About Us
About Climbing Out
Climbing Out was founded by Kelda Wood in 2010. Eight years earlier a freak accident left Kelda with an irreparable leg injury that had a huge impact on her life and ended her dreams of becoming an Olympic horse rider.
After rebuilding her confidence, Kelda changed her focus and eventually retrained as an outdoor instructor. In 2010 she launched Climbing Out to help people who have been through life changing mental or physical trauma or illness.
It’s not about saying ‘I can’t’… It’s about saying, ‘how can I?’
Kelda went on to represent Great Britain as a member of the GB Paracanoe squad. After just missing out on selection for the Paralympic Games in Rio, she was selected as a member of the Adaptive Grand Slam Team who were attempting to climb Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America at 7,000m. On the 19th January 2017, she became the first recorded adaptive female to summit the mountain.
Kelda's Row for Climbing Out
In 2018 Kelda set off to row solo across the Atlantic with the aim of inspiring others whilst raising awareness and funds for Climbing Out. Each day she rowed for a different young person and 76 days later Kelda had rowed 3,500 nautical miles. She was the first para-rower to solo row the Atlantic, setting a World Record. She raised over £50,000 for Climbing Out in the process! This changed the whole outlook for the charity, enabling us to support many more people in the future.
"Your resilience, positivity and strength inspire me every day. When I recently had a bit of a low and watched some of your videos, I asked myself - what’s my excuse? I find it amazing how you can see the positives in every situation and use it to push others to do their best."
-MK
Our Patrons
Marc Woods
Marc Woods lost his leg as a result of cancer at the age of 17. Marc had been a country swimmer before his diagnosis, and within a year he was swimming quicker with one leg than he had been with two. Just 18 months after he finished his chemotherapy he was selected to represent Great Britain.
He subsequently competed at European & World Championships and Paralympic Games. In his 17 years of competition, he won a staggering 12 Paralympic medals from 5 Games, 4 of those medals being gold. Marc also won a further 21 medals from European and World Championships.
Marc sums up everything that Climbing Out is about, and he will without doubt be a huge inspiration to the people taking part in our programmes. You can read more about Marc’s amazing achievements at www.marcwoods.com.
Sir Chris Bonington
Sir Chris Bonington made the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger and led the expedition that made the first ascent of The South Face of Annapurna. He went on to lead the successful expedition making the first ascent of the South West Face of Everest in 1975 and then reached the summit of Everest himself in 1985. He has written 17 books, fronted numerous television programmes and has lectured to the public and corporate audiences all over the world. He received a knighthood in 1996 for services to mountaineering