BCEP 2023 Team 19: Skills Session: MMC (Make up Session)

Activity Notes

During the practice session at the MMC you will have the opportunity to get familiar with basic rock gear and basic rock skills. You'll practice getting into your harness, how to setup your harness, how to tie into the climbing rope, in addition to belaying, rappelling, and ascending a fixed line. This will be done within your BCEP team on the MMC instructional rock walls.

• Students that didn't attend last Monday's MMC session will practice all the rock climbing skills outlined above
• Students that feel that they might use more practice, and particularly on top rope belay and rappel, will have the opportunity to do that
• Students that already went through all the skills last Monday and feel confident with them, can get more practice rock climbing

Gear notes:

• Bring all the BCEP rock gear you have: helmet, harness, belay device (tubular / ATC type), two personal protection leashes (120 mm runners, or PAS), two prusiks, autoblock / hollowblock, 6 locking carabiners, 2 non-locking carabiners
• Generally, assume that you have to bring the gear above to all sessions and hikes, unless you were specifically told not to bring it
• If you have a GriGri, bring that too, if there is extra time, we'll show you how to use that
• It might be useful to have a snack and water with you too
• We will wear masks for this session, and keep a few feet distance between people, as long as the conditions allow that

Gear organization:

At this point, it is likely that you don't have too much gear, and you can rack it all on your harness, so it is always there. I find it useful to have my gear organized in a specific way:

• Personal protection leash stays together with its carabiner. It is stored on the right/front gear loop. In my case, I use a PAS, and then storing it, I thread the carabiner through the end and the middle of it, to shorten the PAS, so it doesn't dangle around, catch on the rocks, and I won't trip over it. With a 120 mm sling, you can thread the carabiner through one of the loops in the middle. With two leashes, it might make sense to store one on each side of the harness
• Rappel / belay gear - ATC and autoblock always stay together with their respective carabiners (it is useful to have different color carabiners), and in my case, I store them on my right/rear gear loop
• Prusiks are wrapped and stored with their respective carabiners on the left/front gear loop
• Extra stuff (e.g. non-locking carabiners) are stored on the left/rear gear loop
• There are a few ways to wrap prusiks and other cords for storage (for example see this video and this video). Pick your own, just don't let these cords dangle and drag on the floor!
• All carabiners are racked either "gate out" or "gate in". The consistency here is more important that the way they are stored. Do not lock your locking carabiners while they are racked on the harness (note: this applies to rock and alpine climbing, canyoneering people might have a different opinion here, as they do climb through bushes, water streams, etc.,)