TRAD CLIMBING - PLACING PROTECTION AND BUILDING ANCHORS

This engaging unit takes you through a series of well designed workshops which will give you a thorough grounding in the serious, but exciting, world of trad climbing. Beginning with a series of practical exercises giving you hands on experience of placing gear, you will learn all the essentials about runner placement and building safe and simple anchors. During the morning of the first we will review your anchor building skills on bolted scenarios. Then you will become familiar with a full range of possible gear placements, using a wide range and variety of equipment. In addition, the important skill of self-assessing placements will be developed. The aim here is to place as many gear as possible and test if they can hold your weight or even a fall. Developing an understanding of how good or bad your gear placement is, is key to your safety and progression. You can put all this into practice as you face the challenge of multiple anchor building exercises. We will also explore the practical considerations of placing runners on lead, creating appropriate learning opportunities whilst reducing risks of injury. We will give you some basic Warriors way Mental training concepts to enable you to experience falling on your gear. Please note that we strongly recommend for you to do the warriors way mental training on bolted routes before doing this week to help focus on trad during the week rather than fear management. You will apply all you have learnt so far in several exercises providing you with an extensive experience of the issues relating to trad leading. Here the emphasis falls on the psychology, control and the techniques necessary for a good trad climbing style. This will help consolidate the systematic training which the unit has been developed to ensure.

Course contents include:

• Philosophy and Psychology of Trad Climbing
• The trad climbing ethos 
• A higher risk game
• Placing protection
• Understanding the gear on your rack and how to use it
• Assessing placement integrity and strength 
• Organising your rack
• Building anchors 
• Understanding the importance of good anchors 
• Connecting the pieces
• Methods of anchor construction
• Key concepts 
• Attachment to the anchors and methods of belaying the second
• Placing runners on lead
• Choosing a rack for particular routes 
• Trad climbing strategies 
• Getting off the ground 
• Special techniques for placing protection on lead 
• Clipping, extending and managing rope drag 
• Protecting the second
• Falling on Gear
• Aid Climbing