NEWS Looking for a climbing partner? Take a look at our new "climbing partners" list. *** We've re-made our web site and although it looks the same, we're now able to add news and information more easily and to link with other sites. If you're interested in learning to climb and haven't tried it before, you have a few ways to start: Bring a friend at any time and our staff will give you instruction on the spot. Come to the Monday night clinic for beginners (must book). Join the Wednesday morning social climbers, 9.30-11.30 (coffee & cake to finish). *** Have your children got you climbing the walls yet? If you think you’re still one step ahead of them in the sporting department….think again! Juniors have taken to Indoor Sports Climbing like ducks to water, snow bunnies to Thredbo, executives to team-building, grannies to power-walking and mums to pump classes. It’s APTITUDE plus ATTITUDE that gets you ALTITUDE and today’s child has definitely got attitude way beyond our own querulous “it looks hard”, “what if I fall”, “ I don’t like heights”. Having been “dropped” many times in our lives, it’s no wonder we adults doubt our own ability to climb to great heights and the ability of others to save us if we fall. The ultimate role-reversal experience is to be able to unpeel your fingers from a hand hold, 10 metres above the ground, held only by a safety harness and rope in the sweaty grip of “Captain Vacuum”(your 12yr old son), who may, or may not be considering giving you the ride of your life back to terra firma, that is, of course, if he is not busy texting his mates. Although affecting total disinterest (it’s uncool to be a “try-hard”), your daughter will be a more reliable climbing partner than her sibling. The hazards of being belayed by Miss Junior Teen however, include: extortionate demands on weekly allowance; having those sloppy sleeve-ends snagged in the belay device; and being abandoned mid-climb if any of her friends spot her actually enjoying a family activity. Dad’s legendry High School sporting prowess does not necessarily get him to the top ahead of mum…Venetians having a more flexible and thoughtful approach(climbing is called the “Thought Sport”) than the testosterone attack of the Martians. Marriage Counsellors have yet to discover climbing as therapy for shaky relationships. Helpful suggestions about where to place one’s body parts, need to be made with both tact and an intimate knowledge of your partner’s athletic limitations… Is the first body contact with the wall your stomach?... Can your arms alone hold your body weight for longer than a millisecond?... Can you climb above head height without feeling faint?... Can you remain focussed on technique while your belayer is pointing and laughing hysterically? Most couples DO resist the urge to settle old scores and it is rewarding to see Miss Teen return Captain Vacuum safely to the ground(although nicely judging the rope length at a toe-stretching, de-nutting millimetre above floor level). WARNING: Hire harnesses can be hazardous to the male of the species. ***