Washington Alpine Club

Basic Climbing Class

Tuesday Night Class Schedule

Class meets on Tuesday nights from 7 to 9pm for the first 6 classes (March 23->April 27th) and then from 7:30 to 9:30 for the last 6 classes (May 4->June 8).  Class is held in the basement of Prospect United Church of Christ on Capitol Hill (1919 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA -- map here).  Don't be late, we start promptly.

To get the most out of the class, you will need to do some reading to prepare for each of the Tuesday night sessions.  Most of the reading is from Freedom of the Hills (FOTH), 7th edition (our main text book). 

For the anchors class, we use the Climbing Anchors text book, and for the Mountain Safety, we encourage you to read Accidents in North American Mountaineering (ANAM).

Like the field trips, this is a very hands on class.  In addition to the reading and the lectures, we will be using our climbing gear to practice knots, anchors, and other skills in the classroom before we venture outside. 

On the class schedule below, you will find a list of the required readings, and the gear to bring to each class session. 

Class Topic Reading Assignment Gear For Class Snacks Après Class
Tuesday, March 23
7PM
Gear Lecture FOTH Chapters 2, 4   Co-chairs  
Tuesday, March 30
7PM
Leave No Trace
Map and Compass
Gear Sale
FOTH Chapters 5, 6, 7 compass    
Tuesday, April 6
7PM
Knots 1
Gear Sale
FOTH Chapters 9, 11 harness, all carabineers, personal anchor, perlon, prussiks, webbing, belay device    
Tuesday, April 13
7PM
Knots 2 FOTH Chapters 10, 12 harness, all carabineers, personal anchor, perlon, prussiks, webbing, belay device   Hopvine
Tuesday, April 20
7PM
Anchors Climbing Anchors harness, all carabineers, personal anchor, perlon, prussiks, webbing, belay device   Smith's
Tuesday, April 27
7PM
Winter Camping
Self Arrest
FOTH Chapters 3, 16 none   Hopvine
Tuesday, May 4
7:30PM
Avalanche and Weather FOTH Chapters 26, 27 none   Smith's
Tuesday, May 11
7:30PM
Mountain Safety
Knots Exam
ANAM,
FOTH Chapter 17
harness, all carabineers, personal anchor, perlon, prussiks, webbing, belay device, rescue pulley   Hopvine
Tuesday, May 18
7:30PM
First Aid
Z-pulley
FOTH Chapters 17, 23 harness, all carabineers, personal anchor, perlon, prussiks, webbing, belay device, rescue pully, snow picket   Smith's
Tuesday, May 25
7:30PM
Glacier Travel
Ice Climbing
Crevasse Rescue
FOTH Chapters 21, 24 none   Hopvine
Tuesday, June 1
7:30PM
Trip Planning Complete assigned homework none   Smith's
Tuesday, June 8
7:30PM
Altitude
Final Exam
  none   Hopvine

Here are the links to documents used by the Tuesday night organizers: the Knots classses and the z-pulley instructions.

Looking to find Smith's or The Hopvine for post-class libations, here is a map with some pushpins (Thanks Laurel).