And now a message from our president!

As mentioned at our January meeting, one of my goals for this year, as your President, is to promote safe climbing within our community in addition to giving back to the organization(s) that protect and preserve our crags allowing us access to climb now and for future generations.

Please mark your calendars for the weekend of March 23rd and March 24th as the Atlanta Climbing club will be sponsoring a fund-raiser which will help promote safer climbing practices amongst its members AND raise money for the Southeastern Climbers Coalition (SCC). Space will be limited and only open to current Atlanta Climbing Club members in good standing.

The day one Climb Safe Clinic will be limited to 20 participants and the day two Basic Rescue/Self Rescue will be limited to 10 participants. The instructor for the course will be Scott Perkins, a local climber and climbing guide. Scott has been climbing for 25 years and has been a working mountain guide for the past 15 years. Scott guides and instructs beginner to advanced level climbers in everything from fundamentals, climbing movement, advanced alpine climbing skills, and rescue/self-rescue.

Scott will be donating his time and all of the proceeds from the Climb Safe Clinic to the SCC. For the Basic Rescue/Self Rescue, Scott will be offering a substantial discount to current ACC members as well as donating a large portion to the SCC.

Fees

  • The Climb Safe clinic is $50 per person to the first 20 people to register and make payment. Our goal is to donate $1000.00 to the Southeastern Climber’s Coalition.
  • The BR/SR is on an open auction format to the 10 highest bidders with payment due at auction end.
  • Because space is limited and this is a fund-raiser there will be NO refunds so please make every effort to attend.

Day 1 Itinerary – Climb Safe March 23, 9:00am

The Climb Safe clinic is open to all ACC climbers.  This class will concentrate on “basic safety” practices as well as “how-to” techniques. This clinic is structured for ALL climbers, beginners up through advanced recreational climbers. Everybody will get something out of the day- new climbers will become better partners, and experienced climbers will become better leaders.

Some of the techniques and practices that will be covered in the Climb Safe are:

  • Low impact climbing practices
  • Fundamental risk management in single pitch climbing
  • Basic climbing knots and hitches
  • Safety checks and commands
  • Proper communications while climbing
  • Belaying(belaying a top roped climber, belaying a leader)
  • Following(cleaning) a pitch
  • Setting up a top-rope on a two bolt station
  • Setting up a top rope on a monolithic feature(large tree or boulder)
  • Doing a changeover at a two bolt station
  • Safe rappelling practices

Day 2 Itinerary – Basic Rescue/Self Rescue March 24, 9:00am

The BR/SR one day course is open to all ACC climbers with a solid working knowledge of Climb Safe practices, if you do the Climb Safe clinic and you absorb the info and perform to a reasonable standard you would have the necessary knowledge to participate in the BR/SR. You DO NOT have to participate in the Climb Safe day if you already have a good fundamentals climbing base. In addition, at least some of the participants will need to be comfortable leading traditionally protected routes at the 5.7 or above level and building solid top rope and gear anchors. We will pair up participants to ensure that everybody is in a position to learn and operate safely. This may be two beginner lead climbers paired with each other, or two non-lead climbers paired with one very experienced climber. Everybody will learn and everybody will be challenged. If you already have solid BR/SR skills, this is a good opportunity to practice them and be exposed to alternative ways of doing things.

Some of the techniques and practices that will be covered in BR/SR are:

  • Essential gear for leaders and seconds
  • Knots and hitches for BR/SR (various knots and hitches will discussed and taught as we progress through the day)
  • Clearing a jammed belay/rappel device
  • Performing a belay take-over
  • Ascending and descending a rope
  • Getting ‘hands free’ and escaping a belay at ground level
  • Rappelling with a Grigri or Cinch
  • Rappelling for multiple raps(more than a rope length from the ground)
  • Passing a knot on rappel
  • Based on available time and student progress additional techniques covered may include:
  • Belaying a second with auto blocking devices (ATC guide, Reverso, etc)
  • Releasing and lowering the second with these type auto blocking devices
  • Hauls and assists
  • Tandem and simul rappelling techniques

Participants should bring whatever gear they typically bring when they go climbing. You DO NOT need to go out and purchase any rescue specific gear. This course is designed to teach improvised techniques using the equipment a recreational climber would have when they are out climbing with friends. Participants will be exposed to various techniques that will give them insight into what additional equipment they may want to add to their current gear. Besides your standard climbing equipment (whatever you typically bring with you) please bring a notebook and a pen/pencil. You will also receive printed handouts.

We are looking at securing a camp site in the area during this weekend for our participants where we can cook out and hang out around the camp fire.

The value of this weekend is huge. If you were to hire instruction on your own you would pay a minimum of $300 -$500.  Let’s get better at climbing safe and help support and preserve our climbing access.

Climb Safe and Have Fun,

Tim Lacny
President – Atlanta Climbing Club

Please download and submit a copy of the sign-up sheet if you wish to attend.