Learn to Lead @ St Peter’s

Hey Everyone!

Raine, Cornellius and I (Amelia V) will be running a Learn to Lead at Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym at St Peter’s this Friday 28th of March at 6:30pm.

You will need to be comfortable top rope climbing as minimum experience. Lead climbing experience is not necessary. This means being able to both climb and belay comfortably and competently (you don’t need to climb hard grades, just be comfortable climbing/belaying!). However, if you’ve lead climbed before and just want some more practice and pointers, or to get your St Peter’s lead pass, we’d love to help you out!

What is Lead Climbing?

Some definitions for those who are unsure:

Top roping is how you normally climb in indoor gyms. The ropes are already set up, and all you need to do is climb whilst your belayer takes in the slack as you go. If you fall, you hang in the same spot.

Lead climbing is a bit more complicated. When you go climbing outdoors, the ropes aren’t already set up. So, the climber will have to put up quickdraws along the route to clip the rope into as they go. If you fall and you’re above the bolt with the quickdraw, you can fall a few metres. In indoor gyms like St Peter’s, the quickdraws are already in place. For outdoor climbing you’ll need to carry them with you and place them yourself.

We will be teaching how to lead belay with two devices: GriGri and ATC. You’ll be placed in a group of three and doing “mock leading” where one person will top rope belay you, and the other will be lead belaying you. St Peter’s does not allow leading with ATC so only mock leading will be allowed with this device, which is still good practice for outdoor trips. If you’re competent with a GriGri, you can do your lead test and move from mock lead to lead climbing and belaying. You are not allowed to lead climb without passing a test from the gym staff.

We can also teach how to clean anchors if we have time.

Pre-Reading

If you’re keen to come along, have a read-through of the following resources:

• How to Lead Climb
• How to Lead Belay (ATC)
• How to Belay with a GriGri
• Petzl Access Book 1: Belaying (Page 10 in particular)
• Petzl Access Book 5: Sport Climbing

Bonus:

• How to Clean a Sport Anchor
  • Note that the club teaches to use a safety/personal anchor system (PAS) instead of a second quickdraw.

Cost

Note that all attendees will need to pay the St Peter’s entry fee. For UNSWOC members who are uni students, we have a discount on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that will reduce entry to $14.50. Please bring a club card and student card. If you do not have a club card, let me know in the comment and I can bring one for you.

How to Attend

To attend, sign up below and answer the following in your comment:

• Your climbing experience
• If you’ve lead climbing or lead belayed before
• What you’re hoping to learn (e.g. try lead for the first time, tips and tricks to improve, or help in getting your lead pass)
• If you could turn anything into an ice-cream flavour, what would it be?

Also please make sure that a link to your Facebook is included on your UNSWOC profile so you can be added to a group chat. If you don’t know how to edit this, please included it in your comment.

Keen to see you there! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook messenger or via email at president@unswoc.org