Professional Climbing Instructor's Association Top Rope Climbing Instructor Course
Prerequisites | Course outline | bibliography | Cost | Meeting place and time | Getting to Joshua Tree |
To sign up you will need to complete these forms:Acknowledgment of risk form
Participant Medical Data form
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| Getting over the edge safely: Instructor rapping off a cordellete, transitioning to a master point sling-shot top rope rappel. Of course there's a third hand back up tool already on the rope. |
Dates and location: Custom dates can be arranged with four or more participants. We teach these courses all over the US and at any time of the year. Our 2007/2008 course schedule is:
December 5 - 9, Joshua Tree course and exam
April 30 - May 4, Joshua Tree course and exam
July 9 - 13, Eastern Sierra course and exam
Contact us for fall 2008 course dates
What to ask of a TRSM Instructor: Alan and Todd both have been involved with the program since its beginning in 1998 and have taught over 150 TRSM courses between them. Before you choose a course we urge you to consider far more than dates, price, and location. To help ensure you receive the highest quality instruction on your course we offer the following criteria as a general guideline for choosing among the instructors:
-Do they have a background in experiential and outdoor education, not just rock climbing guiding?
-How long have they been involved with the top rope site manager course program and how many Top Rope Instructor courses have they taught?
-Have the instructors been active in developing the TR curriculum?
-Have the instructors been active in discovering and developing standards for top rope climbing?
-What sort of course materials are provided?
-Are adjunct course materials available via the internet from the course provider?
-Consider the terrain where the course is offered. More challenging terrain means more learning for you. Proximity to suitable terrain means less time spent driving and more time spent learning.
-Price: as with most things, in the TR course you get what you pay for.
-Dates: our course is available for custom dates, at group rates, if you have a group of four or more people.
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| Our course includes an excellent clinic on bolts and assessing them |
If you apply the above criteria to our top rope instructor programs we think you will agree we are well able to claim one of the best TR courses around.
Our backgrounds: Todd and Alan both have hundreds if not thousands of days working top rope based programs in institutional, organizational development, and experiential education settings, as well as hundreds of days simply teaching top roped based rock and ice climbing. Todd and Alan have both been involved with the program since it's inception (1998) and together as of this writing (spring 2005) have taught more than 80 TRSM programs between them. The two represent two of the five members (currently) of the AMGA's TRSM Advisory Committee, helping create and modify the TRSM curriculum. Todd is a past member of the AMGA board of directors and Alan is a current member of the board of directors as well as part of the AMGA rock discipline examiner and instructor pool. Todd is one of three TRSM instructors who train and evaluate new providers of the TRSM program.
Alan and Todd have both been active in technical issues surrounding top rope climbing. For example, recently they both took a field trip to the Blue Water Rope factory near Atlanta, Georgia to spend several days testing anchoring knots in various materials in search of data-based answers to many of the questions around knot and anchor strength needs and values in the top roping environment. Their data from this trip has been incorporated into the course manual provided with our course. This Video (4.0mb, quicktime) showing how ropes are made is one of the things we brought back from our experience there.
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| Two days worth of breaking ropes makes a very large pile. |
Course Materials: the student hand out for the AMGA course is some 25 pages in length. Our booklet has exceeded 100 pages and includes a detailed bibliography as well as photos and diagrams of some of the knots taught in the course, equipment strength test data, and data from our recent expedition to the BlueWater facility.
Look inside the book:
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| front cover | Page 1 table of contents | Anchor angles | Friction hitches | Simple hauling |
Course location: During all but the summer months we offer the course in Joshua Tree National Park, California. "JT" is close to major airports (Ontario, CA: 1.5hr, Las Vegas: 4 hr) and features a favorable and arid climate. But for the purposes of the course the best feature of Joshua Tree is access to perfect terrain. Here there are sites with varied and challenging approaches, interesting base and top management issues, and a huge diversity of anchoring situations. We've taught the course quite a few different places and this is by far the best terrain we've used.
