Yesterday, Otago Girls’ High School principal Bridget Davidson officially opened the school’s new climbing wall to the delight of current students and climbing club members, as well as herself as a past climber.
The new wall was commissioned because the previous one, which was situated on the side of the science building for 25 years, had to make way for an elevator.
The climbing wall is now located by the gym.
‘‘We’ve been climbing here for 25 years, and I used to use it with my husband and some climbing instructors ... there’s been a culture around it here for a long time,’’ Mrs Davidson said.
The wall itself had to be shipped over from France and the person organising the procurement was almost ‘‘tearing their hair out’’ at points, she said.
Once in Dunedin, Naylor Love did a ‘‘fantastic’’ job with the installation, and the route makers made a very fun, challenging and engaging set of routes.
The new wall was the same height as the old at 12m, and had a new set of routes for people to use.
Mrs Davidson said for the year they had been without, they had been climbing wherever they could, such as at Resistance Climbing and out at Long Beach.
‘‘It’s really rad and it’s just fabulous to have it, especially here. It’s a lot sunnier than it was in the previous location.’’
She was excited students would be able to enjoy rock climbing at school again.
She said many climbing club members went on to climb for ‘‘years and years and years’’, and now that tradition could continue.
