This year has been all about stepping out of our comfort zone, so when the opportunity came up to arrange a group session at The Lock Climbing Wall in Harlow, I jumped at the chance.
What I love about The Lock is that whether you're a seasoned climber or a newcomer, they always provide a great experience for all abilities, and so our members started putting their names down and we took a group of 10 over there on a Saturday afternoon.
We were outdoor and fortunately the weather was lovely, and despite the guys being a bit nervous, the staff were great and put us all at ease.
A few had climbed before, so it was nice to have a mixed group to work with.
I have climbed before but I'm not great with heights so I can't pretend I wasn't a bit nervous.
The instructor was very calming and clear, so after a short brief, he got us all kitted up and ready to go in no time.
We worked through the basics of assisting the climber with the rope and took turns in pairs climbing their level 1 wall, which we all managed.
Then he took us round to the other side to take on something a bit more challenging.
After a quick scan of the wall, we all asked what it was exactly that we were supposed to hold on to and that Cleary became the challenge and what made this side of the outdoor wall so much more challenging.
Fortunately, the natural team spirit of the members kicked in and we all started coaching from the floor - where to put your feet, what you're close too etc etc, and it was great to see.
About 45 minutes or so passed and we got to a point where everyone had reached their max. I certainly had anyway. My forearms were pumped!
One of our members, John, was amazing. Everyone done great but he was like Spiderman, speeding up the walls, which was great to see, as in the gym we are all pretty even, so to come outside and do different things like this, give you an opportunity to see how all the training transfers into other areas of life.
Now the new indoor walls are ready, I'm sure we will visit again later in the year but all in all it was a great day out and a staple ion our social events calendar.
If you like the idea of being part of a gym community that takes part in social events like this, please get in touch and take part in our free week trial.