St Thomas’ Abseil FAQs

To find out more about the abseil and you can register online. You will be directed to Enthuse, which is our registration and fundraising platform. You can register as an individual or as a team of three or more people. If for whatever reason you are unable to register online, please get in touch.

When you register, you will be able to pick from available 30 minute timeslots.

Unfortunately, if you are not able to select a timeslot when registering, that means it is full. Due to health and safety reasons, we are only able to have a certain number of people doing the abseil per timeslot.

If you let us know your preferred timeslot by contacting our events team, and we can add you to a waiting list and let you know if we have any cancellations.

Registration costs £35 per place.

We ask everyone to raise a minimum of £300 in sponsorship.

When you register on Enthuse, your fundraising page will be automatically created. You can view our fundraising tips page over on our website.

If you have another fund or area of the hospital that you wish to fundraise for, email us  and we will look into your request.

We ask everyone to raise this amount in order for us to cover essential event-associated costs, while raising as much as possible for the staff and services at Guy’s Cancer Charity.

Our team are on hand to provide you with whatever support you need to hit this target, as well as to our dedicated fundraising hub. You can also continue to raise funds after the event, if you still have people who have pledged to sponsor you.

If you fall slightly short of the £300 target, you will not be expected to make up the shortfall personally.

No problem, just let us know by getting in touch with us and we will remove you from the event.

Registration fees for the abseil are non-refundable. With any money you have raised already, you have the choice of transferring this to another event at a later date, donating it to the charity, or we can arrange refunds for any of your sponsors who would like this.

Dolomite Training Ltd manage the Abseil. Based up in Wakefield, the team are fully experienced on a range of outdoor challenge activities. The team are all first aid trained and all equipment is fully tested and checked regularly. You can find out more about them here.

Don’t worry about practicing and no prior experience is required. You will be fitted with all the equipment you need and given full instructions by a member of the Dolomite Training Ltd team. They will brief you fully and answer any questions you may have. You will then be escorted to the roof.

Once there, instructors will direct you and ensure that you abseil down safely.

The minimum age for participants is 16, and there is no maximum age limit. However, under 18s will require a form filled in by a parent/guardian who also needs to present on the day.

The maximum weight is approximately 100kg. Abseiling is challenging so should not be undertaken by anyone who has a medical condition which may limit their ability to complete the event or follow the instructions of abseil company carefully.

If you have any doubts about your ability to participate, please consult your doctor.

St Thomas’ Hospital is accessible by public transport with buses 77, 148, 507 and C10 stopping outside, and both Waterloo station and Westminster Underground station only a 5-minute walk away. Please check Transport for London’s website to ensure you arrive in good time. Parking is very limited on site and surrounding Streets.

The abseil takes place at the North Wing of St Thomas’ (the main entrance on Westminster bridge).

Once you arrive, please come straight to the registration desk, which will be sign-posted.

Arrive at 30 minutes before your time slot, so you can sign in, put on your abseil gear, be briefed by the instructors, and go to the roof. To ensure the safety of our abseilers and in line with Covid-19 precautions, we are trying to limit the number of people in the waiting area.

Therefore, please do not arrive any earlier than this. If you do arrive early, there will be a spectators’ area where you can cheer on other abseilers and soak up the atmosphere!

Please note, if you arrive later than your allotted timeslot, you will not be able to take part in that slot and unfortunately, as we are likely to be fully booked on all other slots, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to take part.

You will have selected a timeslot when you registered and you can also find this in your confirmation email from Enthuse. If you can’t remember or have lost this email, just get in touch and we’ll let you know.

Please arrive ready to abseil by:

• Checking the weather forecast and wearing appropriate clothing
• Securing all loose items including glasses, slip on shoes and anything that might fall out of your pockets. We recommend having pockets with a zip, where you can keep your valuables
• Removing jewellery, scarves etc. that might become tangled in the ropes
• Tying back long hair! This is very important as you will not be able to abseil with untied hair for health and safety reasons
• Wearing comfortable, closed shoes e.g. trainers.

There will be a desk where you can leave coats and bags. However, items are left at your own risk and please be advised that the Events team cannot accept any responsibility for lost or damaged items.

We would strongly advise leaving any valuables that you don’t need at home, or with a friend or family member if they have come to watch you do the abseil.

While we welcome anyone who wants to do the abseil in fancy dress, bulky costumes could interfere with the harness or helmet. You should be prepared for Dolomite Training Ltd to deem your costume unsafe and ask you to remove it before you can take part.

If you are unsure, get in touch with our events team with a picture of it so we can run it past the abseil company first.

Yes – as long as you’ve all signed up. There are four rope lines at the abseil, so you will be going down alongside three others. We will try to ensure as many of your team as possible can abseil together. The time slots are every half-hour and each slot will be a group of approximately 13-15 people.

If you are part of a larger team e.g. four+, we will do our best to make sure as many of your team can abseil at the same time, but in some cases you may be split into smaller teams

We will have several photographers and content creators on the day. If you would prefer not to be in any photos or videos, please let a member of staff know.

There will also be an opportunity to purchase a digital photo from our dynamic abseiling photographer. Further details of this will be released nearer the time, so please keep an eye on your e-mails for more information.

Dolomite Training Ltd are very experienced and supportive and will be with you every step of the way, to ensure you feel comfortable and safe at all times! While most people make it down fine, there are rare occasions where participants feel they are unable to proceed once they’re at the top, and that is 100% ok!

So please don’t worry about this at all. A member of the Fundraising Team will also be up on the roof, so we’ll be there to support you no matter what.

We aim for the event to go ahead whatever the weather and we’ve certainly run abseils in the rain before! Dolomite Training Ltd l will make the final call as it ultimately comes down to safety and we’ll be sure to inform you promptly should any changes occur.

The safety of our participants, staff and patients is of the upmost priority. Therefore, we are taking the following precautions at the event:

• A one-way system will be in place to ensure crowds are kept to a minimum
• We will be promoting social distancing wherever possible, and asking people to wear masks in crowded, undercover places
• The registration area will be for abseil participants only – friends and family can view from the spectators’ area
• All abseil equipment will be sanitised between each use
• Participants and volunteers will be asked to take a lateral flow test before attending the event
• Any food and drink provided will be individually wrapped
• Hand sanitiser and wipes will be available at various points at the event
• Participants and spectators will not be permitted to enter the hospital to use the toilets. Instead, there will be portaloos on site.