Climbing With Kids

I was lucky a few weeks ago to be able to buy a whole lot of climbing gear for an absolute bargain price. Harnesses, ropes, helmets, camming devices, quickdraws, the lot. I got in contact with a couple of guys who were getting out of climbing and they just wanted to give their gear to a good home. The only thing I have had to buy is a kids climbing harness, a Petzl Simba. These harnesses are great as they are not only the right size, but they are a full body harness, with webbing going over the shoulders. They also clip in at the sternum area, so that if there is a fall the child will be held in the upright position.

I figured that the best thing for a first climb for Oskar was something very easy that would inspire confidence and get him used to how all the gear works. We went camping for the weekend at our favorite place, Pebbly Beach. There are lots of sea cliffs here with wide rock shelves in front of them, so I knew there would be something appropriate. After a bit of searching, we found one section of cliff on the northern end of Pebbly Beach that was about four or five metres high, with lots of big holds.

Oskar topping out on Rocky Cliff

I scrambled up the cliff and anchored to a stout tree. With the rope set up, and the harness on and tested, I ran Oskar through “climbing speak”, so that we knew what each other was saying (on belay!, climb when ready, climbing, watch me, etc.) and so that there would be no slip up in procedures. He climbed a really easy route to start with, and I realized that kids are just natural climbers. The big thing was having the rope and harness there, which gave him confidence knowing that he could not fall far. Also, rather than use one of the bigger climbing helmets, we used his skiing helmet for head protection. I know it’s not a proper climbing helmet, but it was not going to fall off and it was more than sufficient if he was going to whack his head against the cliff.

After the initial route I encouraged him to try a couple of harder ones further to the left. It was interesting to see him get stuck on “the crux”, then figure it out, then on the second climb he knew the moves to get past the hard bit. I then told him that he had to give the routes a name, as he was the first person to climb them and that was his prerogative. The first one he named “Rocky Cliff”, which seemed sensible enough. I then explained that he could give them interesting names, so after the third route he said “this ones named Yugio, and the one in the middle is called Big Eye” (it had a big bucket hold in the middle shaped like an eye).

Getting Yugio wired!

About an hour was enough, and we packed up the gear and headed back around to the beach. There is something very primal and satisfying about climbing. It’s a combination of being outdoors, adrenalin, exercise, technical knowledge, and gear freak satisfaction. It is also a great confidence builder for children, knowing that they can do something to push their abilities while staying safe (as well as learn about climbing gear and techniques of course!!).