Climbing: Intro to Trad Gear

OVERVIEW

Ever wanted to learn the basics of placing gear? Now’s your chance! We’ll head out to Hidden Rocks near Harrisonburg and I’ll go through common pieces of trad gear, how they work, how to place them, how not to place them, how to retrieve them from the rock (aka clean them), and some additional things outside of merely placing gear that must be considered on a trad climb versus a sport climb.

After we do that, we’ll try to do some mock leads on some of the short, fun cracks that give Hidden it’s other name – Hidden Cracks.

We’re not going to cover some topics that are specific to multi-pitch climbs, anchor building, and a number of other relevant topics. That would probably be too much to cover in a day. What we do cover will be enough to set you on a course to lead single pitch trad, such as is abundant at the New and elsewhere.

REQUIREMENTS:
1) Strongly prefer that you have some experience leading sport.
2) You should be very comfortable on 5.9, so that you can climb the routes the mock leads will be on and focus on the gear instead of not falling.

YOU PROVIDE:
1) At least a liter of water
2) Lunch
3) Personal climbing gear
4) Rain Gear (Potential for rain in the forecast)
5) Headlamp (you never know!)

CLUB PROVIDES:
1) Transportation
2) Ga$ money for drivers
3) Any climbing gear you need but don’t own