On a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of January we ventured back up to the Ice Factor - the indoor ice wall at Kinlochleven that looks very like the inside of a freezer. Thankfully it's bigger! This was in preparation for our Norway trip in the February half term and some of the pupils had been to these ice walls almost a year before. Some of them hadn't held an ice axe since.
What was especially pleasing was to see the development of our gang's skills and knowldege of the sport of climbing. The improvement at ice climbing, having only done it once before for an hour or so a year before, was remarkable. It just goes to show what a few hours of climbing once a week can do and that climbing is climbing regardless of whether it's on indoor holds, on rock or on snow and ice: the skills transfer. That's nothing new and is certainly well researched: Outdoor Education is excellent for cognitive and kinesthetic development but that doesn't make it any less of a pleasure to witness.
Hand warming or face warming?
What was especially pleasing was to see the development of our gang's skills and knowldege of the sport of climbing. The improvement at ice climbing, having only done it once before for an hour or so a year before, was remarkable. It just goes to show what a few hours of climbing once a week can do and that climbing is climbing regardless of whether it's on indoor holds, on rock or on snow and ice: the skills transfer. That's nothing new and is certainly well researched: Outdoor Education is excellent for cognitive and kinesthetic development but that doesn't make it any less of a pleasure to witness.
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