Paige Avera, 9, left, daughter of Maj. William Avera, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, pauses during her climb while Riley Kredo, 13, daughter of Lt. Col. Jack Kredo, 1st Infantry Division G-4, senior staff officer responsible for logistics, begins h...

Sai Simram, recreation specialist, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, and Sarah Mueller, director of outdoor recreation, DFMWR, put a climbing harness on Mueller's son Luca, 5, during the Family Rock Climbing event Jan. 12 at C...

Cooper Avera, 11, son of Maj. William Avera, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, scales the wall during the Family Rock Climbing event Jan. 12 at Craig Fitness Center. He said climbing the wall to ring the bell at the top was his ...

A new program released by the Outdoor Adventure and Travel Center's recreation crew invited families to partake in a few hours of rock climbing at Craig Fitness Center Jan 12. The Family Rock Climbing event brought in more than a dozen climbers of all ages wanting to scale the wall.

"Originally, when we did all of the obstacle training for the high ropes course, we actually came in, and we got certified to belay," said Sarah Mueller, director of outdoor recreation, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation. "So, this is in order for us to kind of monopolize on that certification.

And then we came over here, and we saw the fantastic climbing facility that wasn't being utilized, so we were like, 'Oh we're all belay certified let's start running little programs, introduction programs here on this climbing wall for the winter.' So, that's what we did."

Belaying is a process used in climbing that typically uses a rope system to protect a climber in the event of a fall.

Erin Avera, wife of Maj. William Avera, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and her children Cooper, 11, and Paige, 9, enjoyed spending the cold day around other families.