Day 1 – professionalism, equipment, knots, belaying, pro and anchoring, teaching.

Day 2 – the climbing site, organization, group mgmt, base sites, assistance skills (base sites), programming and risk mgmt.

Day 3 – instructor demo lead, top sites, lowering, assistance (top sites), rappelling, climbing movement, final individual and group debriefs.

Our instructor was Patrick Weaver, an AMGA Rock Instructor who owns Appalachian Mountain Institute, in Brevard, NC (near Asheville).  I was very pleased with his ability to teach and keep a fun class moving along on a pretty tight schedule.

Day 1.  We started with intros and there were three other students in the class with me. The first lesson was on equipment and I learned a few things.  Patrick discussed how to inspect every type of gear for usability.  What are some things to look for on your tricams or slings or chocks to get an idea on when they should be discarded?

We moved onto knots and hitches.  Patrick likes to teach knots with an emphasis on kinesthetic learning and muscle memory, which I also prefer.  So, we went through the usual suspects (bowline, munter, mule, figure 8, etc.).  Additionally, some background on the pros and cons of each and their proper application was discussed.  We covered how to tie two very useful knots one-handed – the munter and clove.  Lastly, we practiced a very effective method of setting up a top-site anchor for rappelling or top roping.  This method uses a single static line.  First, a bowline on a bight is tied with a loadable back strand for the instructor to tie into.  After a bight of rope is positioned for building the master point, a second bowline with a bight finish is tied to the second anchor.  The excess rope can be neatly coiled beneath the second bowline with the bight finish.  I found this to be an elegant means of quickly building an equalized anchor that enables the instructor to tie in and keeps the climbing site tidy.

We then headed up to the area near Humphrey’s Head and worked on the top site skills.  I found the top site skills to be the most difficult for me.  We talked about risk management and keeping the client safe at all times.  The AMGA single pitch tool of choice is the Gri Gri (or similar autolocking device like a Cinch).   I had never used a Gri Gri before and have very limited experience top roping, especially setting up a top rope anchor.  It felt like I was getting hit with a fire hose all day, struggling to keep up.  It was tough for me!

We set up both belayed rappels and top rope anchor riggings.  Both riggings employed the double bowline with a static line setup I discussed earlier.  The belayed rappel required two master points - a lower one for the single line rappel and a higher one for a munter belay.  The rappel was rigged with a releasable / soft knot – a munter.  This setup allows the client to experience rappelling while having a belay from the instructor.  The releasable rappel allows the instructor to manage a stuck belay device (say something gets caught in the client’s belay device), by shifting the weight between rappel and belay lines via mule tie-offs.  We also practiced lowering and assistance techniques for a top rope, including a 3:1 assist with a Gri Gri. My brain was overfilling at this point.

Patrick went through a teaching component and showed us a way to introduce beginners to climbing movement.  The lessons learned from his demo would transfer over to the teaching of other components.  In other words, it was more a lesson on how to teach, not specifically how to teach climbing movement.

We wrapped up Day 1 and headed to Hellbenders in Davis for some awesome burritos (I highly recommend Hellbenders as a break from the usual restaurant/s in Seneca).

Day 2. We headed back up to the Lower Ridge Slabs for more anchor building and bottom site management skills.  We all built gear anchors and discussed the pros and cons of each.  Patrick then set up a hand line to demo one means of keeping the client safe on the approach.  He then demonstrated a lead climb and set up a top rope on the route.  The demo afforded a means to enable him to teach safe leading, how to get a safe belay by a client and back up the client’s belay, how and when to have a ground anchor, and the ability to watch us climb.

We then learned an assistance skill.  One client is belaying another on top rope.  The climber is incapacitated (falls off, panics, etc.).  The instructor must take over the belay, ascend to the climber, and then retrieve the climber by rappel.  For some reason that drill came easy to me.  Perhaps my crevasse rescue background helped!

Day 3.  We headed up to Humphrey’s again and finished the remainder of the material in the morning.  The afternoon was spent reviewing the top site management techniques. Back at the Gendarme, Patrick debriefed each of us individually before we headed off.

I went into this course hoping to learn some techniques for top rope management and hearing what the AMGAs official position was on various issues. I was exposed to WAY more material than I expected and feel that the course was well worth my time.

SPI Assessment.  In December, Sean Tracy (another student from the course) and myself headed down to Roanoke to take the assessment.  Another guide and friend of Patrick, John Guy Owens, manages the outdoor activities and climbing wall at Hollins University and hosted us.  Hollins is a women’s college, but much to my dismay they were on winter break.  This was the weekend of the PMC Christmas party and the snowstorm provided a challenging epic getting down to Roanoke.  We were able to test on many of the drills at the college gym on day one while the snow was falling outside.  Sean and I had to demonstrate the technical skills learned in the course and we each had to teach a 20-minute lesson.  I chose to teach climbing movement and added to Patrick’s curriculum with some more advanced concepts involving posture, breath, and focusing on the feet (vice hands).

Day two we actually headed out to a local crag, where Sean and I took on the roles of guide to Patrick and John Guy.  I was first up, and as soon as we exited the cars I was in the role of guide (and being tested).  We headed up to the crag.  This is where I perhaps made my only significant error by grouping everyone near the crag, and without helmets. Whoops.  I surveyed the area for a line that could be either rappelled or led and seconded by a client.  I spotted a blocky 5.4ish route that looked doable, so I elected to go for it and do a lead.  The temperature was about 25F and I had to clear the foot or so of snow to find holds and pro placements.  5.4 is a lot harder under these conditions, but with some alpine experience, it wasn’t too unfamiliar.  I brought up all three clients and then lowered them back down.  Sean took over and did a similar drill.  We wrapped up the assessment at a sub shop nearby with a final debriefing by Patrick.  Sean and I both passed with good marks and forged our way back home.  The course and assessment was a very worthwhile learning experience for me. 

Thanks again to the club for picking up the tab on the assessment part of the certification!