Celebrating the end of the lessons at Alien Rock

After a hard-working day of OpenMP, we decided to do some “extreme” sport. The SoHPC climbing team was formed by Vojtech, Lukas and me (Nicolas). We decided to go to a gym recommended by Nix called Alien Rock. The particularity of this place is that the wall is inside a church, something which is very unusual.

Alien Rock church

The wall inside the church

In order to climb there, new members have to fill a huge amount of forms since climbing is considered as a dangerous sport. We had to answer a quiz as well concerning security and knots! Not so easy to start climbing… It was Vojtech’s first time and he was very excited to try a new sport. He did really well and did not fear to try overhanging walls challenging gravity law. Lukas and me are experienced climbers so we tried some complex routes and eventually managed to go to the top (without stops).

We climbed for more than 3 hours. No need to say we did deserve the drinks afterwards at the Black Bull pub in the Grass Market. Hopefully the SoHPC climbing team will gather more members and met in some amazing cliff soon!

SoHPC Climbing Team