INTERESTED IN LEARNING MUILTIPITCH

so i know how to lead climb and lead belay and also belay and top rope of course well i want to learn how to do muilti pitch stuff and learn the proper and safe way to build an anchor point and how to belay and what not.. if someone is willing to teach or even go out for a day of climbing let me know im even available to climb tommorow maybe at the garden

Hi Stephen, the best place to check out, especially if climbing in the Colorado Springs area, would be The Colorado Climbing Company. You'll learn better habits more quickly and safely. You could also check out the Local Lesson Series that it's coming up. Trad class on the 6th, multi pitch the 13th. Bunch of other classes going on this month.

Hi Stephen,

A mentor is great, but they better know their shit, and if you don't know if they do then.... So a class would work as well as stated above. I'd highly recommend getting this book in addition to what ever you end up doing.

amazon.com/Climbing-Anchors…

Read it cover to cover and highlight tons of stuff to reference. Practice rope anchors, as well as cordalette and sliding x anchors etc. You can practice at home on a stair railing pretty easily.

If you do end up with a mentor, or guide for that matter, do not be afraid to question them, they may be the more "experienced" but it is your life.

Good luck.

Prod.

Colorado Climbing Company looks like a group of yahoo's pretending to be a guide service. Like most of the Springs' companies, pretty silly to believe that these folks are professionals or know what the heck they're talking about?

Eli Helmuth wrote:Colorado Climbing Company looks like a group of yahoo's pretending to be a guide service. Like most of the Springs' companies, pretty silly to believe that these folks are professionals or know what the heck they're talking about?

BAM! haha a guide service throwdown....

I posted the other day about my first multi-pitch from this last weekend(it could have gone better). I'd recommend a class and or a mentor. One of the many things I didn't think about is that 8 runners and a couple draws are adequate for all the trad climbing at my local crags, but a full pitch requires more. And knowing the route or having a topo with you is ESSENTIAL.

Also, start small. Split up single pitch routes to get experience with transitions. Then I'd start with two pitch routes and work your way up.

Steven, it's not clear from your post, when you say that you "know how to lead climb," if you're referring to sport or trad climbing...I'm guessing sport?

If that's the case, I suggest following John's advice and sticking with a bolted multipitch route at first. Trying to learn trad and multipitch at the same time may be a bit much. Another good option is Playin' Hooky in CCC:

mountainproject.com/v/playi…

Learn from as many different mentors as possible, and read some books. The wider your knowledge base, the better it will be.

Eli Helmuth wrote:Colorado Climbing Company looks like a group of yahoo's pretending to be a guide service. Like most of the Springs' companies, pretty silly to believe that these folks are professionals or know what the heck they're talking about?

Well they at least have a shitty website that doesnt garner much confidence and I dont see their "certifications" listed anywhere?

Ive used Eli's services a few times and he more than knows his shit and is a great guide so look him up Steven if you want training...

Siberia wrote:Also, start small. Split up single pitch routes to get experience with transitions. Then I'd start with two pitch routes and work your way up.

are you kidding me? how on earth would that be helpful? if its a sport climb, splitting up one pitch would make it a nightmare, if its a trad climb, chances are the pitches are set up so that they end at an obvious point with a relatively straight forward anchor to build, and/ or a good ledge. My advice is this... Equalization is not nearly as important as some would have you believe, two bomber pieces with a sliding x is just fine, climb fast and get back to your cooler full of beer as soon as possibel

Eli, from what I have heard you are a good guide but saying bad things about another guide service is not very professional, especially if you have not personally taken a class from them. Try and relate to when you first started guiding or started your own company. I guide for Denver Mountain Guiding and have guided the first flatiron over 300 times and people all the time ask me to guide them in RMNP. I often refer them to you or CMS because I do not guide there. I want to keep it like that and not have my idea of you being a good guy tarnished from a few comments. Let's all get along with eachother in the guiding industry and stop bad mouthing one another.

Glenn Schuler wrote: BAM! haha a guide service throwdown....

Siberia wrote:I posted the other day about my first multi-pitch from this last weekend(it could have gone better.

obviously, this advice should be taken as a grain of salt seeing as the person only has one multi-pitch of experience. no offense to siberia!

Siberia wrote:Also, start small. Split up single pitch routes to get experience with transitions. Then I'd start with two pitch routes and work your way up.

having said that, do not split up pitches. this will make things much more of a hassle and you will learn nothing.

Start with bolted belays, get comfortable with all the tech skills, learn how to place gear, do routes below limit to get system down rather than getting yourself into an epic!

i'm not an expert and no one of the internet could ever "teach" you how to multi-pitch. find someone that will take you out!

Eli,
Check your PM's. If you can't say anything nice it's probably better to just not say anything.

