Advanced Rock

Advanced Rock Application

Course Goals and changes for 2010

The mission for AR is:

“Developing technical and judgement skills to enable graduates to be fully capable lead climbers on traditional, multipitch and alpine rock.”

For 2010, we will have a required text which will be available for purchase at the MMC before the course begins: Traditional Lead Climbing by Heidi Pesterfield (2nd Edition 2007 Wilderness Press).

This text will act as a workbook to accompany the course in three broad stages:

Fundamental Skills:

Placing protection, building anchors, belaying and rappelling. This stage culminates in a skills review and then competency test at Horsethief Butte.

Leading Single Pitch Trad:

Movement skills including crack climbing, sport leading including taking and holding falls at the gym, lead protection and rope management. This stage culminates in a weekend at Tieton River gorge with opportunities to mock lead and regular lead cracks.

Multipitch and Alpine Climbing:

Introduction to Self Rescue and Aid Climbing, Alpine gear, Descents, Topos. This stage includes two trips to Smith Rock and leads into optional summer trips including City of Rocks, Yosemite, Washington Pass and Squamish.

Important Dates for Advanced Rock 2010

December 1, 2009 Application available online
February 15, 2010 Application deadline
February 21, 2010 Skills Test at Club Sport, 4:00-7:00 pm. After your application has been reviewed you will be contacted about scheduling the skills test. Please note that not all applicants will be asked to take the skills test.
February 28, 2010 Acceptance emails sent
March 2, 2010 Intro Lecture

General Information

The Mazamas Advanced Rock Climbing program began and continues with a single major purpose: to teach students how to lead 5th class rock, using the traditional form of climbing - placing protection. In the Basic Climbing Education Program, the emphasis is on basic climbing skills and creating competent party members. In the Intermediate Climbing School, skills are enhanced to enable participants to assist the leader on a climb, and for some this becomes a path towards Leadership Development. The goal of the Advanced Rock program is to provide both the skills and the practical experience to lead technical rock, enabling participants a fuller range of options whether on a private or Mazamas climb, in a cragging or alpine environment.

More than a series of lectures and field sessions, the Advanced Rock course is about people. The benefit to be gained is not limited to the development of safe climbing and communications skills. It is also the opportunity to establish long term climbing connections and friendships with people who share similar goals and interests. The program consists of lectures and coordinated field sessions, many of which take place at Tieton River in Southern Washington or Smith Rock in Central Oregon. In 2010, we will have trips to areas such as The City of Rocks, Idaho for sport and trad climbing practice, the Washington Pass area for an alpine weekend, alpine climbing in Tuolomne Meadows, Yosemite, and multipitch climbing at Squamish outside of Vancouver, BC. Students will also be encouraged to plan and complete an alpine rock climb of their choice, as well as to apply for summer alpine rock climbs at the “D” and “E” level, offered as part of the regular Mazama Summer climb schedule.

The class lectures and field sessions begin in March and run through mid-June. . This class demands a substantial time commitment if you wish to get the most out of the course. Please check the schedule at the bottom of this page to get an idea of the class material and time required.

The Advanced Rock course is not for everyone. In terms of numbers each year, there are over 200 people in the Basic Climbing Education Program, about 40 to 50 in Intermediate Climbing School, and 20 or fewer in the Advanced Rock and the Advanced Snow and Ice courses. However, Advanced Rock is not necessarily a continuation of our other schools. There are many fine climbers and Mazamas leaders who have not been through the Advanced Rock course. Our emphasis is on how to lead safely, rather than on improvement of athletic climbing ability. There will be students in the program tackling difficult multi-pitch leads while others are making gains on lower rated single pitch routes. Students should have climbing experience at an equivalent of Mazamas Intermediate Climbing School (ICS), but another important admission requirement is self-confidence and the desire to face the increasing challenges that technical leading involves. The Mazamas encourage climb leaders and those in the Leadership Development program to take this and other advanced classes to enhance their leadership skills.

