Autism Hearing Issues Neurodiverse Activities Visually Impaired Experiences Miscellaneous

Our First Time at Clip 'n' Climb

John and Wayne's first time at Clip 'n' Climb. Two blind friends enjoying wall climbing and surprising everyone.

Sue

Sue

— 3 min read
John is sitting on top of a green pole, holding onto a rope in front of him
John at the top of "Stairway to Heaven"

Going wall-climbing was something that John and our friend Wayne had discussed doing a few times, so they decided to take the plunge! We looked at Clip 'n' Climb in Stone, Staffordshire because we had heard that it was very accessible, plus they also do SEND sessions. In fact, they told John that the only time they wouldn't let you climb was if you were pregnant. Obviously this wasn't an issue for either John or Wayne(!), so they decided to go for it!

Normally you book a session online but because John and Wayne are both blind, they were asked to book by telephone instead - just so that staff could ensure that an instructor would be available just for them. We booked a day during term-time, as that was more likely to be quieter than school holidays or weekends. The cost was £10.75 each for a 55 minute session.

We arrived and I completed the paperwork for the two of them. Then they were both taken to be fitted with their harnesses and given an overview of how the session would work.

John is standing on the left and has the instructor in front of him, fitting the safety harness to him
John being fitted with his harness

Once the harnesses had been fitted, we headed out to the main arena. The instructor had John climb a wall first, then Wayne had a go, while I looked after Liberty, his guide dog, for him. The first wall was like cheese, with holes in it, and was selected as the easiest one to start with. After explaining what the wall was like, John climbed first, then Wayne had his go. They both managed to do that wall really quickly.

John climbing a yellow wall, with different size holes in it for hand and foot holds. The insides of the holes have different colours. John is wearing his Meta AI glasses so he could get some point of view footage
John climbing the cheese wall
Wayne climbing a yellow wall, with different size holes in it for hand and foot holds. The insides of the holes have different colours.
Wayne climbing the cheese wall

Liberty was very quiet while Wayne was climbing. As she wasn't working at that time she didn't have her harness on, and she was thrilled when Wayne made it down safely.

A yellow labradorite jumping up at Wayne to greet him when his feet were back on the ground
Liberty greeting Wayne when he was back on the ground

The instructor was pleasantly surprised at how quickly John and Wayne mastered some of these walls, and was equally surprised when they both managed to get to the top of the "Stairway to Heaven" - a series of green poles at different heights that went round to almost make a circle. John got some interesting POV footage on his Meta AI glasses while doing this climb! That footage can be seen in our YouTube video.

John on the green poles of "Stairway to Heaven". He has his right foot on a lower pole and his left knee and hands on the higher pole in front of him
John climbing on the green poles of the "Stairway to Heaven"
A still image from John's POV footage from his glasses. He is on a pole near to the top of the "Stairway to Heaven". In front of him are other walls that can be climbed, and on the floor below Wayne and Liberty can be seen waiting.
A still image from John's POV footage while he's climbing the "Stairway to Heaven"
Wayne is sitting on a green pole with the instructor in front of him. The instructor is telling him where the next pole is
Wayne having his turn at climbing the "Stairway to Heaven"

Finally, John attempted a wall that had hand holds and foot holds that turned! He made a total of seven attempts at this wall, but didn't make it. I have to admire his determination to give it a go though!

John is standing in front of a wall with hand and foot holds arranged in a circle. His left hand is on a hand hold and his right hand is out of shot. The circle these hand holds are in spins when weight is applied.
John attempting the wall with the moving hand and foot holds

Both John and Wayne enjoyed the session they had there and are keen to go again, and try some of the other walls. John in particular is determined to beat the wall he fell off seven times!

The video of John and Wayne's Clip 'n' Climb session can be seen below.

Blind Wall Climbing Chaos!

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