NGU Skyliner

Jessicah Peters
Staff Writer

Students may have a hard time finding things to do around Tigerville that are inexpensive yet fun. The challenge course and climbing wall are located off of Foster Circle here on campus. There is a sign located down the hill below the President’s log cabin that points the way.

Trey Fouché, chair of the outdoor leadership department, is the head manager at the climbing wall. Most of the work study students are outdoor leadership majors and facilitate the open hours. The students employed there are Jae Ellison, Christen Sasscer, Nathan Arms and Lael Beach.

“The climbing wall is pretty good, us outdoor leadership majors work it and its always good. Don’t normally do challenge course unless its requested by a group. The climbing tower and rappeling is good,” Trevor MacPherson said.

“Prospective NGU students are welcome to come out to the wall at no cost. Additionally, visiting friends of NGU students can come out. However, we are not open to the general public during open hours,” Fouché said.

The huge benefit of the climbing wall is that there is not cost and it is right here on campus so no student would have to spend any money on gas.

The climbing wall and challenge course are financed by several sources. Fouché mentioned that most profits come from public groups charged for team-building events.

“Church groups, youth services and others come to NGU for a day of group development and team-building. Additionally, some operating monies come from the department of outdoor leadership’s academic budget,” Fouché said.

The course and wall are fairly new to campus. They were first built in 2002 and the department of outdoor leadership has operated the facility since 2004.

Students are equipped with harnesseses and helmets as well as the climbing ropes, carabineers and other equipment.

“The climbing wall was the most challenging and best climbing wall I have been on,” John Reinholz, freshman, said.

The climbing wall and challenge course are open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3-5 p.m.

Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 2

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.