Climbing @ Hammond Pond!

Our team at Elevate Youth has been gearing up and taking kids rock climbing outdoors at a local crag by Hammond Pond in Chestnut Hill!

This climbing location is a pretty sweet spot for first time climbers to get outside and experience climbing on real rock rather than the more common experience for those new to the sport of climbing indoors at a climbing gym. 

Climbing outdoors offers more of a challenge but arguably more of a reward as well. 

Two of Elevate Youth’s lead outdoor instructors, Nick Chertavian and myself, have long histories of rock climbing experience both indoors and outdoors but I think I can confidently say for both of us that outdoor climbing is the real reason we love the sport. 

Climbing outdoors on real rocks is a physical challenge, tests mental fortitude, and maybe most importantly allows you to spend an entire day - or week - outside completely immersed in and connected to nature. 

Elevate Youth has organized 3 outdoor climbing trips this November, each with a different partner organization. 

Our first trip was with Harlem Lacrosse on Saturday, Nov 6th. Although we don’t get to do a weekly program with this group (that would be so fun!), the kids are always great on the weekend outings and they clearly have strong team connections built between all the students as well as the coaches. 

Our second and third trips both took place this past Saturday, Nov 20th with West End House Boys and Girls Club (WEH) climbing for the first half of the day, and for the second half of the day the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester (BGCD) came through and climbed as well. 

West End House is one of the groups we get to meet with weekly and it was so fun seeing them do so well in this new context and facing a new type of challenge. The Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester is another great group and we were able get everyone climbing and out of their comfort zones as well.

We saw so many great things from all three groups. A lot of students seemed to quickly become captivated by climbing and were determined to try as many climbs as possible. 

But what I loved seeing most was their excitement for anyone who was climbing - whether it was a friend, a peer, a coach, or even someone they didn't know - everyone was cheering for everyone. And because of that warm and hyped up environment, everyone gave climbing a try which was a huge success. 

To the stellar Rock Spot staff members - thank you all so much for setting up so many sweet routes and belaying so many kids over the course of two full days! 

And to all of our volunteers who offered up their time and came to help out - we really appreciate you all and hope to have you back again with Elevate Youth! 

All of us at Elevate Youth are really looking forward to getting back outside and going on more awesome outings with you all this Winter!