Ambleside Campus Climbing Wall Reopens
Sitting in Kendal Climbing Wall after having taken out a mortgage to do one climbing session I began to ask myself why our free UOC wall wasn’t open? As time went on and after paying a tenner for every indoor climbing session after lockdown I began to feel let down by the lack of action on opening the university climbing wall, something that was advertised as a key facility during open days.
I set about asking other students on their opinions on the university wall and finding out whether they would use it or not. I discovered that not only did a lot of students want access to the wall but some were already attending the University gym. Why was the gym open and the climbing wall not?
Inspired by the strong words of students around me, I put a petition together and circulated it as far and wide as possible. It gained support from students, staff, alumni, family, societies and local businesses. With the support from the petition I put forward a letter, which was backed by the mountaineering society, to the university demanding that the university climbing wall be opened in line with the Association of British Climbing Walls’ guidance on health and safety in a Covid19 world. If the University did not reopen the wall within three weeks students were prepared to protest to get the wall reopened.
The climbing wall was opened 2 weeks later and students now have full access to the wall from 8:30am-10pm as long as they have completed an induction with the team at stores. To book your induction email: ambtechnicians@cumbria.ac.uk
Thank you to all those who signed and shared the petition, this is a good example of the power that students have if they use their voice as a community.
- Alex Littlechild, UCSU Ambleside Rep 2020/21
