We were delighted to welcome professional rock climber and adventurer Ben Heason, to College during the last week of term to talk to Year 12 and other pupils and staff about his career as a climber, and in particular, his expedition to climb the first free ascent of Angel Falls in Venezuela.
He spoke to pupils from the College's new climbing wall in the Davies Centre and started off his talk covering his adventurous upbringing around the mountains in Snowdonia.
He didn't get into climbing however in a big way until later in life at university and joined a climbing club. He was immediately hooked.
He spent lots of time building in confidence and had a few falls along the way! However, he knew he had to train much harder to get fitter and stronger to reach his goals - mainly training his fingers - the most important thing to be a successful climber.
Angel Falls gave him some huge challenges, however he said: "I knew if I didn't go out there and give it my best shot, I'd quite probably regret that for the rest of my life."
He then went on to describe in vivid detail his journey to the top of Angel Falls.
At the end of the talk, he said: "I hope I've inspired you to grab the opportunities given to you every day and work your hardest to be the best you can be. There is no doubt that each and every one of you are capable of achieving some brilliant things in your lives. It is truly remarkable what the human mind and body can achieve if we test ourselves and allow us to dream sometimes.
"Good things don't often come easy, but and these are the times we remember with a great amount of pride."
At the end of his talk, Ben showed us his skills on our climbing wall, and was challenged to see if he could beat the record for how quickly one can complete the 'speed climb' and tap the top of the auto-belay machine.
Watch Ben's talk in detail below:
