The rock climbing scene in Halifax is small. For better or for worse, King’s is also small. And for a city of over half a million people, leaving your apartment almost always guarantees a run-in with a familiar face.
If one does not dedicate themselves to exploring the city beyond their backyard, this tight-knit King’s community can quickly start to suffocate.
Rock climbing is an excellent way to expand your world. Even – or especially – when you’re a complete beginner.
“A lot of people […] don’t end up going because they don’t want to feel like they’re surrounded by people who are just so much better,” said FYP alum Ella Hollidge-Richer. “You don’t have to be good at it. You just have to enjoy it.”
For the brainier King’s students among us who want to exercise their minds along with their bodies, bouldering is a perfect fit.
“It requires both thinking and physical effort,” said Hollidge-Richer. Finn Turner, a second-year arts student at King’s, agrees. He said there’s more to bouldering than just “throwing yourself up the wall.”
“It’s more so about analysing and understanding the moves that you have to do,” said Turner. “It’s very cerebral.”
Hollidge-Richer and Turner climb at Seven Bays Bouldering, one of two climbing gyms on the Halifax peninsula. The other, East Peak Climbing, has roped walls ranging from 30 to 50 feet, as well as a smaller bouldering section.
Seven Bays Bouldering has an adjoined cafe, perfect for study breaks between climbs.
“We’d go to unwind from our papers during FYP,” said Hollidge-Richer.
“We would climb for a bit, then write, then study for exams and then go back to climbing again. It’s just a really great way to kind of release that stress and tension, and also low-key get fit.”
“It’s both very social as well as individual,” said Turner. “You can go on your own or go with a group of friends.”
And it doesn’t matter how good those friends are. All the routes, regardless of difficulty, are mixed up on the wall, so beginners can climb alongside people who’ve been climbing their whole lives, and learn from them along the way. It can be both an incredibly social and solitary activity.
No matter your skill level, the process of trying and persevering through a difficult route is a rewarding one, said second-year student Fallon O’Grady Berry.
“Half the time, you’re just falling off the wall and you’re hitting the ground again and again, and all of your friends are standing there watching …” she said.“It’s hard to have an ego. But then when you get it, it’s like ‘yes!’”
“It takes my mind off of school or emotional stuff, because at the end of the day, I’m just trying to climb a wall,” said O’Grady Berry.
When I tried rock climbing in my first year at King’s, I was shocked to find that I loved it. Though I’m not a super sporty person, the combination of a mental and physical challenge ignited the part of my brain that brought me and so many others to King’s: the desire to learn new things and overcome challenges.
Nerdy King’s students, I implore you: try rock climbing. Use that student discount. If you hate it, hunt me down and tell me. Regardless, I, and everyone else who got on that damn rock climbing wall, will be thrilled that you tried it.