Matt,
Thanks for your opinion. I take people climbing for a living...but I'll make HTML and web design my top priority.

Eli Helmuth wrote:Colorado Climbing Company looks like a group of yahoo's pretending to be a guide service. Like most of the Springs' companies, pretty silly to believe that these folks are professionals or know what the heck they're talking about?

Perhaps you didn't read their website

Colorado Climbing website wrote:The Colorado Climbing Company is the premier guide service and climbing school in Colorado

They couldn't write that if it weren't true.

It looks like The Colorado Climbing Company is jmeizis' own business, so it looks unprofessional that he didn't mention his bias.

jmeizis wrote:Matt, Thanks for your opinion. I take people climbing for a living...but I'll make HTML and web design my top priority.

Im just making the point that if you want to "look" professional and you want people to take you seriously you need to have a good website. This aint the 90's anymore and having a shitty website is actually worse than having no website at all...just sayin.

Matt, it's my winter project for sure and I agree with what you said. The initial way you said it kind of put me off. The sad thing is I spent a fair amount of time to do that. Which speaks greatly to my lack of web design skills. If I had the money I'd pay someone else. Unfortunately, I don't. It's my goal this winter to change the whole thing.

Mojo, what should I of put? "We're about the same as everyone else!" No I didn't say it was my company. Figured the OP could make the same connection you did. Anyone who posts about a particular company in any sense has a bias. Consumers have to sort that out for themselves.

How has nobody told the OP the most important thing of multi-pitch climbing?

YER GONNA DIE!!!!!

but seriously...a good rule my father taught me is: don't fuck up and die.

prod. wrote: amazon.com/Climbing-Anchors…

Amen to that suggestion. It was required reading for people when I was teaching the stuff. (OK, it was a first edition in the 90's... but still Long's anchors book).

jmeizis wrote:Matt, it's my winter project for sure and I agree with what you said. The initial way you said it kind of put me off. The sad thing is I spent a fair amount of time to do that. Which speaks greatly to my lack of web design skills. If I had the money I'd pay someone else. Unfortunately, I don't. It's my goal this winter to change the whole thing.

Well, if the O.P. is a web designer, it looks like you have a match made in heaven!

jmeizis wrote:Mojo, what should I of put? "We're about the same as everyone else!"

You could have put something truthful? Words have meanings, and I'm not sure what sense of the word premier would apply to your company. There are lots of ways to present info and market yourself without just making things up.

jmeizis wrote:No I didn't say it was my company. Figured the OP could make the same connection you did.

It comes off as deceptive, like you are just another climber recommending a company you had a great experience with. I only guessed the association because I remember your goofy presence as a pretend guide on rockclimbing.com. This thread in particular brings back some chuckles. I see referenced blog post was pulled, though great snippets are still quoted in the thread...

jmeizis wrote:At this point the mother stopped and said something so degrading that she might as well of slapped me in the face, "I'm losing confidence, you seemed so confident before, but it doesn't seem like you know where you're going and if you don't know where you are going then how will you know which climbs will be safe." At this point I wished she had slapped me in the face, it would have been easier to maintain a smile. See when you're a guide you must seem invincible, even if you are not. You must have unwavering confidence, gumption, and seemingly boundless reserves of strength and energy. It's a delicate balance. You must seem confident but not brash. Energetic but not manic. While maintaining a firmly dominant upper hand you cannot come off as overbearing. Chiding clients with beta it's hard to not sound condescending and in the end I must maintain an even keel of my temper while promoting their enjoyment and complete safety while taking serious risks to my own health throughout most of the day.

jmeizis wrote:I did not lose my smile though. I calmly explained the many years I had been climbing and the fact that I would not put her daughter in any danger I would not expose myself to. Luckily she didn't know that I am an avid risk taker and that a risk I would take would not be one which she would want her daughter exposed.

Maybe you could take Eli's comment as a peer review of guiding services, and I don't think it is based just on the website.

I know I would not take a class from jmeizis' company for the simple reason that he seems inexperienced but over assured. Take this photo that he posted of himself on lead clipping two bolts with a sling forming an american death triangle. Climbing 101: don't do this, it is very basic and he would have been much safer clipping only one of the bolts. Fine, we all make mistakes especially when we are first starting climbing. What convinced me to steer clear of him is when people commented on it, he didn't recognize it as something dangerous, he justifies it saying he didn't want rope drag, and that it was not elegant but it was an adequate solution. So he made a mistake and did something unsafe, and then doesn't see anything dangerous with what he did. You really want this person as your guide? He won't recognize when he did something that was textbook unsafe even when pointed out to him.

Remember when he was going to climb three routes on the diamond in a day his first time up there? Didn't even make it up one. Overconfidence and lack of safety knowledge is not something I'd want in a guide.

Hanging out on Super Guy.