This past Saturday, two of our trip leaders, Kelly Gilliland and Manuel Familiar, accompanied by three SMU students went to Mineral Wells for a day of climbing. We traveled with six of SMU OA’s Outdoor Leaders in Training (OLTs), who spent the day learning the fundamentals of leading an outdoor rock climbing trip, as well as anchor building, rappelling, and rock site management. Upon arrival, the weather was pretty cold, but also quite sunny. We spent the morning climbing hard and warming up while the OLTs practiced anchors and rappelling. Lunch time hit us around 11:30 a.m., so we opened up the hummus and pita, set up the slack line, made some sandwiches, and relaxed in the warm sun. The afternoon proved to have much more comfortable climbing weather- there was plenty of climbing to go around. We departed for SMU at about 4:45 p.m., and kept with tradition by stopping at The Malt Shop along Hwy. 180, and the malts and shakes we bought were delicious! We got back a little after 6, and parted ways. I’d have to say, personally, this was a great way to spend a Saturday with some pretty awesome people.

Kelly Gilliland, OA Climbing Wall student Manager