Mum’s group reaching new heights

A POPULAR Mums and Bubs climbing session at Ballina’s Climbing Jungle is helping women form connections while tackling an indoor rock-climbing course.

Ballina’s Climbing Jungle hosts the class to offer an outlet for family groups.

It has attracted women keen to socialise while their children climb alongside them.

Gym manager Sally Gidney established the group after running a similar program in Sydney.

“We keep building and growing every week – it gives the parents a chance to climb; the kids get involved too,” she said.

“It’s more of an opportunity to focus on the parents and allowing them to socialise and climb together in a group setting.

“It’s a chance for them to get out of the house and connect with a new group of friends too.”

The indoor centre features 650 square metres of climbing walls and a bouldering wall at its West Ballina base.

It had a busy holiday period and has now launched its school programs for the term.

It has grown to the point where it can hold competition events as numbers across the centre continue to grow.

“We’re lucky that we don’t have anything else around us,” Ms Gidney said. “It can be quite challenging and difficult (to climb), but we’ve set it up so anyone can have a go.

“I’ve got 12,000 on my mailing list, so we’ve had that many people come through the doors in the last two years.

“Obviously not all of those people have come back, but we’re getting a lot of traction in the community, which is nice.”

The Mums and Bubs class runs from 9.30am to 11am on Tuesdays and is free for kids under five.