History Main / GymClassRopeClimb

* In The ''Complete Savages'' episode "Tutoring", Sam fails P.E. because he can't climb the rope.

* In one episode of ''TheSimpsons'', the students at Springfield Elementary stage an uprising after being trapped in the school by a blizzard. One of the things they do to Principal Skinner is tie him in a sack and force him to do this.
--> Skinner: "I told you, no one can climb a rope, it's physically impossible!"

* In the BraceFace episode "worst first date ever, period", when Sharon walks into gym class, some of the kids are seen in the background, climbing ropes.
* Peter Parker shows up Flash Thompson in an episode of TheSpectacularSpiderMan by beating him at rope climbing in gym.

* Mentioned in WaynesWorld:

* INowPronounceYouChuckAndLarry mentions this trope:

* A variation occurs in {{Disney/Mulan}} with the goal being to get to the top of a pole while carrying weights. Mulan slings them around the pole and knots them together.

* In "The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School" by KimNewman, the rope climb is a trope-standard pit of horrors, but the protagonist avoids the worst of it by judicious use of her floating-in-the-air superpower.

Fast becoming a DeadHorseTrope, as many schools don't require a rope climb anymore (mainly due to [[FrivolousLawsuit parents taking legal action if it happens]].)

--> Chuck: when we climbed the rope in gym class I would pretend it was a guy.

Fast becoming a DeadHorseTrope, as many schools don't require a rope climb anymore.

* In the {{Chrestomanci}} novel ''Witch Week'', Nan is continuously humiliated by her inability to climb the rope. Once, she tries climbing with her eyes closed so she can concentrate without seeing the laughing faces of her classmates, and seems to have gotten high. But when she opens her eyes, she realizes that for all her effort she's still on the bottom knot.

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* The ''HomestarRunner'' cartoon "A Folky Tale" opens with Coach Z trying to get Strong Sad to do this. Note that Coach Z and Strong Sad are in the middle of a grassy field, and the rope simply extends into the air offscreen, which is immediately [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]].

* ''Techno Games'' (a spinoff of ''RobotWars'' which featured Olympic style events rather than fights) had a "natural rope climb" event which was basically for robots built to do this.

* ''FamilyMatters'' gave this its usual preposterous spin: Gangly 97-pound-weakling [[ExtrovertedNerd Urkel]] has to race a much more athletic rival in the rope-climb. Urkel uses a jet-pack to get up the rope. The gym coach seems okay with this. Urkel then flies away and [[CrossOver lands in]] ''StepByStep''. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext It doesn't make sense in context]].

* In ''TheNeverendingStory'', this was among the many situations in which Bastian was humiliated in school. When he's transported to Fantasia where his wishes are fulfilled and becames physically perfect, he recalls it with amusement.

* A variation occurs in {{Mulan}} with the goal being to get to the top of a pole. Mulan uses her intuition to beat the challenge.

Gym Classes in fiction are torturous. There's dodgeball, running, rude gym teachers, and favoritism, but the worst of all these horrors is the rope climb.

Rope climbing is the source of nightmares for nerds, kids with asthma, and people who are just not athletic. It's never portrayed in a positive light, and it will guarantee humiliation for nearly everyone involved. Kids who laugh in the face of monsters can't even stomach the idea of having to climb a rope.

Fast becoming a DeadHorseTrope as litigious and overprotective parents have managed to kill most sports that carry risk of spinal/brain damage, with the possible exception of football.

* On {{''Seinfeld''}}, George and Jerry are said to have first met in gym class during this activity.

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* ''Sidekicks''

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* This troper is more than willing to confirm, that for one with mild cerebral palsy ( I cannot speak for others, but in the Scots academy I attended foul language was regularly used in connection with ropes), the ropes really are like the Trials of Heracles, or perhaps more like Sisyphus in the underworld - you get so far, then slide down (getting rope-burn along the way, where the analogy falls apart) and, lo and behold, you do it all over again.

* In ''Witch Week'', Nan is continuously humiliated by her inability to climb the rope. Once, she tries climbing with her eyes closed so she can concentrate without seeing the laughing faces of her classmates, and seems to have gotten high. But when she opens her eyes, she realizes that for all her effort she's still on the bottom knot.

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* Sidekicks

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]:

* In Witch Week, Nan is continuously humiliated by her inability to climb the rope. Once, she tries climbing with her eyes closed so she can concentrate without seeing the laughing faces of her classmates, and seems to have gotten high. But when she opens her eyes, she realises that for all her effort she's still on the bottom knot.

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