Another fun, active idea to do with the kids or a workout all on its own. This made the hitlist on the spur of the moment as I picked up a family pass off Scoopon for a great price and I thought why not!! The voucher was with PWR Urban Ascent Rockclimbing gym. We did this one on a rainy day during the school holidays which was great as the kids had been going a little stir crazy. My cousin was visiting at the time and we dragged him along as well which was lucky as we really needed another adult for our tribe of 4 kidlets. Kids under 13yrs are not allowed to belay (controlling the tension on the safety harness and rope) so it may be something to consider if you are thinking of trying it out as you don’t want the kids sitting around waiting too long.
When you first arrive you will need to fill in an indemnity for each person who is climbing. You will then be shown how to put on the harness (insert inelegant snort here as I tried not to laugh at how uncomfortable my husband and cousin looked!) and undergo a safety demonstration on how to safely perform rock climbing, belaying, and abseiling. It was really easy to pick up although the first couple of runs I was a little nervous about dropping the kids on their butts. Turns out it is actually quite difficult to drop them. Look no hands!! I’m kidding, I didn’t really do that.
There are several walls with climbs of varying difficulty, but for obvious reasons we stayed on the basic climbs. My boys are 8yrs, twins are 6, and the youngest is 4 yrs old. The instructor was lovely and let us pay at the end for my youngest so we could see if he could actually do it. He managed to have a great attempt at it and had a ball.
My youngest scaling the cliff face
The kids surprised us with their ability and gained confidence with the heights as we went along. Us big kids had a turn too and I found the hardest thing was having the grip strength, the confidence to trust that grip, and trust that you won’t fall. It is higher than it looks.
All I could think about as I was climbing was the Spiderman theme song….
It was a quiet afternoon when we visited so we had the place to ourselves and we ended up staying for a good couple of hours. Check out their website for details on programs, prices and opening hours. Some rockclimbing centres offer junior and senior classes which can be a great alternative to the usual sporting options if you are looking for something a bit different. Definitely worth a go.
The Exercise Hitlist 