The 2010 class will be headed by Eugene Lewins with a leadership team consisting of Lisa Ripps, Pat Cook, Rayce Boucher, Rhonda Ramirez and Thomas Miller. Please contact by emailing (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

We will be using a Yahoo Group site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mazama_AR/ for sharing ‘informally’ during the class, such as carpooling, asking for input from coordinators, putting out agendas for field sessions, photos etc.

Photos

Want to see some Advanced Rock action photos? Check out the Advanced Rock photo gallery under Resources.

Course requirements

If you want to apply for the Advanced Rock class, keep the following in mind:

The class is very time intensive. Please be aware of the many weekends you’ll be participating in field sessions, and apply only if you feel you can make a substantial commitment to the program.
You do not need to be a Mazama member to take the class.
You need to be proficient in the basic skills of belaying, rappelling, knot tying and rock climbing technique.
The Mazama Intermediate Climbing School (ICS) or its demonstrated equivalent is a prerequisite for the course.
Applicants should be self-confident and have a desire to lead 5th class rock.
Students must be 18 years old or older by the date of the first field session.
Students will need their own basic climbing gear including a harness, rock shoes, helmet, and personal safety gear to begin the course. It is generally expected that students will begin to buy additional gear after they have learned about the equipment by sharing with the coordinators.
Students are required to attend a lead clinic at Club Sport (as part of the class), Rock Rescue, Horsethief weekend, Tieton weekend, Smith I weekend and Smith 2 weekend in order to continue in the course.
At the Horsethief weekend there will be a competency test for placing gear and building anchors. If students can not demonstrate competency in placing gear and building anchors at Horsethief, they will do more gear placement and anchor building work prior to leading at Tieton or Smith Rock.
To complete the course, students must attend all lectures and field sessions marked below with asterisks.

For the course fee you receive:

A series of 10 lectures covering all aspects of rock climbing
7+ weekend field sessions coordinated by skilled, experienced climbers, often teaching one-on-one with the students
Use of a new rope for the class

Entrance Skills Test

After your application has been reviewed, selected applicants will be asked to complete a basic climbing competency test at Club Sport. (Please Note: Current Mazamas Climb Leaders WILL be asked to take the skills test. Mazamas in the Climb Leader Development Program, including Provisional Leaders, are also required to take the skills test.)

Please bring the following gear to the skills test: harness, belay biner, belay device, 4 extra biners, 1 locking biner, 2 slings/runners, personal pro with locking biner, 1 piece tubular webbing, 5 to 7 mm nylon cord. No rock pro (cams, stoppers, etc.) are needed. The test will take place at Club Sport Rock Gym in Tualatin.

You’ll be tested on these skills:

Climbing: You need to be able to top out twice on a 5.7 top-roped gym route. Given you should learn to lead trad at 3-4 grades below your gym top rope ability, if you are unable to top rope 5.7 at a gym, unfortunately Smith Rock does not give you many learning opportunities.
Belaying: tying into the belay anchor correctly, climbing commands (belay on, climb, climbing, take, up rope, slack, etc.), and belay with left AND right hands using belay device (correct rope feeding, don’t let go with brake hand.)
Rappelling: Climb a short wall, convert a top rope anchor into a rappel while safely anchored, feeding rope correctly into rappel device, testing anchor and system before committing to rappel, rappelling with brake hand in proper position.
Knots: figure-8 on a bight, rewoven figure-8, water knot, clove hitch, Munter hitch, bowline, double fisherman’s knot, girth hitch, and prusik knot.

Registration

Cost for the course is $310 for Mazama members and $390 for non-members. A $100 refundable rope deposit is also required.
Class size is limited to around 20.

We will request payment after you are accepted. Payment will be due on the first night of class.

If you have questions, contact us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). For the class application, click on the link at the top or side of this page.

NOTE: As is the case with all Mazamas classes, all lectures are free and open to anyone who wants to attend, whether or not you are enrolled in the class. Only paid participants will be allowed to participate in the field sessions. If you do drop in on a lecture, please do not take any handouts and refrain from questions. Auditing this course, or parts of it, can be a great way to increase your knowledge of rock climbing if you are unable to commit to the entire class.

