Climbing For All Sheffield

REFLECTING ON YEARS 8 AND 9 … HERE COMES 10!

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Climbing for All Sheffield

Year 8. Wow. And Year 9. Wow. We’re not talking about Year 8 and 9 school students (though we do have some Year 8 and 9 climbers, as well as older and younger climbers); instead we’re reflecting on our 8th and 9th years of being an established and active climbing charity. Year 10 is gearing up for launch!

Here are some pictures of Alice, one of our new climbers from this year:

Alice is stood by the wall, tied in and ready to climb, with her hand on a hold as she looks round to smile at the camera.
Alice is stood by the wall, tied in and ready to climb, with her hand on a hold as she looks round to smile at the camera.
Alice reaches for hand holds, with volunteer Noni ready to guide her feet to holds, and Csilla belaying her.
Alice reaches for hand holds, with volunteer Noni ready to guide her feet to holds, and Csilla belaying her.
Caramel The Bear is perched on a climbing hold, observing Alice's climb.
Caramel The Bear is perched on a climbing hold, observing Alice’s climb.

“Year 8” means August 2023 to July 2024, and what a year! You can download our report to the Charity Commission here. As we reported, our 8th year had a record number of club climbing sessions – 112 to be precise. We had 36 climbers on our books and 31 active volunteers, supported by some trustees (also volunteers) who help at sessions.

Year 9 was just as amazing: sessions ran up to the start of June when the Foundry Climbing Centre’s renovations started – and now we’re planning Year 10. We’re loving the Foundry’s new walls, which will be wonderful for our climbers too.

Some of our climbers, like Ryan, go back with us more than 5 years – here’s a couple of pictures from a Saturday session in June:

Ryan is roped up and ready to climb, stood near the climbing wall with volunteer Andrew B, who is smiling and ready to belay.
Ryan is roped up and ready to climb, stood near the climbing wall with volunteer Andrew B, who is smiling and ready to belay.
Ryan works his way up the wall, grasping holds with each hand and feeling for a foot hold, positioned for a strong upwards push.
Ryan works his way up the wall, grasping holds with each hand and feeling for a foot hold, positioned for a strong upwards push.

We’ve previously mentioned how we devised sessions to provide more of “what matters” to our climbers. We have Buddy Thursdays and Climb Fridays (Fridays being covered in the last blogpost), and we have Send Saturdays. We envisaged the Saturday sessions as catering for young people in particular, many of whom attend school or college on weekdays.

Send Saturdays have been a huge success. We have run two or three sessions per Saturday, fortnightly during term times. Each session has had a group of children, young people and/or young adults. By the way, our Saturday climbers aren’t exclusively young – we’re a bit more flexible than that. No barriers!

Here are a few more pictures of Saturday climbers to enjoy:

A boy in a red helmet pulls himself up the climbing wall, with Robin backing up a family member who is learning how to belay.
A boy in a red helmet pulls himself up the climbing wall, with Robin backing up a family member who is learning how to belay.
A double thumbs up from a young climber, who is sitting on the pillar part-way up the wall and smiling down at the camera.
A double thumbs up from a young climber, who is sitting on the pillar part-way up the wall and smiling down at the camera.
Another thumbs up as young climber confidently abseils, his belayers below letting out the rope.
Another thumbs up as a young climber confidently descends, his belayer below letting out the rope.
A climber side-pulls on a volume, looking up for her next hold.
A climber side-pulls on a volume, looking up for her next hold.
A climber is pressed against the wall, her feet standing on two volumes as she plans her next moves.
A climber is pressed against the wall, her feet standing on two volumes as she plans her next moves.
All smiles as a climber descends after conquering the red volumes!
All smiles as a climber descends after conquering the red volumes!

We’re really proud of our success in enabling climbing for disabled people of all ages. It’s thanks to our amazing team of volunteers that we can do so much. Our volunteers – and also our placement students – promote inclusive climbing in the climbing community, and we are very happy about our wider impact.

And finally! Before the old Moon Wall was replaced by the groovy new wall, the Foundry challenged climbers to ascend “features only” up every line. You can watch a video of founding trustee Nick’s efforts on the Foundry’s facebook page. And here are a few stills from the video: go, Nick!

A series of 6 video stills: they show a view looking down from the top of the wall, with Nick climbing from the bottom to the top, jamming his fingers and toes into small cracks and wrinkles in the wall.

Looking forward to great climbing in the coming year.

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

Climbing for All Sheffield

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