Women's Climbing Mentorship Group Kick-off - Monday, Jun 20, 2016

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Once you've reviewed the event details, and decided you'd like to join us, you MUST sign up at the bottom of this page.

You are STRONGLY encouraged to read this page in its entirety before signing up.
The Basics:
Event Type: Social 
Event Location: 1333 20th Ave NW 
Date(s) & Time:   Monday, Jun 20, 2016 07:00 PM  
Registration Cut Off:   Monday, Jun 20, 2016 06:00 PM  
Event Duration: 2-3 hours 
Difficulty Rating:   D1 - See Conversion Chart  
Trip Coordinator(s):   Anne Drew Potter
 

Participant Info:
Who's Invited:   Members & Guests, All Ages Welcome  
Attendee Screening:   Registration is First-Come/First-Serve
Maximum Group Size: 20
Maximum No. Guests: 0
Minimum Group Size: 0
Maximum No. Guests Per Member: 0
Number Registered So Far:   23 (View sign-ups, waiting list)
Are Dogs Permitted:   Yes

Itinerary:

This is the inaugural meeting of this group - a chance to meet, talk about experience and goals, get some plans laid for meeting goals.

Full text: New! Women’s Rock Lead Mentor group.

Initial Meeting – Monday, June 20 7:00pm
Hey Ladies, have you been out in the mountains, looking at a sweet line up a steep rocky face and thinking how you’d like to get to the top of that? Or maybe you’ve followed some awesome routes and might like to be at the front end of the rope? Or maybe you have been cragging and sport climbing for a bit but you feel intimidated by multipitch routes? Maybe you love climbing on bolts but you can’t understand how people can trust their own protection? Maybe you just started climbing and you don’t even know what you want to do, but it all seems great? Maybe you’ve been climbing for a while and want to share some of your skills and find some new partners? Maybe you just wouldn’t mind climbing more with other women?

I’m starting up a women’s climbing mentor group within the alpine club that aims to build a community of women climbers and particularly support ambition and growth. I’d like to facilitate women becoming trad lead climbers, with the full range of skills and competence to pick personally challenging objectives and lead others up the rock. If you have some latent interest or ambition, or some latent mentoring desire, at any level, this group is for you.

Why gender specific? Well, despite the huge leaps society has made toward gender equity and a more complex understanding and treatment of gender, my experience is that many women still find themselves held back by insecurity and self-doubt when facing a leadership position, or simply by the desire to accommodate other’s needs and ambitions before their own. This group specifically aims to provide a supportive and understanding learning environment and help stoke that fire under your ambition. Plus we can address how to deal with your period on a multipitch ;). I’ve climbed with women’s groups in Germany and Washington and I have found them to be hugely enjoyable and meaningful, and a way to build lifelong friends and climbing partners so I’d like to give it a try here too!

The aim of this group is to provide mentorship and a peer group for developing skills towards the end aim of competently leading traditional/mixed alpine routes. This will involve combining courses and skills sessions already being offered by ACC, along with practice and skills sessions arranged for our group. I want to try to balance between flexibility and rigor, provide a forum for you to gain the skills you need with enough flexibility to accommodate your busy schedule and the natural learning pace that you find comfortable.

Here are some aspects of the specific skill set that I would like to support in this group:

  • Lead Climbing and Lead Belaying
  • Anchor building ***NOTE THERE IS AN ANCHOR SESSION ON JUNE 16
  • Anchor Cleaning and Rappelling
  • Belaying from Above
  • Basic Rescue Skills
  • First Aid in the Climbing Context
  • Multipitch Climbing
  • Traditional Gear Placement
  • Choosing an Objective, Planning, and Building a Partner Circle
  • Route Finding & On-Route Decision-making
  • Multi-Day trip and Expedition planning

I’m offering to organize and spearhead this group. I am a rock climber with more alpine ambitions who just moved to Calgary last fall. I have taught climbing at the National Outdoor Leadership School and other outdoor education programs in the U.S., but I’m not a guide, I just love teaching and I love the chance to face and overcome challenges that rock climbing offers – and how these can foster confidence and competence. As a group we will also have the opportunity to qualify for some subsidized leadership training through the club as we complete some of our development goals.

Our first meeting will be social – a chance to get to know one another, lay out some goals, and strategize on how to meet them. These social get-togethers will be repeated periodically so we can catch up on our progress, practice, share learning and reassess.

Feel free to email me with questions: annedrewpotte r@ gmail.com. And please share with your friends who might be interested.

Cheers! Anne Drew Potter

Recommended Items to Bring:
maps, guide books, questions

Notes:
Please come if you're remotely interested and email if you're interested and can't make it.

Cancellation/Partial Attendance:
Please review our participant responsibility guidelines!

*Cancellation Policy*: If a participant is unable to attend a paid course or trip, there will be no refund unless the participant finds a suitable replacement that is acceptable to the trip coordinator. Acceptable waiting list candidates will have priority. It will then be the participant's responsibility to recover funds from the replacement. If the coordinator cancels an event, participants get a refund (less any non-recoverable costs). Note that ACC National does not refund hut fees due to weather, delay, closures, or any other reasons. The Calgary Section of the ACC is a not for profit club and we only charge attendees what it costs us to provide courses or trips.
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Registration for this event closed on Monday, June 20, 2016 at 06:00 PM.