The day before Halloween 2011, Piotr Chelstowski and members from his wellness rock climbing class joined five Outdoor Adventures leaders (Albert Mitugo, Jeremy Rechtien, Mandy Trexel, Chase Butterworth and Kelly Gilliland) on a trip to Mineral Wells, Texas for a day of  rock climbing. Leaving at 7 a.m. (it was still dark outside) on Sunday October 30, all climbers hopped into the van and took the bold 1.5 hour drive out to Mineral Wells state park and began the day. Four of the leaders headed out to set up the anchors at the top of the cliff while Jeremy briefed the wellness class about safety hazards including the cliff and the poisonous plants. It felt like one of the coldest days we’ve had in Texas so far this fall, but overall we had a lot of fun. We’d set up about  seven climbs by the end of the day and the climbers seemed to have had a blast! Pitor and Albert  then demonstrated repelling before participants could follow suite. Mineral Wells is one of the most frequented places by Outdoor Adventures Leaders both on and off official trips. I encourage anyone who likes rock climbing and wants to do more outdoor climbing to head out to Mineral Wells with the OA sometime next semester when the weather gets warmer.

Cheers,

Kelly Gilliland, OA Leader