Last week I got to spend three great days with 6 kids in the AMC Teen Wilderness Program and yesterday with Kathy and Carl in a Private Rock Climbing Course.

On the first day of the AMC Program we started at the Classroom and practiced some movement skills.

After the bouldering session everyone experienced a few rappels down the cliff.

We spent the rest of the first day top-roping at The North End. On the second day we headed over to the Echo Roof area at Whitehorse Ledge. Everyone got to climb Ladies & Gentleman, Holy Land, and Relic Hunter by lunch.

Shortly after moving over to Beezlebub Corner & Seventh Seal and rain shower blew through and shortened our day a bit. On our 3rd day we started with multi-pitch climbs on the slabs, reaching the overlaps 600 feet up before rappelling back to Terra firma for some lunch.

We headed back to the climbs we were rained off of the day prior.

We wrapped our third day up and said goodbye as the group left for many more days of backpacking & kayaking adventures. Working with these kids is quite rewarding and I’m looking forward to the next group coming later this week.

Yesterday Kathy & Carl joined me for the first of a two day Private Rock Climbing course. Both had a fair amount of gym experience and were starting to make the transition to outdoor climbing. We started our day at the Classroom and covered anchoring strategies before enjoying a run up Upper Refuse. We spent the afternoon down at the North End looking at top-rope management issues and working on some crack climbing techniques. They are out again with another guide today and I hope I get a chance to climb with them again.

Thanks for reading! See you in the mountains,

-NEAlpineStart