Introduction: Between the 9th and 16th of June 2024, a team of 12 students and 2 instructors took part in a sport climbing expedition on the sun-kissed island of Mallorca in the Western Mediterranean. By the end of the trip all students had become competent with the fundamentals of sport climbing outdoors.
Background: A highly popular expedition amongst NIUAS instructors and students, Mallorca has been the setting of NIUAS climbing expeditions in previous years. However, perhaps different to previous years a large, proportion of students on the expedition this year were keen boulderers. Six of the twelve students are regular patrons at the indoor bouldering gym âBoulder Worldâ in Belfast. Consequently, the enthusiasm to have a crack at outdoor sport climbing was even higher than would be usually among NIUAS students.
The experience gained and techniques practised climbing indoors, undoubtably enabled students to push themselves further still in Mallorca, truly making the most of the unique experience afforded to them. The warm and often exposed climbing environments in Mallorca compounded with the 20m-30m high climbs provided an unfamiliar challenge to all students, with all involved having to weather the baking sun during climbs (unusual in Belfast), grit through burning forearms and combat the dreaded âdisco legâ.
Expedition: The first days of climbing featured climbs with the grades ranging from 4a to 5a. The climbs enabled those students who were inexperienced to ease themselves into the world of outdoor sport climbing. The emphasis was to learn and practise the correct, safe techniques for belaying and setting up oneâs harness. As such, all students were taught how to tie-in using a âre-threaded figure eightâ knot, how to correctly setup a belay using a belay plate and carabiner and the correct belaying technique: âV to knee, one, two, threeâ. Before too long, all students were competent and confident in utilising these techniques, carrying out buddy-buddy checks on their climbing partners and climbing more autonomously.
There was some concern on the second and third days of the week that the weather could derail our climbing as torrential rain swept through parts of the island, to such an extent that flights were grounded from the airport in Palma. Thankfully, there were still climbs that were untouched by the typically Irish weather and the team was able to continue climbing despite the weather.
As the week progressed, the average climbing ability of the team members improved albeit with gradually increasing fatigue in the fingers, hands and forearms from completing increasingly difficult climbing routes. The factors of increasing climbing confidence amongst the group, route difficulties and fatigue came together to allow students to really challenge themselves, with even the more experienced climbers in the group finding themselves in âstretchâ. The harder, 6a/6a+ graded climbs testing all those who attempted them.
The climbing on the final two days of the trip at La Creveta and Cala Magraner were the most isolated climbing locations ventured to during the week. Both locations offered some of the most challenging climbing environments that were as exposed as they were beautiful. The latter location offering a unique experience to climb directly over the waves crashing over the stony beach on the route âAsullaâ.
The Northern Ireland Universities Air Squadron is incredibly grateful for the funding and opportunity provided by the Ulysses Trust to conduct such a fantastic expedition.
âI would consider myself to be a fairly skilled boulderer, but on the last couple days of climbing I had flashes of self-doubt on some of the harder climbs. Iâm glad I was surrounded by teammates who encouraged me and drove me to push on. The mind is a more important muscle than any otherâ
Officer Cadet FC
âMallorca was incredibly valuable for building my resilience and confidence, with a new challenge every day of the expedition. The most significant lesson I learned from the expedition was to trust your own abilities in new experiences â just because I have not done something before, does not mean that I will not be able to achieve in itâ â Officer Cadet H C
