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who learnt to climb from a uni club? (re VSU)


anthonyk

18-Mar-2005
4:23:03 PM

on the topic of VSU, how many people started climbing either through a university club or from someone who learnt through one?

18-Mar-2005
4:40:29 PM

I started climbing back in 1997 in the RMIT altitude club, now RMIT outdoors club, when Jacquie Middleton was president. I still climb with the club, or people I've met through the club.


oweng

18-Mar-2005
4:45:50 PM

Learned to climb while at uni, with people at uni. but we were not in any climbing club.


gordoste

18-Mar-2005
5:06:09 PM

learnt to climb with Sydney Uni Rockclimbing & Mountaineering Club (Webpage).


Superstu

18-Mar-2005
5:40:52 PM

i learnt at yewni, it was a total rort. We had shitloads of expensive toys to play with, which got tossed in the dirt, left behind at the campsite as the car sped off to melb, or ended up on people's personal racks etc. Nobody cared because it was someone else's money.


Nick Kaz

18-Mar-2005
7:14:52 PM

I learned at uni...

Now im a 4th year student in a 3 year degree,and doing uni part time :-(

but im climbing 3 days a week, I have 4 racks almost to myself and more ropes than I can point an atc at :-)


Romfrantic

18-Mar-2005
8:28:54 PM

You know where I got my crazy outdoor ideas from Anthony, yeah the UNSWOC (or BMC as it was known in those days)...;-)
(totally unrelated - oh I just got back from a little jam session with the Black Keys at the Triple J studios in Syd! aaaahhhhhhhhh ...I feel like a 16 year old girl again :-))))


AlanD

18-Mar-2005
8:31:10 PM

Sort of. I started caving at university (UNSWSS & SUSS), but didn't take up climbing for at least 10 years after I finished. I think my general interest in climbing related activities started because of my earlier caving attivities.

Caving: The ultimate form of indoor climbing on real rock walls.

19-Mar-2005
11:37:27 AM

I started at RMIT back in 1968, before it became a Uni, but after it was no longer the Working Mens College.


anthonyk

19-Mar-2005
12:59:31 PM

On 18/03/2005 AlanD wrote:
>Caving: The ultimate form of indoor climbing on real rock walls.

yeah caving rocks :)

19-Mar-2005
2:13:41 PM

I started a year before BA at RMIT. Probably would not have heard of rock climbing if not for the the "bushwalking" club there at the time. We were really spoilt in those days with at least 3 hawser laid nylon ropes to choose from and 20-30 similar slings with drilled out hex nuts!

Anyway, the point is that if not for uni clubs, many of us would never have found our way to Hanging Rock, let alone Arapiles and the Gramps and beyond. AND I didn't mind my "union fees" subsidising dramas clubs, student newspapers, knitting clubs etc etc

PS: How yo doin' BA? Hope to drag my body up to Araps for the VCC dinner this year. See you there?

gfdonc

19-Mar-2005
7:49:18 PM

MUMC is partially to blame, particularly on the aid-climbing side (that's M-grades to all you Queenslanders) but I had started climbing before starting Uni. In fact I took my only serious fall the week before Uni started, decked out at Hanging Rock and turned up to orientation with one hell of a swollen black eye!!
- steve

tastybigmac

20-Mar-2005
8:47:53 AM

I climbed for years b4 going to uni but still joined the club there. I help them out by taking people climbing and they teach me to kayak. its a good deal i think.


steph

20-Mar-2005
3:54:35 PM

i think a uni climbing club could be good if only my uni supported it. i've signed up to start one but they've decided its not worth the money. i gess some unis just suck in terms of sporting options. :( on the other hand it's not so much of a problem for me cos i climb with a squad and train regularly with friends i know who climb. i think uni groups aren't necessary cos if you go outdoors or even indoors enough you're bound to meet ppl you can climb frequently with.


Hatman

20-Mar-2005
8:03:15 PM

OK, the trend is that uni clubs are a positive thing for the climbing community. I have a different story.

Many of this forum readers i am sure have groaned in disapointment when a uni club turns up to ruin the peace of the crag, shite in the bush, drop gear, trample a track and generally perform ati-social deeds.

I learnt to climb in year 12. we were instructed in very small groups and were taught crag ethics, to tread softly, respect other crag users ect.

Allot of this is lost upon the uni crowd as they are generally bigger groups (due to lack of instructors) with climbers that have a little knowledge but big mouths that are not good for the beginners in the group!