A close second terrain-wise is our secret spot in the Eastern Sierra. This has actually become a favorite spot of ours and the site works so well we're trying to do more and more courses there. It is up out of Bishop, at about 9,700' which makes for cool temps even when it's in the 100's down in the valley.
Course Description:
The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) top rope instructor training course emphasizes the technical and educational proficiencies necessary to safely and professionally instruct rock climbing and climbing related activities in a group setting. The forty five hour course plus exam is intended to help transition recreational climbers into becoming model climbing instructors. An AMGA certificate in Top Rope Site Management will be given to all who successfully complete the program.
The course revisits and improves existing personal recreational climbing skills and introduces guide specific skills. Topics include: expanding your repertoire of belay systems, knots, harness choices, and rappelling methods; exploring and practicing methods of teaching and modeling these skills, coaching participants effectively, noting external and internal hazards, sorting through the equipment, administrative, legal and ethical expectations and responsibilities associated with being a climbing instructor, practicing a variety of anchor configurations and learning many subtleties about anchoring, establishing and managing redirected and belay-from-above top rope climbing sites including various belays and backup methods, extending anchors, negotiating the edge when rappelling, general site management, environmental concerns, coaching, belay transfers, assisting and rescuing climbers, promoting Leave No Trace, and understanding the experiential learning model along with briefing and debriefing processes and learning and teaching styles. We might even get some climbing in...
| Top Rope Course Participants and prospective participants Please note: Successful completion of the evaluation component (exam) of this course means that your anchors are well placed, efficient and strong with no feedback needed from the instructor to make them acceptable. It also means that you are completely comfortable with all the systems presented in the course and you are able to apply those techniques to different locations and situations. The standard to be TR certified is high and not all participants will be at this level after taking the course; many participants will need more practice to be at the necessary skill level to be certified and these people will not receive a certificate from the course. We still encourage you to take the course if you meet the prerequisites but we may recommend, and you may choose, to exercise your option to take the exam at a later date. Previous experience running top rope sites, anchoring with "artificial gear" and leading traditional rock climbs makes a big difference in whether or not an individual meets the standard necessary to receive a complete on the course. The course is not the only preparation necessary to take the exam, the course exposes you to the technical systems that a top rope instructor needs specifically to offer a safe experience for their students. If you don't have previous experience running top rope sites or if you are new to these technical systems then it makes sense to come to the course to learn what you should be doing, take those skills and use them in the field and gain experience with them, and then take your evaluation at a later date when you have perfected the tools. An exam at a later date can be done with anyone in the tr course provider group. We offer courses from march until December and to take the eval involves coming on the last day of the course and participating in the eval portion. If you take your exam with someone other than your original course provider then you need to have a two day evaluation exam. This is not meant to scare you but it is meant to be realistic about what the course is and what it will prepare you for. The course does teach important skills and tools to current and would-be instructors of top rope climbing. If you meet the prerequisites and are working in the Top Rope climbing field you will certainly benefit from taking the course and will probably do fine on it. But it is not realistic to expect to come into the course and have the majority of the topics be new and at the same time receive adequate practice during the course to bring the skills to the level they need to be at in order to be certified. Please contact us if you would like to further discuss course prerequisites and possible course outcomes. |
Course Prerequisites:
Participants must have prior top rope climbing experience that includes an ability to comfortably set up top rope climbs, to belay, and to rappel without guidance. Familiarity with anchoring including natural and artificial anchors and equalizing systems is also required. The terrain context for the course is top rope sites with an easy approach, situations where leading/soloing is not necessary to reach the anchors though lead climbers usually do better on the course than non-lead climbers simply due to their familiarity with climbing equipment. If you are unsure of your skills please talk to the SMC TRSM Course director, Todd Vogel (760-873-8526) prior to enrolling in the program.
