Author: Wynsee Lau

“One for the history books” can only begin to describe the experience that was Fresher’s Trip 2025. This is a long one, so I have graciously included an abstract for TLDR purposes.

Abstract

The 2025 Fresher’s Trip was an eventful blend of climbing, chaos, and mechanical misadventure. Over the course of the trip, twenty-five climbers navigated all the challenges that the weekend had to offer - from shattered minibus windows and rogue fireworks to the infamous Double Meat Junction, midnight creek swims and dangerously competitive boulder-pad wrestling matches. Freshers and veterans alike demonstrated remarkable resilience and creativity, executing improvised window repairs, heroic minibus hill starts and questionable feats of boulder-pad engineering. Despite the obstacles, the trip concluded successfully, with all participants returning to London slightly battered, but immensely entertained and with a renewed sense of ICMC camaraderie.

The Journey

We set off on a chilly Friday night, twenty five keen climbers packed into one minibus and two cars, £60 worth of Library Café cakes in hand and a long drive ahead. After a few games of Fireboy and Watergirl (Fig.1), we formulated a game plan. Benedict’s car would pick up Zak and the last few bits of gear from Westway. Isaac’s car would stop off at Wynsee’s house to collect a couple sleeping mats. The minibus would head to the Earl’s Court Tesco Superstore to pick up Jeremy, Arush and the all-important food shop. With the vehicles loaded, 13 wide-eyed freshers aboard and spirits high, we set off for The Peak District - only 45 minutes later than anticipated (Fig.2)!

It was a promising start. One that lasted approximately 15 minutes, at which point the two cars received word of the weekend’s first misfortune.

The Window

The incident occurred deep within the treacherous lanes of the Earl’s Court Tesco Superstore car park at around 19:00. While attempting an ambitiously tight left-hand turn, the minibus made contact with one of the walls and the left passenger window shattered all over poor Seamus (Fig.3,4).

Fortunately, no one was hurt as a result of the accident and the passengers swiftly evacuated the vehicle. Faced with the possibility of having to cancel the trip, the committee launched into a series of crisis calls to determine the most appropriate course of action. With the Union out of hours, Noah sought counsel from the security team who, after a thorough risk assessment, advised the careful removal of the remaining glass and the strategic application of cardboard and tape. The team got to work with a roll of duct tape, and a dream. They pushed out the glass with surgical precision and neatly taped two pieces of MDF (very kindly donated by Tesco) with binbags sandwiched in between them to the window frame (Fig.5,6).

Figure 6: Noah (L) and Benjamin (R) implementing cutting-edge waterproofing technology, demonstrating the real-world potential of Imperial’s latest metamaterials research.

The freshers looked on in awe, bewildered by the expert craftsmanship unfolding before them, carried out by Imperial’s finest engineers (Fig.7).

In no time at all (1 and a half hours), the window was as good as new and the all-important food shop was done (Fig.8,9).

One last obstacle stood between the team and their grand departure. The contact had critically compromised the door latch, now refusing every attempt from the team to close it. With a few delicate and highly technical manoeuvres (a few body slams), the door finally cooperated.

The Cars

Isaac’s car collected the sleeping mats and Benedict’s car picked up some gear from Westway - where Isaac executed, quite possibly, the worst parallel park job in ICMC history. By 9pm, everyone was back on track and we set off once again - only 3 hours later than anticipated. Isaac’s car, feeling somewhat left out of the evening’s excitement, soon stumbled upon a scene of modern chivalry and found itself in the crossfire of a Lime bike fireworks jousting battle. Thanks to Isaac’s skilful handling of the car, no was harmed in spite of Gao’s unfortunately opened passenger window. Fortunately, the window repair services of the minibus team were not necessary on this occasion. They made it to the M1 with the help of Kian’s questionable navigation, but just as Wynsee was recounting Isaac’s impressive mid-firework manoeuvring of the car to Peter, Isaac suddenly slammed on the brakes as to not rear-end the car in front. The gap between the two cars shrank alarmingly but by some miracle, no contact was made and a motorway crash was luckily avoided. It was safe to say we then turned down the music a bit to calm the nerves of a slightly frazzled Isaac. The two cars met up at the Leicester Forest East Service Station to refuel and to allow Kian to stretch out his poor hip flexors. Benedict’s car did not seem to have any incidents to report. Arnav appreciated the peace so much, he had apparently set off into a slumber several times. After an interesting incident in which Isaac’s car seemingly teleported around the car park (a result of Benedict’s boredom due to his rather uneventful drive and Kian’s cruel betrayal), the two cars set off on the final stretch to Rowsley Village Hall.

