Backcountry Workshop Schedule
Spring 2004

Lead Climbing     more BCWs will be announced shortly!

Intro to Traditional Lead Climbing

The Stanford Outdoor Education Program and Stanford Alpine Club are proud to announce Intro to Traditional Lead Climbing. The course consists of both in-class lectures, and weekend long trips to practice the skills in the field. The lectures, which will be held Thursday April 15th and Thursday April 27th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm (location TBA), are open to public and anyone interested is encouraged to come. Basic exposure to top-roping climbing is recommended for attendees as a lot of those basics will not be covered in the class. Please email mburke@stanford.edu if you plan to attend.

The weekend trips have a limited enrollment and anyone interested must apply via the application below. There will be two weekend-long trips, April 18-19 and May 1-2. Applications are due 5 pm, Thursday April 8th. The field component costs $30, which will cover group equipment for the trips (non-refundable). Students should own or rent their own harnesses, shoes, helmet and belay device.

LECTURE TOPICS
The lecture topics will likely include: basics of multi-pitch climbing, including advanced belaying, rappelling, communication; traditional leading, including standard types of protection, multi-anchor belay stations, rope management, efficiency; survey of self-rescue.

FIELD TOPICS
Field topics to be chosen from: placement of protection, anchor analysis and design, mock leading, actual leading, efficiency drills, following instructors on multi-pitch routes, and basic self-rescue.

FIELD PRE-REQUISITES
Pre-requisites for the trips include: ability to follow unseen 5.7 climbs on first attempt, at least nominal experience with cleaning or placing trad climbing gear (i.e. cams, nuts, hexes), self-sufficiency for car camping, and experience with basic crack climbing. Experience with sport climbing is a plus, and experience with multi-pitch climbing is also plus. If you feel that you are underqualified, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway – if there is enough demand and an applicant pool that warrants it, we’ll likely put together an “Advanced Anchors and Gear” class that will assume less climbing experience but will be similarly gear intensive, and involve one weekend trip.

For more information, please contact Marshall Burke (mburke@stanford.edu) or Dave Weaver (dww@stanford.edu).

APPLICATION
Application is due April 8th by 5pm. Please email completed application to Marshall Burke (mburke@stanford.edu).

Name:
Email:
Phone number:
Age:
Gender:
SAC Member?:
Stanford affiliation:
Time left at Stanford University:

Can you commit to the following classes?     Thurs Apr 15th, 7-9pm  andThurs Apr 29th, 7-9pm

Can you commit to the following weekend trips?     Apr 17th-18th and May 1st-2nd

Do you own a car that you can drive on trips? How many does it seat?

If you were offered a position on the course, would you definitely accept?

Why do you want to learn to lead climb?

Summarize your climbing experience with respect to the following nominal prerequisites of the course: ability to follow unseen 5.7, at least nominal experience with cleaning or placing trad climbing gear (i.e. cams, nuts, hexes), self-sufficiency for car camping. and experience with basic crack climbing.  Experience with sport climbing is a plus, as is experience with multi-pitch climbing.

Example: I have been top-roping for 2 years and can on-sight 5.8. Last season I climbed outdoors 5 times, including following a 3 pitch 5.6 route (Pop Bottle) at Lovers Leap. I have climbed some hand cracks, but am not that great at it. I have never led before. I have my own sleeping mat and bag, and enough warm clothes, but no tent. I could borrow a tent, and if I could share someone's stove, I would be comfortable car-camping for the two weekends.

List your last five climbs (location and details).
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Anything else you want to tell us?

(c) 2004 Outdoor Education Program Stanford University