Intro to trad climbing

This course is for that climber looking to take the next steps towards being an all around outdoor climber. If you want to learn how to Trad climb, how to place and use cams and nuts, construct three piece anchors, and be self sufficient outdoors, then this is the course for you! This course is designed to teach you the basics of how to use traditional protection, including how to evaluate gear for soundness, evaluate rock quality, and build structurally sound and robust three piece anchors.

This course is best served for those that already know how to sport lead climb, either outdoors or in the Gym. We will hit the ground running in this course, delving quickly into gear selection, types, and placements. We will continue with learning how to best place and utilize trad gear in three piece anchors, and finish up with discussing how to place trad gear on lead, including when and why to extend gear, why to choose different types of gear over others, etc.

Following this course, you should feel comfortable evaluating trad gear placements, building strong and robust anchors, and having a good feel for leading on trad gear. Learning how to utilize trad gear opens up one of the final levels of rock climbing.

WHAT MAKES THIS COURSE DIFFERENT:

This course is best served for those that already know how to sport lead climb, either outdoors or in the Gym, but is open to climbers of all ability levels. We will hit the ground running in this course, delving quickly into gear selection, types of trad gear, and how to use and place each. This learning will quickly lead us to discussing how to build 3 and more piece trad anchors, and starting to get comfortable handing from out creations.

Throughout all of this, dedicated time will spent receiving structured, guided feedback by your guide. They will critique and evaluate each piece that you place, and help you to understand how any why certain placements may be better than others.

As we begin to get comfortable with the gear, we will start to discuss placing and evaluating gear while on lead. We will move into lead practice with a top rope backup, continuing to evaluate each placement as we make it. Finally, we will get our first lead climbs fully on trad gear.

We pride ourselves on keeping low ratios of students to instructors, and providing individualized and exceptional instruction. If you want to improve your outdoor abilities, come learn what the trad is all about!