The AdBlues :(

The minibus team on the other hand, continued their impressive streak of misfortune. A warning had popped up on the dashboard: the AdBlue needed refilling, or the minibus would not restart after a certain number of miles. Noah promptly purchased and refilled the AdBlue, but the warning persisted. This would have to be an issue for another day, it was getting late and the priority was to get everyone to the village hall. Travelling through the pitch black, the team discovered that the minibus was severely underqualified to tackle the rolling hills of the Peak District – it was in fact, rolling down them, backwards. On several occasions, the team had to go out and push the minibus to help start it - at one point, leaving Arav sprinting after it, leaping aboard while it was still in motion all while nursing his toe fracture (affectionately named Bendi).

The minibus team finally arrived at Rowsley Village Hall at approximately 2:30am and were welcomed by a lovely platter of cakes and desserts from the Library Café. After trialling several sleeping arrangements (Fig.10,11) to compensate for the shortage of sleeping mats and Isaac insisting that he did not need a sleeping bag (he later regretted this), we all nodded off for an early night (3:30am).

Day 1

The group woke up bright and early (8:30am) to the sweet melody of Free Tibet and the kitchen was swiftly filled with the comforting smells of instant coffee and toast (Fig.12). Many members of the trip tried Biscoff spread for the first time. Notably, Ethan ate about half a tub. Wynsee set up a very efficient eyeliner station (Fig.13) and Noah was churning out several mugs of microwaved porridge for the group to enjoy. Before long, we were fuelled up and ready to climb some rocks at The Roaches.

Unfortunately, the cars had to wait for about an hour at the crag as once again, the minibus demonstrated its incompetency on the hills. Isaac’s car bravely fended off a parking space for the minibus as they desperately tracked its location. They noticed the minibus had stopped in its tracks. Once again, the minibus team had had to push it up the hills (Fig.14) and Arav recreated his dramatic leap (much to the dismay of Bendi).

On the verge of a breakdown due to the AdBlue issue, the minibus frantically drove past the space that Isaac’s car had defended and found a more accessible parking space – this would turn out to be an unfortunate mistake.

The Roaches

Finally at the crag, we got some climbing in! A big group were climbing “Greener Traverse” (f5+) and “The Greener Traverse” (f6b) (Fig.15). Figure 15: The group trying “Greener Traverse” (f5+) and “The Greener Traverse” (f6b).

Isaac, Kian, Shu, Quynh, Mickey and Wynsee found a fun slab to try (Fig.17,18).

Figure 18: Mickey taking a selfie. Kian on the slab with Isaac, Shu and Quynh (L-R) looking on.

Jeremy and Benjamin set up a toprope on “Yong” (HVD 4a) - apparently not very well as later discovered by Isaac (Fig.19).

Isaac set up his slackline (Fig.21) and Ethan completed his very first roped climb (Yong on toprope) with the help of Arush and Wynsee singing Gracie Abrams for encouragement (Fig.22). His send was closely followed by sends from Claire, Toby, Oscar and Arnav.

Ethan had a delicious triple decker bread sandwich (no water) for lunch while spooning Arav to tick off 2 squares from the Fresher’s Trip Bingo (Fig.23,24).

