Climbing the mountain - an activity

Purpose. Out of the activity participants may gain team skills, trust, may become more physically confident with one another, communication skills, a sense of achievement and of course a really good laugh!

It also looks spectacular if done with enough confidence you can get a climber who will wade for miles on the shoulders of others!

Procedure. One member of the group is a "mountain climber"

The rest of the group are the mountain.

As the mountain climber begins to move the rest of the group must move to support the climber’s actions i.e. if the climber lifts their leg the mountain must move to support the climbers foot by perhaps kneeling underneath it. Thus the climber can put their weight on the mountain and begin to climb…

Materials needed: 

a group of people who are brave enough to try it

a large enough space to move in

confidence (or at least a sense of humour!)

Variations. When the group gets confident enough to support the climber, and the climber is confident enough o climb you can vary this activity by making the mountain become a mountain range and take the climber up and down and up again etc.

Comments for facilitators. This is an activity that I use with a group that know each other fairly well and need to develop more team work and trust in each other.

It’s good to pick a small climber at first to encourage the group, however I have run this activity with a group where the first climber was 6ft tall and very confident. (A climber with a cocky attitude always seems to help the group become confident in their ability to support the climber).

Make sure that the group talk and listen to each other and don’t let them panic. If someone gets scared, take control of the situation and talk the group through it until everyone feels safe again but remember a little fear is healthy. Also don’t forget that the roof needs to be fairly high!

Contributing agency/originator. This activity is a variant of one used by Augusto Boal in "Games for Actors and Non Actors". An excellent read and full of great activities like this one. Clare Mitchell, Peer Education Worker Through The Arts, Avon Youth Association. © 1999