Rock climbing and ‘Search to survive’

We were out rock climbing, abseiling and orienteering today on the Ardbeg peninsula. A handful of pupils even managed five climbs and an abseil in their half-day session. The Reds and Blues were competing today with the Blues winning the climbing and the Reds taking the ‘Search to Survive’, an orienteering course amongst the crags and hill lochs looking for posts that earn points for the team and kit for survival island.

There are a couple of snippits from the last few days from Ollie and Kevin below;

“When I was doing the climb ‘Black Pearl’ and ‘Tarantula’ I felt amazing, looking for the hand-holds, slowly climbing up, then looking down at what you’ve achieved. At some points you would look down for foot-holes, you would see one and you would think, it can’t be big enough to stand on.” Ollie G

“Arkle was in our sights. The sky was clear after the wind last night. We all got our bags ready and then we set off for the mountain. The climb began through a small forest and then the slope started to steepen. We used a nearby stream to help us find our way up the mountain. The water was very cool and amazing to drink.

It was a hot day so the layers were soon coming off. The slope turned to scree and we were now walking up loose peices of rock. Our group reached the first summit very quickly. We managed to reach the second summit in a record time for the adventure camp.

We had lunch on the top of the summit, which consisted of sandwiches, fruit and biscuits or flapjacks. We then went back down a different way. It was between the two summits and it had been shaped by a glacier from long ago. We soon found ourselves on boggy ground and back at the bothy” Kevin H

Everyone is well and in good spirits, thoughts turn to survival island tomorrow evening. A chance to craft their own experience from the skills they have learnt here, on their penultimate night as a year group together!