Down at the road, the glorified wheelie bin (the minibus) was throwing yet another tantrum. The AdBlue problem that was once deemed an issue for another day had now become a much more pressing issue with the minibus now refusing to start. Noah called a mechanic who confirmed that the minibus would have to get towed back to the village hall (Fig.25).

Regardless, spirits were still high. With the help of Louis, Benedict completed his first trad lead “Raven Rock Gully” (D) which he affectionately nicknamed “stinky crack” (Fig.26).

Arush, Toby, Oscar, Olaf, Ethan and Vasily went to the upper tier to try some boulders (Fig.27).

Quynh went on a wander around the crag and at sunset, Vasily, Ethan, Wynsee and Toby walked to a nearby highpoint that overlooked the beautiful scenery (Fig.28,29,30). Oscar, Jonathan, Shu and Claire were getting in their final climbs for the day (Fig .31).

The sun was rapidly setting and it was home time. With the minibus now broken down, the committee had to improvise another plan to get everyone and all the gear back to the village hall. Noah sent 5 freshers (+ Seamus) off with the mechanic - no committee member required (?!) (they all made it back though) while Isaac ferried another five in his car. The last few people made it down from the crag and Ethan deemed his successful jumpscare Benjamin, Gao and Wynsee worth the rashes he got from the bush he was hiding in.

Fresher’s Dinner and Initiations

With the help of Benedict and a few Ubers, we made it back to the village hall and the freshers began preparing a hearty veggie chilli for dinner (Fig.32). We soon learnt that the minibus had received a delightful £70 parking ticket at The Roaches (Fig.33). Given the circumstances (breaking down), there was not much Noah could have done. The good news was that the freshers had finished cooking a very impressive meal that we enjoyed before the ICMC initiations began (Fig.34).

The Matches (no particular order)

Notable matches include Seamus and Jeremy’s in which VAR had to be consulted, Seamus managed to take Jeremy’s sock off less than half a second before Jeremy could return the favour (Fig.37).

Ethan and Wynsee’s match lasted approximately 6 seconds and ended in a concussion after Ethan decided to run straight at me. Unsurprisingly, I flew across the hall and smashed my head into the ground (Fig.38). I would argue this was a DNF as Ethan did not remove my sock, the others maintain this was a KO. Either way, the lessons learned are: don’t body slam into someone half your weight and wear a helmet if you are going to boulder-pad wrestle Ethan.

Vasily and Isaac made it to the finals after some upsets knocked out the favourites (Benedict, Seamus and Ethan) (Fig.39). Helmets were adopted for this match after Wynsee’s unfortunate accident. Vasily fought valiantly for the honour of the freshers, but a well-timed tactical manoeuvre from Isaac secured him an early advantage. After a fiercely intense battle, both of Vasily’s socks had been removed (Fig.40) and Isaac emerged victorious as the 2025 Boulder-Pad Wrestling Champion (Fig.41).

Ethan, Arav, Louis and Benedict played the sling game while a few others attempted climbing over and under the tables where we saw some impressive sends (Fig.42). The term “The Olaf Method” was coined to describe an awkward and slightly painful head-first beta. Louis completed a very impressive nonsight of 4 consecutive tables, thanks in part to Jeremy accidentally pouring cider into his eyes mid-climb (Fig.43).

The night ended with a leisurely midnight stroll and stargazing around the village (Fig.44). Despite the committee’s strong words of caution, Louis went for a chilly dip in the nearby creek. Jeremy and Arush may or may not have given him one too many mid-climb sips of cider. Louis made it out of the creek, slightly more sober than before (maybe not) and everyone finally headed off to bed an entire hour earlier than the night previous.

Day 2

Day 2 started very similarly to Day 1. Everyone was awoken by the blasting of Free Tibet, and we headed to the kitchen for coffee, toast and Kian’s porridge. Benjamin found the binbags that he had convinced Wynsee were in the minibus (they were in his bag) and the group got to cleaning up the hall. Louis, Wynsee and Seamus spent about 20 minutes scraping burnt rice and oats off the bottom of the pots (Fig.45) but before long, everything was packed up into the vehicles and we headed off to Froggatt for another day of climbing.

