Seminars

Self Rescue

Multi Pitching Safely & Efficiently

Self Rescue

(Two days)

Even something as common and simple as getting a rope stuck can be serious in the vertical world—especially when you begin to ascend multiple pitches. As a lead climber, you should have the skills to rescue yourself and your partner in the event of an error, a failure, or an emergency.

This course will cover:  how to escape the belay, hauling systems, line accession, passing the knot while lowering and while on rappel, counterbalance and tandem rappels. The first day and a half will be spent learning and practicing skills on the ground. The afternoon of the second day will be spent testing your newly honed skills on the rock as you rescue an injured lead climber. This course also includes a self rescue pamphlet that will help you to practice rescue skills with your friends after the course. This is an excellent course for the climber who wants to truly be self-sufficient in the vertical world.

Required Skills:

·        Belay skills: Climber should be able to safely and effectively belay.

·        Knots: Climber should be able to confidently tie the figure eight and overhand knots.

·        Coils: Climber should be able to coil a rope into a Butterfly Coil.

·        Anchors: Climber should be able to safely build and clean sport anchors

·        Rappelling: Climber should be able to safely perform a rappel.

 Please contact us to reserve your spot. Trip Planner

Multi-Pitching

Safe and Efficient Techniques for Climbing High

(One day)

One of the most common errors at El Potrero and other sport-climbing destinations is to assume that multi-pitch sport climbing is as easy and fast as climbing a few single-pitch routes back-to-back. (Nighttime at El Potrero Chico is often witness to at least one team of climbers frantically trying to rappel by headlamp.) In fact, both a medley of new skills and an awareness of fresh dangers are prerequisites to multi-pitching.  In addition, climbers attempting to complete some of El Potrero’s lengthy multi-pitch routes need to be at their most efficient to avoid the dreaded unplanned bivy. This one-day, hands-on seminar will set you up with the latest safe & efficient systems for multi-pitching. This course is great for the competent lead climber with little to no multi-pitch experience or some one looking for the latest technical systems.

This course covers: route planning, communication, multi-pitch belay systems, efficient anchors, quick lead transitions, rope organization, linking pitches, and how to safely simul-rappell.

Schedule: The evening before your climb you will meet with your instructor to plan the climb. The next morning will begin with an introduction to multi-pitch theory and systems. Once you feel fully competent in your grasp of multi-pitch procedures, you will climb a short multi-pitch with your instructor. The instructor will guide you as you hone your technique on both the climb and rappel.