As we drove north the weather didnt seem to be getting any better...so much for the BBC....but they have been wrong in the past!The rain was lashing down on the mini bus windscreen. This however, did not stop the audible excitment building in the back of the bus.
Our plan of heading to Bowden Doors had to be changed and we choose Kylow Crag as a better more sheltered option. The rain continued but this didnt put of the Monkeys, most of which had never climbed on 'REAL' rock before.
The climbing skills and talent of these youngsters never ceases to amaze me. All of the group belayed themselves with the instructors looking in to ensure all was safe.A rather dirty bunch of Monkeys returned to the Sunderland Wall to meet their parents...all of which had had a very quiet and relaxing day ...I'm sure
Thanks to the instructors on the day Tom, Richy and Liz....Great job Team Roxcool lol
After many more years than I care to admit to, hanging round crags and climbing walls I thought it was finally time to legitimatise things and gain some qualifications. Several of my friends have SPA certificates and, reading between the lines, SPA seems to consist mainly of shivering on top of crags, constructing elaborate belays and recapturing petulant teenagers as they storm off in a generally homeward direction, appalled by the infringement of their human rights when they realise they cant actually climb and text at the same time.
Having had a little coaching experience in another sport and realising there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had from seeing a individual succeed at something they previously thought beyond them, the CWA course with its emphasis on movement skills in a less intimidating environment seemed ideal.
CWA Course
Roxcool are my local provider, so I found a course which fitted with my shifts and booked on. Some weeks later I was at Sunderland Wall, meeting with the other three candidates (one of whom was a previous climbing partner of mine coincidentally booked onto the same course) and Cliff, the tutor, who for reasons undisclosed, sported a magnificent set off mutton chop whiskers, giving him an Edwardian air, making us feel we were being tutored by Geoffrey Winthrop Young or O.G. Jones. Cliff encouraged us to introduce ourselves to the group and give a brief history of our climbing experience and reasons for attending the course, this was followed by a brief presentation which outlined the syllabus, then a light-hearted discussion of the history and ethics of climbing, the various official organisations governing climbing and the differences between climbing and bouldering grades. Moving out of the office, Cliff laid out a selection of climbing kit, slings, karabiners, belay devices and suchlike, going through the pros and cons of each and explaining the meanings of the UIAA markings. We then moved on to equipment provided by the wall for groups, learning the best way to fit the harnesses and how to check the ropes. To illustrate the difference in comfort between our own and the group harnesses, Cliff had us do a few lowers wearing the group harnesses, it would be fair to say the difference was immediately apparent. Then Cliff, quite literally, ran us through a few of his favourite warm ups, before an assessment of our climbing and belaying skills on the main wall, particularly emphasising the importance of good belaying technique. Many other aspects of the syllabus were covered during the evening, wall safety procedures and etiquette, floor covering and matting, helmet use, the necessity of chest harnesses for some types of climbers. Cliffs method of teaching is laid back relying on asking rather than telling, imparting knowledge small chunks and humorous without being patronising. We even got some homework to construct a suitable warm up encompassing the four elements, mobilisation, heart rate raising, dynamic stretching and easy activity specific movement.
Day two proved to be the fun day, starting with four very different warm ups and continuing with games to coach climbing techniques,hands free climbing for balance and illustration of centre of gravity, climbing through hoops for flexibility and, most memorably, especially for the spectators, donning various items of clothing as we ascended the wall, lowering off, then doffing the same clothing as we re-ascended the wall, all without weighting the rope. I think this was to teach us how hot it gets climbing in two sets of clothes, or perhaps how to hang on with one arm while the rest of the climbing wall patrons laugh at you.
Later in the session we learnt rescue techniques to bring down a stuck climber (top tip from me Gri Gri). Moving on to the bouldering wall we spent some time on more advanced climbing techniques, palming and other types of holds, heel hooks, toe hooks, rockovers, dropped knee and the correct way to spot a boulderer. All utilising Cliffs mnemonic E.D.I.C.T. (youll have to go on the course to find out what it means). Some more games followed, mainly consisting of climbing while being pelted with footballs, no mercy was shown with regard to gender or climbing prowess.
Day three we were at a different venue, the McMillan Academy at Middlesbrough, a small wall at the end of a sports hall. More advanced belaying techniques were illustrated; bell ringing and Italian Hitch amongst others. Our leading was assessed, as was our belaying for leading prior to a classroom session covering session planning and some health and safety issues. The all important sticker was put in our logbooks and we were let loose into the world.CWA Assessment
Some weeks later I was back at Sunderland Wall with a bulging logbook and rope-calloused hands from over 70 assisting sessions, belaying and lowering countless clients at local walls. Cliff relieved me and Merlin, the other candidate, of our logbooks and asked us to lay out the equipment we felt we would need to be wearing to instruct a group, before probing our knowledge of assorted pieces of kit. Our harness fitting and knot tying techniques were assessed, then we were asked to bottom rope three routes so Cliff could have a look at our climbing and belaying, at one point presenting us with something Merlin, my youthful companion had probably only seen on The Antiques Roadshow, a Stitch Plate, which we had to use to belay each other with. Moving onto the slab we were asked to effect a rescue, managing to safely bring each other to the ground swiftly and without any undue stress. Leading three routes came next, after our first leads we learnt an important lesson when replacing the walls rope by taping it to the end of the leading rope, take the leading rope out of the quickdraws first or endure the barely suppressed smirks of the regular staff as you flick and pull the rope before realising someone will have to do The Climb Of Shame and free it from the quickdraws. Our proficiency at taking and holding a leader fall was also assessed at this stage.
For our second day of assessment a group was provided for us to work with and we had to run a whole session with them, utilising everything wed learnt on the course, all under the watchful eye of Cliff. My group, Gemma, Nat and Paige were marginally older than age group I regularly work with, this called for some modification of my session plan, mainly dropping some of the games. A quick chat ascertained Nat had never climbed before but the other two had some previous experience, more importantly Nat was time constrained which meant it was important to cover all aspects of the syllabus in the allotted time. We began with harness and shoe fitting before warming up. Some bottom roping on the easy slab gave me an opportunity to assess the ladies abilities and to ensure they were happy with being lowered, before moved onto the main wall to try some proper routes, preceded by an explanation of the grading system and some closely supervised tying of their own knots. After a route each, we did some peer belaying, one climbing, one belaying and one tailing the belayer, Nats belaying was a bit shaky at first but with a little extra practice she mastered it. Nat also benefited from some coaching with her climbing, straightening her arms so she could see the footholds and turning her feet so one hip was against the wall worked particularly well for her.
After a short break, I took my group to the bouldering wall to illustrate some more advanced climbing techniques and surprisingly quickly they were doing problems. We made a mutual decision to drop the games from the session plan and finish the session with some more roped climbing, this time on one of the higher walls. Everyone got involved with belaying, using the bell-ringing technique and it was gratifying to see the tremendous improvement in Nats climbing after just two hours of instruction.>/P>
Merlin and I said goodbye to our respective groups and Cliff took us aside separately to give us our results, we were both pleased to have passed. A short debrief to discuss Cliffs observations from the evening and it was all over, we were now instructors. Although as Cliff reminded us its like your driving test, you dont start learning until after youve passed.
John Lavelle (CWA)
