Make the leap into traditional climbing at one of Washington’s best granite crags!

You might be an avid sport climber. You might even crush hard boulders. But have you ever wondered how you might get up that steep cliff over there without bolts or pads? There is a way to do it, and it is traditional (“trad”) climbing! If you want to get out and explore wilder cliff faces and alpine mountain climbs, starting with trad skills is the foundation that will carry you to bigger objectives.

This course is meant to get you started in the art of placing gear. You will learn everything from inspecting placements, mock leads, anchor building, top belaying and rappelling. And you get to do all of this at one of Washington’s best crags for trad climbing. Index is the epicenter of trad climbing in the state and possibly even in the northwest US. With acres of granite to climb and routes of all difficulties, it is an excellent venue to get psyched on building your rock skills.

NB: Depending on weather, the venue can shift to drier locations like Tieton, WA or Vantage, WA.

Trip Stats

Duration: 2 days

Guest–Guide Ratio: 1:1, 2:1

Difficulty: ~5.7-5.9 rock climbing

Skill Level: Beginner

Fitness Requirement: 1/5

Itinerary

Day 1: Gear placement introductions; gear placement ground school; top rope mock leads and gear placement; gear critiques; anchor building clinic

Day 2: additional top rope mock leads; top belaying; rappelling; introduction to managing 2-pitch climbing scenarios; optional end-of-day river swim!

What skills do you need?

Outdoor climbing experience; familiarity with sport lead climbing is helpful

Knowledge of basic climbing knots

Other Trip Info

What’s included in the trip?

  • Professional guiding and instruction services for the duration of the trip.

  • Access permits

  • Group climbing equipment

What’s NOT included in the trip?

  • Food and lodging

  • Guest’s individual climbing, cooking and camping gear.

  • Transportation. However, carpooling can be arranged, if necessary.

Gear

Guests are responsible for providing their own climbing equipment for this style of climbing trip.

Guests may opt to camp near the climbing area, though Index is just 1 hour and 15 minutes away from downtown Seattle