Outdoor Top Rope Anchor Building

Learn To Be A Confident Anchor Builder!

Building anchors for outdoor climbing can be overwhelming and stressful. How to know what kind of anchor to use and when? How to know the anchor is safe to climb on? How to know the best gear to use in different situations? Let go of the stress by learning to be a confident and skilled anchor builder! Join our experienced and certified guides for a deep-dive into the overarching philosophies and finer details of building and rigging outdoor climbing anchors. A new world of outdoor climbing options will open as you gain the knowledge and experience of building your own anchors.

During this trip, participants will learn and practice:

• the gear required for different types of anchors
• the knots, hitches and bends essential to anchor building
• monolithic anchors
• multi-point anchors
• tree anchors
• rock anchors
• bolted anchors

Important Notes:

• Participants will not be required to have any past experience with roped climbing, nor possess any climbing gear for roped climbing. ASCEND can provide all required gear. 
• This trip does not focus on top rope climbing as much as it focuses on top rope anchor building. If you’re more interested in climbing, see our companion top roping trip, Intro to Outdoor Climbing (Top Roping and Rappelling).
• Participants must be aged 18 or over.
• Being a competent top rope belayer is highly recommended (ASCEND indoor top rope belay certification)

Location of trip: McConnells Mill State Park - Portersville, PA (about 1 hour north of Pittsburgh and 1.5 hours south of Erie)

• Meeting place is the Kildoo Picnic Area parking lot, located GPS: 40.951522, -80.168188. You can type those GPS coordinates directly into Google Maps and it should take you to the parking lot.
• There are pit toilets in this parking lot that you should be able to use when you arrive, there will not be restrooms immediately available at the crag; you will need to drive back to use them at this initial meeting place.

In regards to your booking, here is some highly important information, please be sure to review everything in detail as soon as you can:

WAIVER/FORMS

• All participants must sign the ASCEND Assumption of Risk and Release and Indemnity Agreement and Outdoor Waiver. PLEASE NOTE this is different than our indoor climbing waiver. Participants under the age of 18 must have this document completed by their legal guardian.
• You're also responsible for providing us any relevant medical information. A medical history form will be provided by our guides during the pre-climbing safety meeting. For medical questions or concerns, please email climbing@ascendclimbing.com.

ARRIVAL

• We kindly request that you show up at least 15 minutes before the booking is scheduled to start.
• Please be prompt so as to respect everyone's time and take advantage of as much of the day as possible. We may move locations, so it is not guaranteed we will be at the specified meeting place for the whole session, and communication methods can be unreliable. Thank you for understanding!

CANCELLATION

• What if ASCEND cancels?
  • Our guides will use their best judgment when deciding whether to reschedule or cancel a booking. We generally schedule our trips for Saturdays hoping to use the following Sunday as a back up day if needed. You will be notified by email if your booking is rescheduled or canceled due to inclement weather, low attendance, or other unexpected/unforeseen circumstances, and will be given a full refund or rebooked into an upcoming trip.
• What if the PARTICIPANT cancels?
  • Cancel more than 7 days before your booking: You will receive a 100% refund to your original payment method.
  • Cancel between 48 hours and 7 days before your booking: You will receive 100% of your payment back as store credit.
  • Cancel less than 48 hours before your booking: No refund or store credit will be issued.

GEAR

• Appropriate clothing for the weather and the outdoors (rain shell, boots, etc.)
• Sunscreen/bug repellent (NO deet, damages nylon equipment)
• (Back) pack
• Water/Food
• Closed toed, lacing shoes or boots
• Personal medications
• Hand sanitizer, face covering
• ASCEND can provide any climbing equipment needed, however you will need climbing shoes in your specific size! If you need to borrow a pair, please arrange to visit our Point Breeze Facility to pick up a rental pair prior to your trip date.
• Personal climbing gear can be used granted that it passes normal safety checks.

WEATHER

• Forecasts are highly unpredictable until the day before/of a trip. IF on Friday morning, the weather is forecasted to be significantly inclement on Saturday, ASCEND will reach out to you via email and we will attempt the trip on Sunday. If the weather is also inclement on Sunday, we will reschedule to another weekend in the future.

CRAG ETIQUETTE

• Pets are not permitted during outdoor programming. For safety reasons, we need as few distractions as possible, during our time with you. Service animals are permitted with appropriate documentation in advance. Please reach out to climbing@ascendclimbing.com with any questions.
• Please consider tipping for your guides' efforts that are above and beyond what you would expect. It is common in the industry but not required.