Page 44 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

Exercise SICILIAN CLIMBER
AT falling in April saw the perfect opportunity for eight Officer Cadets to take advantage of the early Sicilian Sun and spend a week rock climbing in and around the city of Palermo. Eddie Tomkins, an experienced AT instructor in both climbing and mountaineering disciplines, was recruited to instruct the Officer Cadets and pass on his valuable knowledge.
The group consisted of three ability groups. The first was a group of five novices; they spent the week gaining their RSF qualifications, which took them from learning
how to put on a
harness and how
to belay right up,
to an introduction
to lead climbing,
with important les-
sons such as abseiling and trad gear in between. They soon found out that climbing was hard work, most complaining about sore arms by the end of the first day. However, they all soldiered on and by the end of the week had substan- tially increased their bottom rope climbing grade as well as confidently leading less challenging climbs.
The second group was a group of two, who had passed their RSF qualification during the AT completed at the end of Junior term. They were
They soon found out that climbing was hard work...
very keen to get back on to the rock and expand their climbing knowledge. They learnt how to thread through at a top of a climb during the first day, enabling them to set up many of the bot- tom ropes for the rest of the group. They were
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