Last week Mark Smiley released an online learning course focused on building anchors for traditional and alpine rock climbing. If you are following this blog Mark probably doesn’t need an introduction as his name is quite well known in the industry, but if by some chance you haven’t heard of Mark here’s a quick recap of him from his Smiley’s Project website.
Buy the Discounted Course HERE 25% off ends September 8th!
Experience
FILM MAKING:
-Created 45+ webisodes during a 4 year climbing project: Plays: 400K Loads: 3.8M Embeds: 3.1M
– Contract film work for: Gore-Tex, La Sportiva, American Mountain Guide Association, and others.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
– Published in Alpinist, Rock n’ Ice, Climbing, Extraordinary Health, Outside Magazine, 50+ webpages.
MOUNTAIN GUIDING:
– Organized and led 7 international expeditions, 5 Alaska Expeditions, and many domestic trips in the US.
– IFMGA Certified Mountain Guide by the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA)
I’ve been following Mark through Facebook and Instagram for years and linked his “Creating Safe Bail Anchors” post to my Tech Tip page a couple years ago. When I saw he was offering a hour and half online course focused on upping my anchor building game I decided to invest in it and give it a review. I’m pretty sure a lot of my readers have heard of this new program and might be on the fence as to if it is worth it or not. To help with that decision here’s a recap of what the program offers. After reading this you’ll be able to decide if it’s something that could help your climbing (and score a bit of a discount on the purchase along the way!)
What is an online course?
This might seem rudimentary to some but it deserves a little clarification. Especially as it pertains to this course. Basically when you purchase this online course you get lifetime access to the “chapters” that the curriculum has been divided into. These chapters are more than just video though… they include text below to supplement the material covered on screen. Occasionally relevant links are made to appropriate research papers that support claims made during instruction.
In addition each chapter has space to publicly comment and question anything suggested during the chapter. While not replacing “live” learning this is far more interactive than simply trying to learn a skill via say… YouTube!
Buy the Discounted Course HERE 25% off ends September 8th!
How much does it cost?
Before I get into the course content I’ll go over the course costs and offer a bit of a comparison. This course costs $199 (before a 25% off exclusive discount I list at the end). This is about equal to a day of semi-private 2:1 or 3:1 guiding with a highly trained guide. Comparing the two though is a bit apples to oranges. This is concentrated info around a diverse and complicated subject. After sitting through the 26 chapters and reading a lot of the accompanying text and external links I can say that the value is most definitely here, and that comes from a climber of 25 years of trad experience. What truly adds value to this course though is once you are enrolled Mark will send you an invite to a private Facebook group that is strictly for posting anchor pics, asking questions, and getting constructive feedback by an IMFGA trained guide.
This simple addition to the service is what makes this a great value for both new climbers entering the field to seasoned vets ready to up their game. Oh, and Mark offers a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee… so if you don’t feel you get your money’s worth reach out!
What will I learn?
This question must be broken down by two user groups. First, aspiring traditional climbers, then experienced climbers with a few seasons under their harnesses. The first group might seem a bit overwhelmed. While Mark is an engaging and well paced presenter there is simply a ton of info thrown at you in an hour and a half. Don’t expect to understand or retain it all after one sit-though. The good news is this isn’t a single private guided day where you try to remember everything the guide said. You can watch these chapters over and over until you feel you gain an understanding of the concepts. As Mark points out a few times through-out though you can still benefit from a qualified professional or mentor in order to build more real-life context.
For the experienced climbers out there (and a lot of my friends and partners) what will you learn from this that you haven’t learned already? Well that will vary from person to person but for me I gained a better understanding of bolt anatomy, type, inspection, and strengths. I learned more about pitons, from inspection to best clipping methods. I was reminded about the use and benefits of “the swamp knot”. I learned some better analogies to help with teaching quality nut placements (loved the flashlight analogy Mark). I learned a slick way to incorporate a cam into a slung horn anchor that I can think of at least 3 places I wish I knew that trick over the last few years.
While the overall focus of the course is on anchors you will pick up other tips that will help your climbing. Most noticeably how to occasionally “terrain belay” and move faster in 3rd and 4th class terrain with greater security than just soloing the terrain. You’ll learn how to build better bail anchors. On that note huge props for Mark’s “Just say no to stupid anchors” campaign that essentially encourages you to add that second piece if you need to bail without worrying about the financial loss… Mark will replace that piece for you (details in course). Finally I learned how to better clean up “rat nests” and upgrade rap anchors with quick-links as a service to my fellow climbers. I’ve got a few anchors locally in mind that will get some TLC very soon!
Summary
Online learning isn’t anything new. Applying it to climbing education in such a fashion kind of is. Mark is spearheading this here and I have hopes of following him with some less technical type courses (namely using CalTopo and Avenza for creating BA trip plans and maps) but when I see the quality of a course like Mark’s I realize I need to up my game to create a quality of product worth selling. Mark’s done it here, and I’m glad I bought in.
Exclusive Discount!
I am super excited to be able to offer an exclusive discount on this course for Northeast Alpine Start readers! From now until 11:59EST on September 8th you can get 25% off the course tuition by entering promo code “alpinestart25” during checkout here (or just use this link). That brings the $199 course down to $149.25 and gets you lifetime access to Mark’s private Facebook group to help solidify your learning.
Buy the Discounted Course HERE 25% off ends September 8th!
After two decades of climbing it has become obvious to me that the learning never stops. This online course is an excellent addition to a multi-faceted approach of gaining new skills and I doubt few would ever regret the investment.
Continuing Ed.
As an Ortovox Athlete I’d be embarrassed if I didn’t also mention the recently released Safety Academy Lab Rock. This is a fantastic online learning tool you should check out! It’s totally free! It does not however cover the types of anchors Mark covers in his course but I think the two courses combined compliment each other quite well! Also if you are looking to pick up some old-fashioned good ole’ reading on these subjects heres my list of the best instructional climbing books out there!
Thanks for reading.
See you in the mountains,
Northeast Alpine Start
Disclaimer: Affiliate links support the content created here at no cost to you, thank you! The author purchased this course with his own money, but if you purchase the course through the discounted link above the author will receive a small commission. All opinions are those of the author.
Northeast Alpine Start 