trad sport

[renegade]

i understand that their is a lead course at GZ. is this good for outside too?
also, are there any trad climbing courses or instructional courses by vertigo or anything?

[seant]

The course has both indoor and outdoor applications. The emphasis is on belaying a lead climber, lead climbing tactics, cliping techniques, learning to fall, rope managment skills while on lead and much much more. There is not really any info on trad climbing in the course in reference to actual placements of gear, but lead climbing is lead climbing and the skills learned in the course are applicable to both sport and trad.
SeanT

[The Mitt]

Once you learn everything Sean was talking about really there is only one more thing, and thats clipping the anchors and properly getting down. I'm sure he covers that as well. Remember that those things are still the basics of how to safely climb. There is much more you can/should learn. Like self rescue or getting out of the belay and stuff like that. That kind of thing is probably best learned from someone who is experienced as there is no course. There is a good book called "Self Rescue" which is a good start.

Speaking of which doing a self rescue night at one of the gyms would be a cool idea.


Mitt

[martha]

We've spent rainy weekends or a buggy weekend with a group practicing self rescue it is great. Just a bunch of us climbers getting together.

Courses are great, but you have to put your new knowledge to work. Nothing builds your climbing safety abilities like mileage and experience. Get yourself in and out of a few epics, shed some blood sweat and tears and you'll be all set.

Yes, lead climbing is lead climbing like Sean said...except when you clip into your trad gear....you better be sure it is in there good!!!

Books are great. any of John Longs are good.

Cara

[dcentral]

The self rescue book is a good one. I havn't been able to get people to gether to practice some techniques and still have other systems setup to keep everyone safe.

That'll have to be a goal for this year.

When I was at BG if there was enough of use around climbing we'd practice stuff like ascending ropes and getting down etc.

[Guest]

cara, I think that SeanT probably knows what he is talking about, what with many, many years of experience and being uber safety conscious.

[The Mitt]

Sean T is one of the most safety conscious climbers I have seen, but also does not rub your face in it. The first time I climbed at his gym I had bought a new harness and was not totally sure about it (total noob mistake) sean was very cool about pointing out that I had not doubled it back. Since then he has shown me many safer and easier ways to do sh*t like jumaring. I swear I will never try to jumar like I did at Cape Clear again. If you take his course you will get what you need.

Mitt

[mitchleblanc]

cara, I think that SeanT probably knows what he is talking about, what with many, many years of experience and being uber safety conscious.

What the f*ck are you talking about?? When did she say anything to the contrary? That is, so far, one of the dumbest posts I've seen. That is why you sign in as guest, I suppose.

[Stevo]

Hey Mitt,
Is SeanT paying for this promo, or is it just always youre turn in the navy barrel???

Stevo

[The Mitt]

Thats OK tomorrow its your turn on the barrel

Mitt

[dcentral]

I don't know what being on the barrel means and I don't know if I want to be around a bunch of navy guys on a barrel.