Trad Class Practical...
Spent the weekend in Kentucky's Red River Gorge with a group of friends teaching the practical portion of the Trad Climbing course being taught through C.A.M. (The Climbers Association of Michigan).
We spent the first day at Muir Valley at the Practice Wall. Timi and I woke up at 6:15 got ready and the whole group hopped into their cars leaving the campground at 8:30am. We spend the morning having the students place gear in the wall. Nuts, Hexes, Cams, Ballnuts, Tri-cams... everything. The instructors wandered around checking placements and giving feedback on the placements.
12:30pm: Lunch break.
After lunch we looked at some anchors that a couple students put together, making comments, correcting problems, etc.. Then moved on to setting up a rappel and rappelling for those that weren't familiar with this, or wanted to do so under a watchful eye. Some routes were mock lead, placements evaluated, routes seconded and cleaned. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The day was finished at around 5:30pm and the hike out to the parking lot. We lost a student, but she was quickly found sleeping behind the shed.
Mike volunteered to cook dinner for the whole group. He got some potatoes, corn on the cob and a couple pork tenderloins. We all helped out where we were able, or where Mike allowed us. When the food was pulled off the fire (or out of the fire) and we all sat down to eat, it was like sitting down to a thanksgiving meal. Well, thanksgiving if the pilgrims had lighter fluid and aluminum foil. Dinner was really good. Some people left to get ice cream, yet came back with fixings for pudgy pies. :) 'Twas a nice treat.
I showered, put out the fire and went to bed at around 11pm.
Sunday we got up at around 6:15am, woke some people up, ate and located ourselves in the pavilion to do a little bit of teaching. Unfortunately this took longer than I had planned, or hoped, and we left for Roadside Crag at around 11:30am. There's a 5.3 route there called Gumbyland. Mike led up this route, trailing a rope, he setup a fixed rope on the anchor so students could practice ascending. Different students either seconded, cleaned or mock-led the route. Amy led a 5.9- sport route and setup another rope. This route Amy did had a nice crack nearby and a couple students mock led and cleaned the crack.
All-in-all it was a good weekend, with most of the students getting in a mock lead, all the students seconding and cleaning at least one route, and learning more about trad leading in the process.
We spent the first day at Muir Valley at the Practice Wall. Timi and I woke up at 6:15 got ready and the whole group hopped into their cars leaving the campground at 8:30am. We spend the morning having the students place gear in the wall. Nuts, Hexes, Cams, Ballnuts, Tri-cams... everything. The instructors wandered around checking placements and giving feedback on the placements.
12:30pm: Lunch break.
After lunch we looked at some anchors that a couple students put together, making comments, correcting problems, etc.. Then moved on to setting up a rappel and rappelling for those that weren't familiar with this, or wanted to do so under a watchful eye. Some routes were mock lead, placements evaluated, routes seconded and cleaned. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The day was finished at around 5:30pm and the hike out to the parking lot. We lost a student, but she was quickly found sleeping behind the shed.
Mike volunteered to cook dinner for the whole group. He got some potatoes, corn on the cob and a couple pork tenderloins. We all helped out where we were able, or where Mike allowed us. When the food was pulled off the fire (or out of the fire) and we all sat down to eat, it was like sitting down to a thanksgiving meal. Well, thanksgiving if the pilgrims had lighter fluid and aluminum foil. Dinner was really good. Some people left to get ice cream, yet came back with fixings for pudgy pies. :) 'Twas a nice treat.
I showered, put out the fire and went to bed at around 11pm.
Sunday we got up at around 6:15am, woke some people up, ate and located ourselves in the pavilion to do a little bit of teaching. Unfortunately this took longer than I had planned, or hoped, and we left for Roadside Crag at around 11:30am. There's a 5.3 route there called Gumbyland. Mike led up this route, trailing a rope, he setup a fixed rope on the anchor so students could practice ascending. Different students either seconded, cleaned or mock-led the route. Amy led a 5.9- sport route and setup another rope. This route Amy did had a nice crack nearby and a couple students mock led and cleaned the crack.
All-in-all it was a good weekend, with most of the students getting in a mock lead, all the students seconding and cleaning at least one route, and learning more about trad leading in the process.
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