting point
A power move from Zanib at the top of a slab climb!

And now some pictures which really make the point about developing systems for the individual. Back climbing after some spells in hospital, Clare is wanting to get back to self-propelled ascents. Well, we have another pulley, with 4x oomph, so a bit more oomphy than our regular 2x pulleys. Climbing kit, and figuring out how to best use it to go upwards and downwards, is one of the joys of climbing!

A climber lowers from roof beside a hanging rope system with two roped climbers below
Nick abseils down after attaching and checking the pulley
Hovering horizontally, a climber pulls down on a jumar to lift himself on a pulley system, with a belayer taking in rope using a grigri
Belayed by Gordon, David tries lifting himself upwards with the jumar
A climber suspended in a paragliding harness grasps a bar attached to pulley system, while Gordon belays, David operates the pulley, and Nick helps Clare’s hands to grip the bar
Clare’s turn! Not so easy to pull down on the jumar – how about a spreader bar, with both hands on the job?
A climber in a paragliding harness smiles at the camera, with a sling attached by a carabiner and belaying line. Her gloved hands are supported on a bar by an unseen helper, and a belayer is operating the rope behind
Yay, it works! Sort of! Room for more development next time

A round-up of other stuff since the last news update. Well, it’s been a great three months. Hands up, we haven’t yet added credit card payment to our donations page (but you can still send us money via BACS or PayPal). And we haven’t written last year’s formal report yet, cos climbing is more fun than admin, but we’ll be getting the report done in time for the Charity Commission 😅

What we’re proud of is the great climbing, not just on Fridays but on Thursdays and Saturdays too. It’s thanks to our amazing team of volunteers that we can do so much. We have some extra hands-on help at sessions this term too, with the four medical students from Sheffield University who undertook placements coming back for more sessions after their placements were over. We are always glad to promote inclusive climbing in the wider climbing community, and these students are climbers – and more than that, they are future doctors who will have a positive view of what disabled people might get up to beyond medical appointments.

Our links with other charities continue. Climber Klaudia is achieving her outdoor adventure goals with Climb LBG! Let’s finish on a stunning picture taken earlier this month of Klaudia with Nicky of Climb at the top of snowy Eyam Moor 😍

Under clear blue skies, two people in warm and rugged hiking clothes perch on rocky mountain top, with extensive snowy moorland seen below
Klaudia and Nicky on Eyam Moor

See you next time. Best wishes whatever you’re up to.

Climbing for All Sheffield

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