The minibus had stopped once again as Noah was about to park on the road (Fig.46). Louis stationed himself on the side of the road to direct traffic and the minibus team got out one last time to push. As we began unloading the gear, it started raining and it was getting heavier by the minute. Any hope of climbing was quickly dwindling and yet again, the committee had to improvise another plan. There were talks of going to the pub being thrown around but eventually, we settled on heading to The Foundry Climbing Gym in Sheffield (not beating the plastic princess allegations).

Kian’s questionable navigation resulted in Isaac’s car doing several circles around The Foundry Gym before finally finding the entrance and discovering that Kian’s questionable navigation had led their car to The Foundry (weightlifting) Gym and not the climbing gym (Fig.47). After a lunch stop, we all made it to the (climbing) gym (Fig.48). The most notable send from this excursion was Zak’s indoor E3 on toprope! Benjamin discovered that you could not place gear into the cracks and thus lost his pizza bet with Jeremy.

The Double Meat Junction

The final stop on this trip would be to Loughborough for the annual ICMC Fresher’s Trip Double Meat Junction tradition. 4 brave ICMC freshers (Oscar, Arnav, Kian and Ethan) took it upon themselves to attempt the formidable challenge of eating two large Meat Junction Pizzas within an hour to write themselves into ICMC history. Isaac, the sole 2024 champion, and indeed the only current champion in ICMC, strategically tapped out on the grounds that he still had about four hours of driving left to do. Oscar was off to a strong start, finishing one and a half pizzas in just 18 minutes. Ethan was off to an even stronger start, completing the same feat in only 10 minutes - though the rest of his car remained unconvinced by his strategy of leaving the crusts until the end. Arnav polished off his first pizza in 15 minutes and Kian maintained a steady, methodical pace. Conversely, Oscar and Ethan began to slow dramatically, each with half a pizza remaining (Fig.49).

Kian had only a couple of slices remaining, while Ethan faced his biggest challenge: the crusts. Time was running out, and both were visibly struggling. Then, as The Final Countdown played triumphantly in the background, Kian completed The Double Meat Junction in an astonishing 47 minutes (Fig.52). A full five minutes faster than Isaac’s 2024 victory, all while navigating! When asked for a victory speech, he could only manage a burp. As if The Double Meat Junction was not difficult enough, Kian then had a few Squares for dessert. A truly impressive showing.

Ethan, on the other hand, was well and truly against the clock. With only a few minutes remaining, he faced his final obstacle: a handful of the dreaded crusts - the self-proclaimed worst part of any pizza. In the dying seconds of the final minute and The Final Countdown playing in the background once again, Ethan completed The Double Meat Junction in 59 minutes. Upon his nail-biting victory, he offered a few truly motivational words: “Six, seven” (Fig.53).

And so, with sore muscles, full stomachs and one fewer minibus window to our name, we returned to London - a little sleepier, a little more brainrotted and a lot more seasoned in the art of surviving an eventful weekend (Fig.54).

Finally, a few words of thank you are in order. Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone one who came on this trip, you all made this a genuinely unforgettable weekend. Your enthusiasm, despite the mishaps and the rain and cold, was truly inspiring. To everyone new to ICMC this year, I hope this trip gave you a taste of what we’re about and an opportunity to try something new! I hope you stick around and come back for more! Thank you, thank you, thank you to Noah, Isaac and Benedict for driving this weekend, this trip simply would not have been possible without you. Noah, you are a legend for dealing with that metal sh*tbox (Fig.55). And finally, massive thank you to the committee for making this trip happen and dealing with issue after issue. It wasn’t the easiest trip to kick off the year, but we got everyone there and back and even managed some climbing along the way, so that’s a W.