Author unknown.

At first thought, it all seems rather mad: piling into a minibus on a cold Friday night, bombing up the M1 for a couple of hours and then wandering into a field, at midnight, with a torch as your only light source in which to pitch a tent! Okay, so it is mad, but why not? Oh, and the reason for this?

To get two awesome days, climbing the gritstone crags of the Peak District. As a relative novice to the world of rock climbing, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but just the thought of leaving London for the weekend was reason enough to go.

Waking up on Saturday morning to the sound of whistling birds rather than rush-hour traffic, with the crag only a few minutes away, I was convinced I had made the right decision! With all the banter from more experienced club members about past triumphs and plans for the day, I wondered if it would be possible to climb anything without looking totally pathetic. The skill of these people, however, means that one is able to develop at their own pace in a relaxed and safe environment.

We were very lucky as there was no rain all weekend, with the added bonus of sun on Sunday, making those first moves even more enjoyable! Returning to London on Sunday night, I felt refreshed, albeit tired, and ready to take on those 9am lectures! It was certainly one of the best weekends I’ve had in two years of being at Imperial.

As well as these trips, which are run every other weekend, the club visits a London climbing wall every Wednesday. This is where I did my first climb, and although outdoor climbing is a different game to wall climbing, it is an excellent way of seeing what climbing is all about, without the commitment of a whole weekend away. Climbing walls also help you to improve your technique, whether you decide to go outdoors or not. So, you feel like having a go? Then just turn up and come along. We meet at the college climbing wall* (off the walkway, next to STA Travel) on Wednesdays at 1pm. All you need is yourself (well, and about ten quid!) By about 6pm we tend to leave the wall and head for a pub somewhere around college for an evening of chatting and relaxation. So, my advice to anyone getting a bit fed up with daily college life: forget Southside, forget tutorial sheets. Pack your rucksack and jump in the minibus. Believe me, it’s a blast!

*Amendment we now meet outside the union and STA travel no longer exists