When I’m not out actually climbing, I spend a lot of time training for climbing, and talking to others about training for climbing. I love helping others excel in this amazing sport. One thing that I often run into is that sometimes people don’t understand that training needs to be specific to the climbing discipline that you wish to excel at. Read the rest of this entry »

The whole trip was wonderful. The best part for me was the Wailing Wall climb. The start of that climb was very difficult for me, and because this was toward the end of the day, I was pretty tired and feeling like I wasn’t going to be able to do it.  I did make it, with some wailing on my own at certain moments. Jason was a wonderful guide; he talked me through the scary moments and made me feel completely safe. I had only  done sport climbing prior to this trip, so Jason took the time to teach me about all of the gear involved in trad. I learned a lot and will definitely be signing up for more trips in the future. I can’t thank you enough.

Kelly, Climbing Course Participant

Ascent Adventure Consultants, a North Carolina Rock Climbing guide company, is offering  a weekend trad climbing course at Table Rock Linville Gorge North Carolina, August 15-16 2009.

Apex, North Carolina- June 16, 2009- Ascent Adventure Consultants, a North Carolina Rock Climbing guide company, is offering  a weekend trad climbing course at Table Rock Linville Gorge North Carolina. The focus is to give students the tools to make the transition from top rope climbing outdoors to leading traditional rock climbs, to handle the risks while on a trad climbing route, and to become comfortable with falling on their own trad gear placements, in a controlled environment. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been numerous times while out climbing that I have seen a common mistake being made by new (and sometimes not so new!) lead climbers. Often, when trad climbing, the leader’s focus is only on where they can get good protection in so they can be safe, and they forget that they need to keep their second’s (the person belaying / following) safety in mind as well. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the biggest problems that new trad climbers face is being overburdened with gear on long multipitch climbs. Standing at the base of a climb, it can be so tempting to say, “Well…I might need that cam, and this hex, those 3 sets of nuts, 15 quickdraws…”, well you get the picture. I know that I personally ran into those problems all the time. One of my first long multipitch routes was Solar Slab in Red Rock Canyon NV. (Here’s someone’s trip report: Solar Slab.) I equated many pitches with lots of gear. I carried 2 full sets of cams, 2 full sets of nuts, a full set of hexes, 10 non locking carabiners, 10 locking carabiners, a nut tool, 12 quickdraws, slings in mass quantities, a chalk bag, and filled my pockets with food. Needless to say, I got burnt out and didn’t top out!

Many years later, I have learned from these mistakes and have learned how to streamline the process of choosing the right gear for the right climb. Over the next few weeks, I will post some thoughts and tips on these things.

• Read the route description and topos thoroughly. Often you can read about features such as “Hand Cracks”, “Off-Widths”, “Chimneys”, and “Thin Seams”. You can learn about directions, such as “Traverse”, “Pull the roof”, or “Hanging Belay”. Tips like these can help you learn what gear to bring. If a climb says that it is a hand crack, followed by a 25 foot traverse to the right, before a hanging belay on bolts, chances are you will not need small cams for that pitch…since it is a handcrack. You also most likely won’t need small stoppers, so just bring larger stoppers. You may need to double up on medium to large cams, and leave the smaller ones behind. You will need some slings to extend your pieces for the traverse. And you will need a cordellete or slings for the hanging belay, with 3 non locking carabiners and 2 locking carabiners. Your partner can bring up the gear that you didn’t carry, in case it will be needed for the next pitch. Hopefully you catch my drift. Study the route.