This class was my first step into the outdoor education minor and it was an amazing experience. It got ended early because of COVID-19 so we missed out on the outdoor climbing trips and the canoeing unit but the parts that we were there for were great. After the first couple of weeks where we did some team building to meet everyone and get to know who we’d be working with then, we went to the rock wall. Since I have been rock climbing since the beginning of the year and been working with professor Dolence to learn rock climbing and about creating the club I had a base knowledge about the material we were learning. By this point, I was also employed at the rock wall and was certified in lead climbing so many of the skills we were learning I was already good in. Instead of just making me show I knew what I was doing and sitting out to let others improve professor Dolence taught me more advanced things. These things I would need to help on leading trips for the club and advance my knowledge of rock climbing, some of this included setting an anchor and tieing special knots and hitches that were not required for the class. I was also able to help with some of the other students since I was professionally employed to teach belaying so when there was everyone learning how to belay I was able to take some students to ease the load and have everyone get their questions answered quicker. I also ended up clearing an early open time for after class with Gus Hemmer to allow the students that had an interest in climbing to continue practicing. I love to learn about rock climbing myself and it was great to see others taking an interest in it too! This was my favorite class of the year, I only wish we were able to finish it out in person.
This was taken on an optional class day where we took the skills that we had learned and applied it to climbing trees with a rope.
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