A while back climbing pulled off a bit of a coupe when we had a evening at 10 Downing Street, now it has been rare that any other sport has managed to get there feet into the door of Prime Ministers House. However due to John Mann and Angela Smith and other MP’s we got to showcase ourselves at the highest level. All the great and the good turned up on the night to highlight Great British Mountaineering Achievements.
So why am I dredging up this story now, well at that event Martin Doyle the top dog at Plas Y Brenin the National Mountain Centre invite Angela Smith to come on a Rock Climbing course, as whilst Angela has helped champion mountaineering, she confesses to really being a hillwalker. So this weekend I was tasked by Plas Y Brenin to direct the Discover Rock Climbing Course on which Angela and Her Husband Steve had come on.
We had a lovely weekend, where along with five other members of the public we went bouldering, single pitch, multipitch and indoor climbing. Managing to avoid the rain, and enjoy ourselves at the same time. Anyway I hope that Angela has left with a little more of an understanding of what climbing is. She seemed to have a reasonable understanding, and what was really good to hear was that she would like to see every school child have the opportunity to try at least indoor climbing.
She recognises the benefit of climbing as a lifestyle sport, one where participation doesn’t drop off at school leavers age like football, rugby or other regular team sports. She knew how many calories an hour climbing can burn. I was impressed by her background knowledge on the sport. As a member of the cross party committee for mountaineering, it seems like we as mountaineers may well be in save hands with friends in high places.