Heading to Smith Rock? Check out the Smith Rock Gear Checklist

2010 Advanced Rock Schedule (subject to change)

Starting Times:
Lectures - Are held at the Mazama Mountaineering Center (MMC), beginning at 6:30 pm
Field Sessions - Saturday sessions begin at 9:00 am. Sunday sessions begin at 8:00 am

December 1, 2009 Application available online
January 26, 2010 Coordinator Open House
February 15, 2010 Application deadline
February 21, 2010 Skills Test at Club Sport, 4:00-7:00 pm. After your application has been reviewed you will be contacted about scheduling the skills test. Please note that not all applicants will be asked to take the skills test.
February 28, 2010 Acceptance emails sent
March 2, 2010 Intro Lecture*
March 8, 2010 Gear Placement Lecture (MMC)*
March 13, 2010 Gear Placement field session (Broughton Bluff)*
March 16, 2010 Anchor Building Basics (MMC)*
March 23, 2010 Belay, Rappelling (MMC)*
March 27-28, 2010 Field Session: Gear, Anchor, Belay, Rappel and Competency Test (Horsethief)*
March 30, 2010 Safety Systems - Anchor, Belay, Rappel (MMC)*
April 8, 2010 Gym Lead and Technique Session I* - PRG or Clubsport
April 13, 2010 Lead Protection and Rope Management (MMC)*
April 15, 2010 Gym Lead/Technique Session II* - PRG or Clubsport
April 17, 2010 Field Session: Mock Lead and Multipitch (Rocky Butte)*
April 20, 2010 Gym Lead/Technique Session* - Clubsport
April 27, 2010 Climbing Technique, Mental Aspects (MMC)*
May 1-2, 2010 Field Session: Mock Leads and Lead Practice (Tieton River Rocks)*
May 4, 2010 Rock Rescue I (MMC)*
May 6, 2010 Rock Rescue II (MMC)*
May 8, 2010 Field Session: Rock Rescue (Rocky Butte)*
May 9, 2010 Field Session: Rock Rescue II (Rocky Butte) [required for leader recert., optional for students]
May 11, 2010 Alpine/Multipitch Climbing (MMC)*
May 15-16, 2010 Smith Rock Weekend I - Lead Climbing*
May 29-31, 2010 Sport Climbing Weekend (City of Rocks, Idaho)
June 8, 2010 Aid Climbing (Rocky Butte)*
June 12 & 13, 2010 Smith Rock Weekend 2—Lead Climbing*
June 19-20, 2010 Class Field Trip (TBD)
June 26-27, 2010 Class Field Trip (TBD)
July 2010 Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite (exact dates TBD)
August, 2010 Class Field Trip, Washington Pass area (exact dates TBD)
September 3-7, 2010 Class Field Trip, Squamish, BC
October 5, 2010 AR Wrapup Potluck

*Attendance required.

The following Field Sessions are optional but highly recommended. All AR grads are invited to come and climb!

May 29-31, 2010 Sport Climbing Weekend (City of Rocks, Idaho)
June 19-20, 2010 Class Field Trip (TBD)
June 26-27, 2010 Class Field Trip (TBD)
July 2010 Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite (exact dates TBD)
August, 2010 Class Field Trip, Washington Pass area ( exact dates TBD)
September 3-7, 2010 Class Field Trip, Squamish, BC

A few recommended books . . .

Traditional Lead Climbing by Heidi Pesterfield, Wilderness Press, 2007. This is a required text for the course (available at a discount to all Mazama students at the Mazama Mountaineering Center)
The Rock Warrior’s Way: Mental Training for Climbers by Arno Ilgner, Desiderata Institute, 2006
Rock Climbing Anchors: A Comprehensive Guide by Craig Luebben, The Mountaineers Books, 2006
Advanced Rock Climbing by John Long and Craig Luebben, Falcon Books, 1997
Climbing Anchors, 2nd Edition by John Long and Bob Gaines, Falcon Books, 2006
Climbing Self-Rescue: Improvising Solutions for Serious Situations by Andy Tyson and Molly Loomis, The Mountaineers Books, 2006
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, 7th Edition, published by The Mountaineers Books.

See the Mazamas Links page for our rock climbing links, and the Tip of the Week pages for lots of rock climbing tips.

Education & Classes