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Lead Climbing

We do offer indoor lead climbing at Cliffhanger, in fact we have around a dozen lead climbing walls in the gym, of varying degrees of overhang and difficulty.

Lead climbing is always an issue of contention in gyms, as to whether or not it should be allowed, and what devices should be allowed to be used.

We take a fairly "sane" view at Cliffhanger and will allow any device to be used, providing you are competent with it - we define "competent" though, not you!

Due to the number of incidents and accidents that are directly attributable to lead climbing in the gyms around Australia, we have a fairly regimented process for testing competency and allowing or prohibiting people from lead climbing in the gym. Our procedure and system has been audited by WorkSafe (Vic) and also complies with all relevant parts of AS2316 and is part of our Public Liability Insurance requirements.

We do not guarantee:

• That we will always have an instructor available to do the competency check, as obviously this is a higher level of training and skills required, and not all of our staff have attained that qualification,
• We do not guarantee you will pass the competency. If we believe you to be a slack belayer, or reckless (if you skip quickdraws, etc) you will FAIL the competency check and be prohibited from leading at Cliffhanger.

THE PROCEDURE

Before your first time lead climbing at Cliffhanger,you will need to complete an additional Waiver Form (available below) and required to read and accept our Lead Climbing Rules (available below).

We will then do a Competency Check (free of charge(available below)) for the device you are using. If you have both PASSIVE (ATC, Figure 8, Sheriff, Sticht Plate or other tube style devices) and ACTIVE (Grigri, Eddy, Zap-O-Mat, etc) devices and want to be tested on both, please let the Instructor know, otherwise you will always be restricted to the device type that you were tested on.

Once the Competency Test is completed, we will print a "Lead Climbing Status" on your Membership/I.D. Card.

On each visit to Cliffhanger, you will be issued with a "Lead Pass" which will be appropriate to the device you were tested on. This Pass must be displayed on your harness whilst lead climbing, and returned at the end of your session.

Please note, if you cannot display the base "competency" for the test, you will not be passed, and you will need to complete a Lead Climbing Class (which needs to be booked in advance, not on the spot), or go away and improve your skills before attempting another competency check.

LEAD CLASSES and LESSONS

For those that have never lead climbed before or have and want to refresh those skills, we offer courses and classes.

We offer a 1½ hour Skills Update Class for those that have lead before and want a sanity check, or refresher.

or

We offer a 2 x 1½ hour sessions for those wanting to learn from scratch.

With these lessons we like to run both sessions about a week apart, so that you can take in everything learned in session 1, and generate questions.

Both Classes need to be booked in advance, as we will need to roster an Instructor appropriate to the course.

Download a Lead Climbing Class Price List

FORMS

Lead Climbing WAIVER FORM. Will need to be singed by EVERYONE wanting to Lead Climb. Will need to be co-signed by a PARENT if under 18 years of age.

Lead Climbing Waiver Form (click here to download)

Please read the Lead Climbing RULES before doing your lead test, because they form part of the Competency!

Lead Climbing Rules (click here to download)

This is the competency we will be checking you against.

'Fast Track' Lead Competency Check (click here to download)

This is what we call our Lead Climbing Courtesy Card, which is basically the do's and don'ts and a bit of information about Fall Factors, which usually confuses people. It's also worth a read!

Lead Climbing 'Courtesy Card' (click here to download)

THE GRIGRI® ISSUE

Many gyms in Australia now disallow the use of Grigri's, Eddy's etc. We think this is a bit of a 'cop out'. We prefer to provide better enforcement and supervision and ensure YOUR competency before using such a device, rather than "banning" them.

Below is a short video made by Petzl, in response to people using them incorrectly which has resulted in some injuries. Note these injuries are the result of poor belaying skills or stupid human errors, not the Grigri!!!