Summary of prerequisite skills:
You must know these prior to arrival at the course.
Knots: figure 8 family, grapevine, ring bend. (We will provide written instruction and diagrams on the Munter Hitch and Mule knots with your course enrollment information. You should practice these knots ahead of time to excel on the course but you don't need to have them perfected.)
Belaying: use of a variety of belay plates.
Rappelling: proper use belay/rappel plate.
Anchoring: able to comfortably utilize natural and artificial anchors to create equalized and redundant anchor systems that have minimal extension. Comfortable with use of cordellettes and runners and evaluating your own anchor systems.
Climbing: able to climb comfortably on mid fifth class terrain and to rappel over edges without coaching.
Gear: has required gear for the course and is comfortable with its use.
Participants may be asked to demonstrate skills prior to the course.
The Exam
We are now doing the exam as a separate day following the course. This is meant to emphasize that the evaluation is pass/fail and is optional. We will meet with you prior to the end of the course to discuss our recommendations as to how you should proceed, whether or not to take the exam. Many students opt to take the exam at a later date.
Course length and ratios:
The course is 40 hours in length plus the optional exam day and will not exceed a ratio of six participants to one instructor and a maximum of twelve students on a course. A minimum of four participants is required to run this course.
Camping and meeting place:
Camping is not included in the cost but for Joshua Tree NP programs only we will arrange a group site and split the cost if there are enough participants interested in doing this. Please check with the office a couple of weeks prior to the program to find out the exact meeting time and place. Since we don't always get the same campsite meeting places vary.
Getting to Joshua Tree:
Find your way to Southern California. If you are flying to get to the program the Ontario airport is your best bet as it is only 1.5 hours from Joshua Tree. Rental cars are available there. Driving from the west: take interstate 10 to the Yucca Valley/hwy 62 exit. Proceed through Yucca Valley and the town of Joshua Tree. The West entrance is the most convenient from this direction. Turn right at the town of Joshua Tree, at the main stop light and proceed into the park (several miles to the entrance. An entrance fee of $10 is charged at Joshua Tree Park and as good for seven days. A Golden Eagle Pass will work too.) Sheep Pass groupsite is through the main part of the upper park and is on the right, about two miles past Ryan Campground. It's easy to miss. If you haven't been to JT before you should consult the park map at the entrance gate. Yucca Valley is your best place to shop for supplies before heading into the Park. For programs that base out of Sheep Pass Campground the nearest supplies are a forty minute trip and the nearest phone is half an hour away. There is no water in the Sheep Pass campground.
Other expectations:
Role playing scenarios and presentations are utilized throughout the course. We recognize that role playing has its flaws but this is the only way to address some of the aspects of the course. You will be expected to give sample presentations on a variety of topics ranging from how to tie a particular knot to how to rappel. Generally presentation assignments will be impromtu rather than pre assigned but you will have the option to decline should you wish.
Curriculum Outline: order of topics may be re-arranged as needed.
Day 1
-Introduction/course overview, ice breakers, instructor & participant intros, backgrounds, participant goals, course objectives and course overview.
-Professional philosophy and ethics: professional expectations, creating a standard of care, guiding/instructing vs. climbing, terrain limitations, client instructor relationship, role modeling, client safety, comfort, and time management, on-going education
-Administrative concerns: legal issues, equipment record keeping, medical training, program goals and boundaries, consistency
-Site selection: new site suitability, impact potential/access, terrain classification
-Sample presentations:
harness application,
knots,
belaying: a detailed look at position, friction, anchor, signals, teaching, backing up belays, belay escapes, practice
-Bouldering: site selections, spotting, coaching techniques, site selection, when is bouldering appropriate/inappropriate?
