Free Clinics in the Gunks, SNL lives.

The spring season is trying hard to get started and despite lots of snow on the ridge it's clear that the corner has been turned.

Last season a number of guides volunteered their time and gave free clinics on climbing safety. This will be happening again this year. The clinics will be held for a couple of hours on Saturday evenings at six in the Uberfall and will cover basic anchoring techniques, rappelling and various other tricks that keep us alive playing this dangerous game.

The first clinic will be on April 6th and the current plan is to hold them each weekend through May and then to go every other weekend starting in June. For people visiting the area that are interested in helping to get the word out, there will be a pile of posters just inside the door of Rock and Snow, please take some and put up at your local gym, climbing shop or whatever.

These clinics were a lot of fun to be involved with last season, they were as much a social event as anything. They are dedicated to Stephanie Prezant who was killed falling from Easy Keyhole last spring, her very first climb on real rock.

If you are planning to attend a clinic or have questions you can contact me at joe@alpineendeavors.com.

See you out there, Joe.

Joe, thanks again to you and the other guides for doing this.

plan on coming up in a few weeks when I can save up money to rent a car (thanks a lot nyc). such a great idea.

Yo Rob, shoot me a PM and get in touch with me with when you might make the trip. I'll swing through and pick you up if you're interested. Save that car rental cash to buy me beer.
Im new to the trad game and this sounds like an excellent opportunity to soak up some addition knowledge first hand. Cheers to Joe and alpine endeavors for an excellent service to the community.

wivanoff wrote:Joe, thanks again to you and the other guides for doing this.

Matty1985 wrote:Yo Rob, shoot me a PM and get in touch with me with when you might make the trip. I'll swing through and pick you up if you're interested. Save that car rental cash to buy me beer. Im new to the trad game and this sounds like an excellent opportunity to soak up some addition knowledge first hand. Cheers to Joe and alpine endeavors for an excellent service to the community.

There are a pile of posters inside the door at Rock and Snow for anybody interested in putting one up at their local gym.

There will be a clinic this coming Saturday and based on at least one anchor set up I came across this weekend, there is a clear need for this sort of instruction. It is my opinion that people can be confused to think that because they've climbed for some time without mishap that they are competent and know all they need to know. Please be humble, be willing to look at your own skill set with a hard eye and to sit around not climbing for a bit, going over the technical aspects of our sport. Being casual about climbing is seductive, everything is measured in fun, it's "safer than driving a car", it is stylish and even main stream now. Problem is, this fun can kill you and to ignore this reality is super arrogant and just plain dumb.

The SNL clinics are just one way of becoming a little more competent, a bit safer. Whatever you do to make yourself a better climber this spring, do something. Regularly ask yourself, why am I doing it this way? Is this a redundant anchor? How strong is this material and what do these knots and hitches do to it? What happens if....?

Please send a note to me if you are planning to come this Saturday or another.

joe@alpineendeavors.com.

Joe,
that's awesome! And it was a very sad and unfortunate accident that happened at Easy Keyhole as well.

You state that this group meets at 6:00. Is that 6 AM I would think? can't be 6 PM I wouldn't imagine. Wouldn't be much time left with light out?

This Saturday the clinic will be at 1730 (5.30 pm) and will meet in the uberfall by Ken's Crack. It will last about two hours and there's plenty of light for that. See you, Joe.

I've got a buddy coming down from NH to do some climbing but I definitely want to swing by. Props to the guides organizing this.

I won't be offering a clinic this weekend and am modifying schedule to include four more dates this spring rather than the weekly schedule.

So, there WILL be a clinic on 5/4 with me on toprope anchors, on 5/18 with IFMGA guide Silas Rossi on rappelling and tricks for safer leading, and two clinics in June with myself and Ryan Stefiuk. I'll post about details for these June clinics at some point soon.

As always, if you are planning to come send me a note and if you say you are coming do it.

Be well, Joe.

joe@alpineendeavors.com

Hello All.

We have a pair of clinics scheduled for the next couple of weeks. This coming Saturday, May 25th, recent Gunks transplant and IFMGA Certified guide Silas Rossi will be doing a clinic for lead climbers with tips on rope and stance management, rappelling, belay systems and in general on how to be a more safe and efficient leader.

Based on interest, I will also be available to give a clinic for less exerienced climbers on basic toprope anchor building.

On June 8th AMGA certified Rock Guide and northeast ice climbing all star, Ryan Stefiuk, will be giving a clinic on knots and hitches. Based on some recent things he's seen out at the cliffs Ryan has noticed that folks are often unaware of just the right knot to use for a given situation and he's psyched to help Gunks climbers become more well versed on how to tie a variety knots and hitches and their proper applications.

Again, we'll be offering another anchor building clinic here too.

Humble thanks in advanced to these two super accomplished climbers and guides for volunteering their time. Please get the word so that we have a good turnout for these clinics and definitely stop by to socialize even if you're not interested in the clinic. It' a blast to see everybody.

The clinics, as always, will be in the Uberfall with folks meeting at 6 pm on the carriage road below Ken's Crack. If you are planning to come to one or both please RSVP to joe@alpineendeavors.com and if you RSVP then definitely come.

Be well, Joe.

We did not do a clinic this past Saturday due to the wet and windy but Silas said he'd be willing to do one at some point between teaching an alpine guides course, guiding in the Tetons for Exum and working in the Dolomites... Hopefully we'll be able to come up with a date towards the end of June that works; Silas is a consumate guide and instructor and I feel being able to have him do a clinic here in the Gunks would be awesome.

Speaking of awesome; AMGA certified Rock Guide Ryan Stefiuk will be doing a clinic on June 8th. Ryan is psyched to talk with climbers about knots and hitches and correct application; what to use when.

We'll also look to go over tips on basic anchor building skills for folks interested in that.

See you soon, Joe.

There will be a clinic this Saturday evening at 6 in the Uberfall below Ken's Crack. Ryan Stefiuk will be going over various knots and hitches and when to use which. We will also be going over basic top rope anchoring techniques.

Please RSVP to joe@alpineendeavors.com if you plan to come and come if you RSVP. Stop by even if you are not interested in the clinic to say hello, it's great to see folks and to support this effort at safer climbing in the Gunks.

Thanks, Joe.