Here's a piece of shameless self-promotion.

I will be starting to offer AMGA Top-Rope Site Manager certification courses in Red Rock Canyon this Fall and Winter. If you're interested in learning the fundamentals of guiding or are interested in working as an outdoor educator then this course if for you.

To learn more about the course, when it's offered and who it is designed for, log onto:

www.aai.cc/ProgramDetail.asp?program=39

Or call 1-800-424-2249.

Jason

Do you need to complete a high angle rescue course in order to take this? Also are they offering any courses in high angle rescue? I got my wfr this year so I'm looking to supplement it a little.

If you wait untill Jauary the AMGA is replacing the TRSM course with the Single Pitch Instructor Course.

I don't really know how interested I am in being a guide anymore. I don't have enough experience anyway and in truth I'd rather climb with competent people. The reason I want to learn this stuff is so I can take people and introduce them to climbing in a way I consider to be good. It's all on how you start. If an asshole chipper teaches you to climb you'll probably become an asshole chipper. So the way I see it I'd rather be the one showing people how awesome climbing can be in a safe and ethical way. I'm not saying I'm the end all expert on ethics but I think I've got them down better than some people and it's because I was mentored by the right people. I want to be able to save lives when I'm out there if it becomes necessary to do so. Thus I would like to have the competency to both teach and rescue people who I take out climbing. I know how to set up pulley systems and basic rescue techniques but honestly I don't know how well I'd do under pressure. A course would be a positive thing for me as a climber I think. So far I'm avy 1 certified by AAI AIRE, and WFR from WMI NOLS. I'd love to know more.

You do not need to complete any courses prior to this course. Rescue techniques covered in the TRSM course have a single pitch focus. This is a good course to suppliment a WFR cert.

Anybody who gets the TRSM certification will have to recertify three years later as a Single Pitch Instructor. The Single Pitch Instructor course and exam will be a bit harder. A TRSM certification will provide you with a great certification while allowing you to hone your skills for the much more difficult SPI recertification exam three years later.

I will be teaching SPI courses in Red Rock after the new year.

Jason

Alvaro,

Don't waste your money on a toprope course, it sounds to me like you should waste it on a guide.

Alvaro,

I agree with Brent. Learn what you need to learn without taking this waste-of-time course and then hire a guide who will give you a sliding scale rate to show you "the ropes". It's almost $700 to take this course and that's wayyyyy too much $$$, IMO.

Jack

This isn't a toprope course... It is an introductory course to guiding. Those who obtain this certification have a higher liklihood of being hired by a guide service, climbing school, or outdoor education program that offers single pitch instruction.

Jason

I'm sorry but being a top-rope site manager or instructor is just not the same as being a guide. This course has little to do with taking people on a long route and safely "guiding them". This course teaches people how to climb single pitch climbs and safely set-up anchors for single pitch instruction. It might be a stepping stone to teaching skills that are necessary to safely manage a top-rope climbing situation and while not all guide services require that you have a top-rope site management certification, I know that others do. From the course description I read this ain't no introduction to guiding. It's if you want to safely instruct with both your feet on the ground. That makes someone an instructor NOT a guide.

Calling someone who has a top-rope site management certification a guide is like calling someone an architect when all they know how to do is copy the lines that someone else has already drawn on a sheet of paper.

Insisting that someone who works in a top-roped setting cannot be a guide is like insisting that someone who designed a 10x12 foot hunting cabin cannot be an architect.

I am also reminded of Humpty Dumpty's dictum:
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'
(Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass)

Nice, Doug. I apprecaite your perspective amidst the mudshower. Looks like the trolls are back. Air the "C" word and it's phuckschtick fiesta all over again. I appreciate Jason putting out the word, shameless or not, on a course that could benefit someone looking to make a first step towards low-level guiding.

I'd much rather my guide be inquisitive and well-learned than a chest-beater. I really have no use for that layer of the social sub-strata. Of course, my opinion probably doesn't count because my online resume fails to include A5 over ledges. Ah, to have a profile as padded as a prepubescent training bra-and all the maturity that is commensurate with such.

Pick up a dictionary, you may figure out that I've lambasted you.