By Tony Satryan,  Senior Counselor and Midgal Man

The Migdal, GUCI’s 65-foot climbing tower, is one of the most looked forward to events that each cabin experiences over the course of a session. Campers get excited about climbing the Migdal as an individual achievement, but the Migdal actually has value as a community-building exercise and cabin bonding activity.

It takes an entire team of people to run the Migdal for our campers. Seven counsellors, at least one from every unit, work both in the cabins and on the Migdal. In addition, rotating groups of avodahniks help run the tower from setting up before campers arrive each day to belaying the campers as they climb.

The entire cabin is involved from start to finish during climbing afternoons. Up to six campers can climb at a time, each of them being belayed by an avodahnik or one of their counsellors. For each belayer, there is a belay monitor to assist, usually a camper. If there are any campers without a job at any time, their job becomes cheering on their cabinmates who are climbing. By keeping each camper engaged in helping their cabinmates to achieve their goals on the Migdal, the afternoon becomes about the cabin more than it is about the individual.

Reaching your goal on the Migdal is a highlight to the summer for many of our campers, but the goal of the Migdal staff is to make sure that campers challenge themselves and support each other. Because of this, it is possible for us to achieve this goal, even if not a single camper reaches the top.

Furthermore, the Migdal involves a certain amount of trust. Campers have to trust that their counsellors will belay them safely from bottom to top and back down. They have to trust that their fellow campers will support them, no matter how high they are able to climb. They have to trust that the avodahniks and Migdal specialists have ensured that everything has been properly prepared and double checked for them.

Over the course of the four summers in which I have worked on the Migdal in some capacity, I have found that almost every cabin leaves a little bit closer together. They have a lot of fun, but the value of the Migdal program is much greater than just that.