U.S Naval Sea Cadets –Rock Climbing Winter Training in Joshua Tree National Park Dear U.S. Naval Sea Cadet, On behalf of the entire Chillino Rock Climbing team we want to express our great excitement about the upcoming rock climbing winter training in Joshua Tree National Park. In less than one week, we will have 5 full days to explore a multitude of technical rock climbing skills and drills. During our training you will benefit from the experience of our professionally trained guides. Each of us spent multiple years and even decades on the rock, which has perfected our safety techniques. Our skill will allow you to dive into advanced aspects of rock climbing, despite your minimum experience. This training exposes you to a massive chunk of knowledge that is impossible to master in just a few days! Please be advised that after our training you still need to practice all these skills under professional instruction. In rock climbing, regardless of how much book knowledge is attained, it is crucial to collect EXPERENCE in order to stay safe. Our training manual is a great tool for you to elevate your learning experience. There are many terms in rock climbing that will be new to you and the more you read in advance, the more you will understand and learn during our lectures and drills. We advise you to bring a notebook along with you. This way you can make notes of important lectures or reflect on our drills that we go through. It is also recommended to have this manual available in digital or print form. We are looking forward to an enriching, fun and safe training Your Chillino Rock Climbing Team Table of Contents Chapter 1: Basics in Rock Climbing pages 3 – 30 Chapter 2: Protection pages 31- 44 Chapter 3: Basic Anchors pages 45-55 Chapter 4: Lead climbing and Belaying pages 56-78 Chapter 1: Basics in Rock Climbing Top Rope Climbing. Top rope (TR) climbing is the most basic form of roped climbing. TR indicates that there is always an anchor above the climber. The rope runs through the anchor at the top of the climb and thus provides maximum safety for the climber. When using a TR it is the belayer’s responsibility to maintain light tension on the climber at all times. Tension guarantees that a slipping or resting climber will be stopped right where the slip happens or rest gets initiated - without falling. In order to safely use a TR setup (as often used in rock gyms) there are two skills required. Figure 1Typical TR climbing scenarios. Belayer is on the ground making sure that climber has tension on the rope. Anchor point is above the climber at all times (two carabiner). Here, the climber almost made it to the top Tying a figure eight not follow through. This is a very basic skill in rock climbing. The figure eight knot follow through is the most common used knot for attaching the climber to the rope. It is fairly simple to tie, holds a heavy load and is easy to visually inspect when tied correctly. Complete figure 8 follow through knot. Tied through both tie in loops of the harness. Rope creates a tight loop through both tie in points (no larger than a fist). Knot itself is well dressed and nowhere crossed. The tail end of the knot is at least 2 hand widths long and no longer than 4 hand widths – the perfect figure 8 knot! There are three criteria that make up a nice and neat knot The actual knot shall be dressed and tightened (no crossing of individual strands) The loop between knot and both tie in points of the harness shall be no larger than a fist. The tail end exiting the figure eight knot shall be no shorter than two stacked fists and no longer than four fists. Check out our video on how to tie a figure 8 follow through knot It is quite a challenge to tie a figure eight knot follow through that lives up to the above mentioned 3 criteria. Here are three tips that help you to get better at tying nice and neat figure 8 follow through knots: 1 Be quick with adjusting the tail end of your first single figure 8 knot. Eventually you can adjust the length (shorter or longer) even after having fiddled the tail end through both tie in points. Once you get good at adjusting the length, you will create tight loops (smaller than a fist) and tail ends between 2 and 4 fist length 2 Push the rope aside and follow the tight side of the rope (see pictures) 3 Loosely follow the entire knot before tightening each of the 4 individual strands at the very end Finger pointing at wide spot Find the tight spot to follow Follow along the tight spot Keep losely following the initial 8 before tightening Pull on each of the 4 strands individually in order to tighten the figure eight knot TR belaying. Belaying is a responsible task in climbing. While belaying on a TR, the belayer has to “take in” rope (versus “feeding out” - in lead climbing) with every inch and step the climber ascends. Taking in rope guarantees permanent tension on the rope which keeps the TR climber safe at all times. For belaying there are a multitude of devices that can be used. The most common one is the ATC belay device (shown below). Besides its high brake strength, it has become widely adapted due to its simple, lightweight and multi-functional design. How to rig an ATC belay device and attach to the harness. To rig a rope to the ATC belay device you have to squish a bite of rope through one of the two openings. Then it is necessary to clip the bite of rope and the loop that is part of the device with your locking carabiner (see illustration). When doing this properly, there are eventually two rope strands exiting the device. One is the climber’s rope – the one that goes to the anchor (and ultimately back down to the climber). And the other one is the brake rope - the one rope that goes to the ground to a pile of extra rope. When clipping the device to the belay loop of the harness it is important to have the brake rope face away from your body (rather than pointing towards you). Use one of the openings for the belay side of the TR Pinch a loop and squish it through the opening Clip a locking carabiner to both loops, the rope loop and device loop Climber's side goes up in the sky - Belay side goes to the ground Clip the belay device to the belay loop of your harness and flip the carabiner so that the screw gate faces down. Lock the carabiner. watch this video on how to rig an ATC device to rope and harness Stopper knot. Make sure to always tie a stopper knot into the end of the brake rope. In doing so, the “system is closed”, which makes it impossible to lower the climber off the end of the rope. Unfortunately this has been reported as one of the most occurring rock climbing accidents, which is easily avoidable with a stopper knot (usually a double overhand knot). Now, since we are attached to the rope via a belay device, we can start belaying! ALWAYS tie a stopper knot into the beay side of the rope Belay technique. PLUS. The rule number 1 in belaying is to ALWAYS have your strong hand (right or left-handed) holding the brake rope AT ALL TIMES. No exception! The challenge is to take in rope while making sure to not violate rule number 1 and also maintaining tension on the climber’s rope. In order to maximize safety and practice a standardized method, we use the PLUS method for TR belaying. PLUS stands for When pulling up the brake rope, minimize your time with your hand Lock it down quickly – this is the most important step - it locks the being held above the device rope in place The motion starts with pulling. As your “non-strong” hand grabs the P - ull climber’s side of the rope and pulls it down, your strong hand pulls the brake rope up to the sky. Immediately bring your strong hand down to lock off the rope. This is the most crucial part to understand - only when the brake rope is held L - ock underneath the belay device, the rope is locked. For this reason it is important to minimize the amount of time being up (above the device) with your brake rope. Right after locking off the rope, grab with your “non-strong” hand U - nder underneath your strong hand “Under” makes it safe to then slide your strong hand up the brake rope to no S - lide more than one inch away from the device. PLUS repeats from here… Check out this video showing the PLUS belaying technique When flawlessly using PLUS, the belayer will maintain tension on the climber’s rope while guaranteeing to follow rule number 1. For most beginner belayers it takes about 30 seconds to 2 minutes to get comfortable with the PLUS belay technique, while being able to also look up and observe the climber’s action. It is important to do a few dozen of dry practice strokes before actually belaying a climber. When doing your practice strokes, make sure to ask your partner to hold the climber’s rope with some friction, which simulates a “real” climber being on the rope.