Rock Climbing Courses
Climbing is an exhilerating and complex sport which unfortunately comes with its potential dangers. To provide you with a shortcut to safer and efficient climbing, The Outer Edge offers instruction and guidance in a flexible, inspiring, and friendly environment of our clients. The knowledge and experience of our instructors along with the welcoming atmosphere help our clients to learn quickly and have faith in their own ability and skills by the end of the course.
Although all of our courses have a desired syllabus to cover, all of them are tailored to our clients needs and abilities. Our instructors will run the courses in a progressive manner which builds on skills rather than rushing to what should be covered next, as well as knowing when to take a step back and offer emotional support or a shout of encouragement rather than just instruction.
Learn to Lead Sport Climbing
For climbers to push themselves physically and mentally, it is important to minimise other stresses and distractions around you. Therefore, for many people sport climbing is the ultimate form of climbing which allows this progressions and boldness by the confidence placed on the bolted protection. By taking away the complication and potential doubt and fear of leader placed protection, this form of climbing allows you to fully explore your climbing potential and ability on natural rock; exploring routes that may otherwise be unavilable to you through traditional climbing.
Through this course, we aim to introduce you to sport climbing and provide you with the necessary skills and knowledge to give you the confidence to enter this exciting form of climbing. With our high ratio of instructors to clients, we aim to give you personable coaching and high quality instruction.
Desired Content: Route reading, crag hazards, rope work, belaying, efficient/safe clipping, types and use of lower offs, fall factors, taking falls, technique and tactics. Please note that this content is dependent on the group's needs and abilities.
Due to the content of the course, this is not suitable for complete beginners. We recommend that all participants have the ability to top rope / lead 5c-6a (indoors) as well as being a competent belayer. This course aims to cover the content described above as well as leave you with tips and exercised to help you continue your progression in sport climbing.
This full day course has a ratio of 1:2 (instructor:client) and is usually taught in the Bristol or Wye Valley area.
Learn to Lead Traditional Climbing
The ability to climb route on leader placed protection is the ultimate goal in a rock climbing experience because rock climbing is very much about you working with the natural medium and walking away at the end of the day leaving no trace of you being there. Traditional climbing really is one of the oldest and purest forms of protected climbing; using what nature has provided us in both the progression on a route as well as protection.
This course aims to give you really good grounding in gear placement and belay building so you can start to go out and tackle traditional climbs on your own. By learning how to make secure, efficient gear placements you will find the resulting effects of increased confidence allowing you to explore routes that would not otherwise be available to you and give you the confidence and ability to progress on otherwsie nerve-racking terrain.
Desired Content: Choosing, find and reading routes; rope work; gear selection, placement and retrieval; crag hazards; climbing technique; safe abseiling and retreat. Please note that this content is dependent on the group's needs and abilities.
This course is suited to those who have led indoors or currently sport clinbing and want to progress. This course aims to cover the content described above as well as leave you with tips and exercised to help you continue your progression in traditional climbing.
This two day course has a ration of 1:2 and is usually taught in the Devon, Bristol and/or Wye Valley area.
Improvised Rescue
In the climbing environment is can be very easy to unknowingly back yourself into a corner, and 9 times out of 10 nothing will do wrong... but would you know what to do that 1 time out of 10? You never know what you're going to be faced with during your climbing, whether it be simply your rope getting stuck or not being long enough, dropping your belay device, or more seriously having your climbing partner injure themselves 200ft off the ground (or the sea!)
The course covers a wide range of situations and scenarios, from the simple to the complex depending on the client's needs and abilities. The instructor will help you to look at the current ways at which you set up belays and manage rope work to see if there are any potential problems/pitfalls. As well as spending time looking at how to prevent situations in the first place, and then methods and equipment needed when it all goes wrong.
This area of your climbing knowledge and ability is definately an example where instruction rules over the reference book. Our instructors will be able to clearly demonstrate the skills you need and the context they can be used in at a pace that suits your individual needs and ability. Our instructors have extensive experience in improvised rescue as well as specialist rigging which helps give them an eye for a solution in these potentially stressful scenarios.
This full day course has a ratio of 1:4 and is usually taught in the Wye Valley or Devon area.
Climbing Clinics
There comes a time when everyone wants to get more out of their climbing, to get better and to ultimately enjoy it more. The quickest way to make these improvements is to minimise or eliminate the weaknesses in your ability. Our summer climbing clinics offer coaching to any level and ability of climbing for any climbing deficiencies. As the form of climbing is so broad and incorporates a range of skills, we have divided our coaching sessions into the 3 main areas - mental strength, physical ability, and technical competence. These sessions focus predominately on these singular areas, but undoubtedly will touch on all areas throughout as they are intertwined to make a skilful and competent climbing.
Example of the content which will be covered in our climbing clinics -
Mental: Tactics; visulisation; strategies for fear, fatigue and stree proofing technique; relaxation and focus techniques.
Physical: Physical climbing skills and techniques; efficiency for current skills and strengths; condition training and strength tips.
Technical: Rope work; gear selection and placement; safe and efficient belays; quick switchovers; retrieving stuck gear quickly; opportunity to try different gear/belay devices; retreating from climbs; protecting abseils. Please note that this course is predominately aimed at traditional climbing.
So to get the most out of these clinics, you should ask yourself 'what are you lacking?', 'where do I need to improve?', and 'what is holding me back?' And is you're not sure which could you would benefit from the most - call us!
These full day clinics have a ratio of 1:6 and are usually taught in the Bristol or Devon area.