Climbing Classroom Session: Sport Climbing Part 2 – Lead Belaying and Following

OVERVIEW

This trip is part 2/2 for the classroom sessions to learn about lead climbing. This session will focus on lead belaying and following.

BEFORE signing up for this session, you should be very comfortable with top rope climbing and belaying including:
– tying in with a double figure-8 and double fisherman
– correct belay technique (either brake-under-slide or pinch and slide) with an ATC and GriGri
– basic verbal cues (“on belay,” “belay on,” “climbing,” “climb on,” “take,” “on me,” “ready to lower,” “lowering,” “rock,” “falling”)
– ideally, you would have also taken Part 1 of this series (Lead Climbing)

In this session (Sport Climbing Part 2 – Lead Belaying and Following), we will go through everything you need to know to lead belay, follow a route, and clean the anchor. The safety-related “whys” are baked into each topic. My goal with this course is for you to develop the confidence and competence to be a great belay partner. Topics include:
– New gear and knots
– Lead belaying
– How to safely belay/pay out slack with a GriGri
– Cleaning the anchor (for both lowering and rappelling setups)
– Evaluating when to lower and when to rappel
– Risks

The session will be workshop style with intermixed discussing and doing. About half of the time will be a conversation/presentation with the other half of the time dedicated to questions and hands-on practice interspersed throughout each topic. I’m keeping the group small to ensure we can tailor topics to individual questions/goals/gaps as needed.

Things you should have for the hands-on practice:
– Harness
– ATC and/or GriGri (optional, but recommended) with locking biner
– Spare rope/practice rope (can use a non-climbing rope for practice, the closer to climbing rope diameter, the better, but anything is better than nothing)
– Two quickdraws (can use a single carabiner affixed to a soft good if you don’t have a quickdraw)
– A sling, PAS (personal anchor system), or third quickdraw (optional but encouraged)

Note that this is a virtual session. I will send out a zoom/google meets link on the day of the workshop.