Venture Out heads to Toccoa

The outdoors group Venture Out will be leaving Oct. 8-10 for a rock climbing trip to Toccoa, Ga. The trip is part of the traditional two trips a year, the next being a rock climbing and cave expedition.

Following the policies of the Under-Education Center, four facilitators will explain to 16 students the basics of the sport. However, the trip will include a lot more than rock climbing. According to the head of Venture out, Mike Pletsch, the facilitators must plan based on everything from environmental concerns all the way down to food and the different dietary needs of a climber. The cost for an entire weekend of rock climbing is only $25.

“The Venture Out program still takes a negative hit for every trip we go on,” said Pletsch. “The program has a yearly budget that comes from student fees. Without the budget, we’d have to charge a whole lot more for the trip, which is what other universities’ programs have to do.”

The group of climbers will leave on Friday night but probably won’t arrive until around nine, as the drive to the north Georgia mountains takes approximately 2 1/2 hours. They plan to camp out that night and climb all day Saturday. Depending on what the students want to do, they will either leave that morning or possibly climb some more on Sunday.

Newcomers and experts are welcome on the trip. How much experience participants have depends on whom one asks. Ryan Hirsch has been rock climbing for about four years and has his own methods for warm up.

“I get prepared by doing pull ups on door frame because that’s really good for finger strength,” said Hirsch.

He says he used to have a fear of heights when he was a kid so it made him want to conquer rock climbing and excel in the sport. While some like Hirsch have been doing it for awhile, others just showed up and started climbing.

“Anyone can do it,” said Pletsch.

All facilitators are trained to know what they’re doing; they are all majoring in outdoor education. They get service hours for participating in trips such as this. The climbing wall is open 6-8 on Wednesdays to all GC&SU students.

“It’s a good workout, everyone should try it,” said Hirsch.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 8 2004. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry