Traversing Walls

Traversing Walls will help you

-provide core activities to physically prepare participants to climb,

-challenge participants' bodies and minds at the same time,

-select activities to meet your group's needs and levels, and

-find activities that meet NASPE standards.

Traverse wall climbing—in which most of the climbing is done horizontally—is quickly growing in popularity because it is exhilarating, challenging, and fun. Yet, specific games and activities for traverse walls have been hard to find—until now.

Traversing Walls provides you with 68 engaging activities that you can use to implement traverse wall climbing. Included are these features:

-Core strength activities to help kids physically prepare to climb

-Dome cone and other lead-up activities to keep kids active even when they're not climbing

-Traverse wall activities with cross-curricular connections that will stimulate your participants' bodies and minds at the same time—so the kids are thinking and learning while having fun on the wall

The authors provide numerous suggestions for expanding on the games and ideas presented in the book, too. In fact, virtually any intellectual ability, academic task, popular game, or equipment can be incorporated into climbing activities, and many teachers have combined the activities with other subject matter, such as math and geography.

The book contains dozens of activities and variations, including well-known games and those that incorporate numbers, letters, math, and words. Some games reinforce health concepts, such as nutrition and the MyPyramid food chart, muscles and exercise, human body systems (muscles and organs), human skeletal system, and appropriate health behaviors. All of the activities promote healthy, fun, and productive learning in which everyone can succeed. The ground-level and traverse activities will help your class meet NASPE standards

So go encourage your participants to climb the wall! They'll encounter physical and intellectual challenges along the way, gain strength and confidence as they acquire new skills, and have loads of fun that is connected to learning.

Jim Stiehl, PhD, is a professor in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC). Stiehl is a climbing instructor and challenge course director at UNC and has worked with kids and teachers for the past 20 years on traverse walls, indoor climbing walls, ropes courses, and rock climbing.

Stiehl is former chair of the Council on Outdoor Education for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). He was named Scholar of the Year in 1993 for the Central District Association of HPERD and has received several research and writing excellence awards. He resides in Greeley, Colorado, with his wife, Julie, and enjoys backpacking and hiking, backcountry skiing and snowshoeing, and rock climbing and mountaineering in his leisure time.

Dan Chase, MS, is a teaching assistant and is completing his PhD at the School of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Northern Colorado. Along with Dr. Stiehl, he has been working with kids for the past 10 years on traverse walls, climbing walls, rock climbing, and ropes courses. Mr. Chase is a member of NIRSA and AAHPERD, and has been a lead facilitator on the UNC Challenge Course. He lives in Loveland, Colorado, with his wife, Lisa, and likes to rock climb, road cycle, hike, and backpack in his spare time.