Raleigh North Carolina Based Rock Climbing Guiding, Climbing Trips, Climbing Classes and Instruction » trad climbing

Training for Your Climbing Preference

brandon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:05:23 +0000

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. For example, if you are a boulderer, you don’t need to train in stamina, but rather focus on maximum strength and power. Sport climbers need to focus on maximum strength and power, and also some anaerobic endurance, to help them avoid that flash-pump common to short powerful routes. Trad climbers need to focus on all 3 areas, stamina being the most important. Without a solid foundation of stamina, long multi pitch routes will result in fatigue and possibly failure. So take a moment to consider how you train for climbing performance? Are you being specific to your goals?

Learned Alot, and Will Be Signing Up Again

brandon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:34:45 +0000

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

New Press Release: Learn How to Trad Climb at Table Rock, Linville Gorge North Carolina

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:11:06 +0000

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. The weekend course will be held August 15-16, 2009. Trad Climbing 101 will be held on Saturday, and Trad Climbing 102 on Sunday. Students have the option of taking one, or both classes. If you decide to take both classes, you will receive $10 off of each class. The itinerary for the course can be found on the Trad Climbing Classes section of our North Carolina Rock Climbing Webpage.

“Helping others learn the skills necessary to being lead climbing, and specifically trad climbing, outdooors is a great privilege and honor,” says Brandon Hensinger, owner of Ascent Adventure Consultants. “We are offering this course to people who are intrigued by trad climbing and desire to learn how to do it, but don’t necessarily know where to start. I am proud of all the ability that all of our guides have to patiently work with people and help them hone in on their skills to become proficient climbers. Combined with a weekend of camping in a wilderness setting such as Linville Gorge, this course is sure to be one that impacts people for the rest of their lives.”

Topics covered include: Selecting the route, Choosing the gear for the route, Placing the protection on route, Setting a belay with a multi-point anchor, Protecting the second, Evaluating risk as you climb, Keeping your focus on a trad climb, and Gaining experience by learning to feel comfortable with falling on your own trad gear placements.

Ascent Adventure Consultants is a professional North Carolina rock climbing and ice climbing guide company as well as a business team building and training company, headquartered in Apex NC.

For more information, please contact Brandon Hensinger, at bhensinger@ascentadventure.com, or 877-254-4617. More information can be learned about Ascent Adventure Consultants by visiting their North Carolina Rock Climbing and Team Building website at www.ascentadventure.com.

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Protecting the Second When Trad Climbing

brandon — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:15:48 +0000

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. This mostly applies to traversing, so that is what we will focus on here.

So this is just a small tip…and if it helps even one person, it is worth writing!

Keeping Your Second Safe When Traversing

If you are leading and fall on a traverse, your gear may protect you falling far, and may protect you from swinging into a corner or roof on the cliff. But what about your second? While they are following you, if they fall on the traverse, they will swing the opposite way. Are there corners, roofs, or other dangerous features that they may hit, that weren’t a risk to you? Make sure that you place enough gear to protect them if they fall as well.
If your traverse isn’t a direct traverse, but rather traverses gradually as you ascend, make sure that your second is protected for the same reasons as mentioned above, but also keep in mind that placing gear along the way will help them to follow the same path you took. This will make sure that they don’t go straight up, when they were supposed to go gradually right, and will keep them more in line with the placement to reduce the amount of swing if they fall.
Make sure the gear you place on a traverse will take rightward and leftward force.

Just some small tips, but I hope they help!

Don’t Get Weighed Down by Too Much Gear!

brandon — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:41:35 +0000

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.