Of course not all uni groups are like this, but I tried climbing with a uni club more than once and after a few outings with them I realized that unless there is a strong leader(s) who is prepared to take control and impart some wisdom the trip often turns into a spectacle where the experienced climbers use the beginners for belay and leave some members of the group very disillusioned with the whole experience. Some never climb again.

Also the activities of these larger groups can be detrimental to the other users of the crag, To have a group of 10 + climbers turn up often turns away other climbers, bush walkers, bird watchers. This can also arouse the attention of the land managers resulting in restriction on the use of areas, not to mention the environmental impact of bigger groups. ( My first uni climbing trip consisted of 23 students plus instructors I didn’t get a climb the whole day)

Other thoughts on this?


AlanD

20-Mar-2005
11:46:21 PM

On 20/03/2005 Hatman wrote:
>Other thoughts on this?

I can't talk with respect to climbing clubs, but I effectively ran combined all the Sydney based University Sailing Clubs for about 6 years in the 80's and was also involved with taking beginners away caving during the same period for the UNSW Speleo's.

What you describe was always a huge risk with any university club, particularly at the start of the year where there is a huge rush of new members, your older more experienced members have moved off into the workforce etc. This was part of the reason why we unofficially combined all the uni sailing clubs, as we could pool our equipment and human resources. Sydney uni went back a week earlier, which allowed us to look after Sydney uni the first week and the other unis a week later (and not have new Sydney Uni members there unless they had the skills to assist) . In the latter years we also attempted get people to nominate which day they were going to turn up for the first 3-4 weeks. With the weather cooling off in April, the numbers tended to drop off rather quickly which really allowed us to sort out who were likely to be members that stuck around for the long term.

We generally tried to let people know what they would experience for the first few weeks and told them that things would improve in the coming weeks and months. We often found that the members that stuck with the club were those that joined half way through the year, probably because they received far more attention / assistance.

A couple of interesting rules which we brought in.
1. No hitting on the new members. You'll be amazed at how many members you lose because your senior members thought of 1st year students as fresh meat.
2. No drugs to be used in front of new members and no drugs were to be offered either. Amongst any university club you'll always find a few wanting to use drugs and we turned a blind eye to it, but they accepted our argument that pulling drugs out in front of a 17 year old kid who's lead a sheltered life was not acceptable and it wasn't for us to introduce drugs to them. If they were that way inclined they'd find the members of the club into drugs.

With respect to our impact on others, on trips away this was always difficult to manage, but we tried our best by selecting areas away from others to have camp sites and do any (lots) drinking. Often it paid to get one person to liase with the management of the camping area and for that person to introduce themselves before the main group arrived and make sure any issues that arose, was dealt with via that liason person. We actually found we copped the blame for problems that weren't associated with us, but because we had a liason person, thing could be sorted out before it became a major problem.

Caving was a different situation, we were often cosidered less of a problem than many of the general public when we went to public access areas. We tended to work with the parm management to assit them with the public in what was acceptable behaviour, so again getting someone to liase with the management was important.

Ultimately it just comes down to management skills gained through past experience

Wendy

21-Mar-2005
7:26:58 PM

Maybe I was spoilt by being at a relatively small uni, but AUMC was great. Sure, introductory days were busy, but never larger than school groups that I now guide out at the mount. We made a point of having information nights that people had to attend before going on our trips talking about caring for the environement, shitting in the bush, carrying out rubbish, having your loud parties away from others ... It wasn't perfect of course, particularly when I started, there were no clear guidelines about instructing. Over my 4 years there, we developed policies and protocols addressing these things. I frequently see unis sending students on ACIA courses or employing guides to run beginner days and lead climbing courses - there is much less of the haphazard instruction that accompanied many of our introductions to climbing (not just those in uni clubs!). Like any club, company or even group of friends you might learn with, the quality of your experience will depend to some extent on the individual people you are taught by and with. There are appalling companies out there who's appearence at a crag will make you want to run away as well. Possibly before you have to rescue one of their clients for them. I frequently cringe at what I see people doing or being taught in private groups too.


rhinckle

21-Mar-2005
8:40:54 PM

had one weekend class, w/- a bendigo outdoor ed student, via castlemaine CAE, which was exciting and encouraging.
a year or so later joined the UNEMC. this gave me experience, and over time education. Seriously valuable mentoring and enough experience to realize that it would be worth buying my own gear.

the university of new england club was seriously important in my learning to lead.


Mikey

21-Mar-2005
9:22:48 PM

I learnt to climb at RMIT

climbingjac

21-Mar-2005
9:28:56 PM

Learnt from a club @ RMIT

There are 25 messages in this topic.