Rock Climbing Trip. 25th Nov

Hey guys, 

I hope everyone is having a great week and all that the students are doing well on their exams. 

I was lucky enough to go on a overnight trip last weekend to do some outdoor rock climbing. The climbing spot was about 4 hours walk from school and we left 8am Saturday morning. There was only 4 of us, Mr Hepworth, who is the head of outdoor eduction at Woodstock and an amazing climber, Cory, a grade 9 named Tanuj and I. We were joined later in the afternoon by a group of other students who had just come for the fun and didn't climb. It was a really relaxed weekend, we got to the rock climbing place at 12, had lunch, set up the ropes and started to climb. The climbing was really challenging. It was a grade 20 climb which I have been able to do indoors but I haven't done much outdoor climbing since April on a school camp so I wasn't able to full complete it. I got about 4/5 of the way before I would just run out energy and not be able to climb anymore. My arms would turn to concrete and my legs would shake uncontrollably but I loved it. We climbed all afternoon and when the other students joined us we had a fun afternoon. 4 of us boys decided to sleep outside for the night and that was stacks of fun. We spent an hour laughing and making up the most stupid constellations as possible, such as Squarias Maximus, which was just 4 stars that made a square. Theres a video called "Tim and Eric's the Universe" which we quoted throughout the night and that was great. It was village Diwali that night as well, it's Diwali just at a different time and a lot smaller, but still we heard drums going on all night long but we got used to it. 

The beautiful hike views

We were climbing to the right of the shaded area

View from our Campsite

Sunday morning I woke up with the sun at approx. 6 am. It was beautiful seeing the sun rise in the morning through the valley. I lay in my warm sleeping bag for 30 mins then play my favorite game, steam roller (roll on top of the people sleeping next to you) once I hear Cory get up. We both grab some chai Titu had made. Titu, along with Mr Conrad had come with the other group of students. We start climbing again pretty soon and I try my heart out, ripping skin of fingers, elbows and knees. Still no success today but improvement over yesterday.

The village kids who went insane when I pulled out the camera

Me climbing

By the time we pack up all the ropes and gear the group of students who came late yesterday have already left and are taking a different route back then us. We leave around 1 o'clock and start the long walk back. We weren't going back the way we came, we instead chose to take a much steeper but direct route and drop our gear at Mr Hepworth's house on top of ridge dividing the rock climbing place and Woodstock on the other side. We started the day by going down to the base of the ridge at a river. We then walked up for the next 3 hours. It was absolutely grueling and we stopped only twice. Cory and I broke away from Tanuj and Mr Hepworth and really pushed our way up the hill. Tanuj complained of blisters so we emptied his back only leaving his sleeping back, pyjamas and sleeping mat. This meant Cory, Mr Hepworth had to carry all the rest of his gear which includes heavy climbing gear. In a weird way I enjoyed the pain walking, I realised that pain makes everything much more memorable and sticks in your mind better. For example the parts I remember best about my Activity week trek to Maldaru Lake was the knee pain, frozen fingers and ears stinging in the morning chill.

Cory Climbing

Cute little calf :)

We reached Mr Hepworth's house at 5:30. We dropped of our rented gear and made the 30 minute walk back down to dorms, yet it only felt like 10 mins because we had walked for so long already that day. Overall, it was a really relaxed, calm weekend that was spent with great company. 

Snow peaks from Mr Hepworth's house

Stay Well,
Lachy Wild