-Climbing equipment: a detailed discussion, instructor equipment
Day 2
-Climbing as a tool for growth: experiential learning model, use of new games/initiatives that relate to climbing
-Participant fears: what are they, recognizing, ways of minimizing
-Site management: the instructional team/roles, safety/environmental briefings, maintaining the big eye, instructor safety
-Establishing the common point: anchoring details, bolts, natural features, artificial gear, SERENE: strong, effective, redundant, equalize, no extension; practice
-Learning/teaching styles: self-evaluation, participants evaluation, coaching movement and skills to different styles
-Group debrief: understanding debriefing/what, so what, now what
Day 3:
-Re-directed top rope climbs (slingshots): extending over the edge, instructor safety, belay/belayer management (anchor options, stance, signals, back-ups), base management, knot pass avoidance, coaching, topping out, +/- of redirects, practice
-Establishing the common point: reprise
-Rappelling: rappelling vs. lowering, devices, back-ups, using a releasable set-up, teaching rappelling: progression, modeling, client and instructor safety, practice
Day 4:
-Traditional top ropes (top belays): advantages/disadvantages, instructor vs. client belays, belaying from harness vs. belaying from anchor, belay options: plate Munter, Grigri, other options, lowering clients, back up methods, practice
-2nd-4th class terrain: recognizing and dealing with hazards, use of fixed lines, frictions knots, practice
-Assistance and rescue skills: Assisted 2:1 hoist with independent belay, other ascending options: knotted rope, ascending system; belay escape, practice.
-Emergency Planning: what if? thinking, prevention, emergency plan
-Course summary and review.
Day 5:
-evaluation, exam, and loose ends...
-group and one on one debriefs
-conclusion late afternoon
Most of these books will be at the course
Resources for Team Activities:
Fluegelman, Andrew, 1976, The New Games Book, The Headlands Press, Dolphin Books/Doubleday, Garden City, New York. (Also see More New Games, 1981)
Rohnke, Karl, 1988, Cowstails and Cobras II, Project Adventure, Inc. PO Box 100 Hamilton, Mass., 01936.
Rohnke, Karl, 1984, Silver Bullets, Project Adventure, Inc. PO Box 100 Hamilton, Mass., 01936
Climbing:
Knots: Luebben, Craig, 1998, Knots for Climbers, Falcon Press Publishing, PO Box 1718, Helena, MT, 59624.
Anchors: Long, John, 1998 Climbing Anchors, Falcon Press Publishing, PO Box 1718, Helena, MT, 59624. Also see More Clmbing Anchors, also by Long.
General:
The Mountaineers, 1997, Freedom of the Hills, sixth ed, The Mountaineers1001 SW Klickitat Wy, Seattle, WA 98134.
AMGA Guide's Manual: Technical Handbook for Professional Mountain Guides ($25 for members through the AMGA.)
Bruce Smith, Allen Padgett, National Speleological Society On Rope : North American Vertical Rope Techniques for Caving and Rappellers, 2nd edition (January 1997), National Speleological Society
Lewis, S. Peter, 1998, Toproping, Falcon Press Publishing, PO Box 1718, Helena, MT, 59624. Other resources:
Wilderness Risk Managers Conference: Held each year in the fall, at varying locations. Contact NOLS or the AEE for more info. NOLS: www.nols.edu, 307-332-6973.
More info
Association of Experiential Education
2305 Canyon Blvd., Ste. 100, Boulder, CO 80302-5651
phone: 303/440-8844, fax: 303/440-9581
E-mail: pia@aee.org, http://www.aee.org/ (great list serve feature at web site though be prepared to get a lot of e mail from it)
Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America
PO Box 1319, Boulder, CO 80306
phone: 303-444-3353, fax: 303-444-3284
E-mail: info@orca.org, http://www.orca.org/
American Mountain Guides Association
710 Tenth Street, Suite 101
Golden, Colorado 80401 USA
phone: 303-271-0984, fax: 303-271-1377
e-mail: info@amga.com, http://www.amga.com
Professional Climbing Instructors Association
PO Box 784
Bishop, CA 93515
office@pcia.us, pcia.us