Skills Development

The Sydney Rockclimbing Club is open to climbers of all skill levels. It is expected that before members participate in a club climbing trip, they familiarise themselves with the basic skills necessary to climb safely outdoors.

The minimum set of skills would include proper belay technique and being able to tie into a rope using a figure of 8 knot. More advanced skills would include lead climbing (sport or trad) and setting of anchors and top ropes.

Whilst the Sydney Rockclimbing Club itself does not offer instruction, we can recommend some organisations that will be able to help and who can offer a discount to Sydney Rockclimbing Club members.

We will also reimburse your training costs - see below for details.

As a starting point, we have compiled the following list that we hope is helpful to members looking to develop their skills.

First Aid

You owe it to yourself and your climbing partners to obtain and maintain your first aid training. Climbing can be dangerous and accidents do happen. So it’s best to know how to respond if someone is injured. The Sydney Rockclimbing Club recommends training with a recognised provider with certificate re-validation every three years.

There are a number of organisations that run first aid courses – St Johns and Red Cross provide regular basic first aid courses.

A focus on 'remote areas first aid' is particularly relevant to climbers.

Bush Search and Rescue offers single-day general first aid courses as well as a three-day remote area first aid course. Get all the details at their website.

Climbing Instruction

Lead Climbing Indoors

Once you’ve become familiar with top roping climbing in a gym environment, then the next step to becoming a competent outdoor climber is to develop your understanding of lead climbing in a gym, including proper and safe belay technique. Andrew Forrest from Sydney Rock Climbing, which is based at the St.Peters gym, runs a great course that many SRC members have completed. Check out the details here.

Gym to Outdoor Transition

Once you’re comfortable leading and belaying a leader indoors, then it may be time to transition those skills to an outdoor environment. A lot of experienced climbers learnt their outdoor skills by tagging along on climbing trips with more experienced people. It can be a great way to learn but also results in your knowledge only being as solid and safe as that of your buddy. If you do decide you want to climb outdoors, then you could fast-track your skills by doing a course from a well-recommended provider. Here are some we can recommend:

Blue Mountains Climbing School. They run a number of excellent courses that will help you really get up to speed with the skills necessary to become proficient in climbing outdoors. They have a single-day introductory course to give you a taste of outdoor climbing plus several other courses - details here.

Lead Climbing

Following on from their intro course, they offer a transition to outdoor climbing which involves you starting to lead single pitch-bolted sport climbs. This is the time when you’ll get to be on the pointy end of the rope in the great outdoors. Course details here.

Trad Climbing

If you’ve mastered the art of clipping bolts on sport climbs and are comfortable setting up and cleaning sport anchors, then it may be time to get your head around the art of traditional climbing. If you head down this path, you’ll be learning to place your own protection and make yourself and your partners safe using gear for anchors and belays. Course details here.

The Blue Mountains Climbing School have kindly offered a 10% discount to SRC members for all their courses, so make sure you ask about this when you’re booking your course with them.

Rescue Courses

Having gotten all the way to lead climbing on trad gear is quite an accomplishment, but there’s still the issue of what to do if something goes wrong while you’re climbing. What if a leader or second can no longer climb or is rendered unconscious? Having the necessary skills to rescue yourself or your partner in this situation can be vital in keeping you both safe. Luckily, there are some courses that can teach you these skills. Course details here.

Financial Support for Training Course Fees

SRC offers support for some climbing and first aid course fees.

Starting in 2025, the SRC will reimburse some of the costs of Australian courses for climbing instruction and first aid.

We will reimburse (after any discount you might get) 40% of most climbing instruction course fees, and 80% of most first aid course fees, up to a total of $200 per year. (We support first aid courses as it’s good to have first-aiders around when you’re doing dangerous things).

We won’t reimburse abseiling, canyoning, slackline/highline, rope access, rigging, knotting, splicing, route setting, parkour, mates “teaching you the ropes”, or overseas courses (instruction in Australia is fine).

The Australian section of the NZAC offer discounts on mountaineering courses, so people should join the NZAC and use this as we won’t reimburse overseas courses.

We will keep a list of providers on the SRC website for guidance. This list can be added to quickly.

The procedure is:-

Do a course after Jan 1st 2025. You could check before you do the course to see if it is from an approved provider (if you find another provider, we can add them to the list).
Give us the paid invoice. If it’s for climbing, self-rescue, or first aid, and from an approved provider, then we will reimburse. Send your invoice and banking details to Michael Law (SRC treasurer, miklclaw@gmail.com).

We expect people who use this offer to lead or help with club trips. Please contact tripconvenor.sydneyrockies@gmail.com

We will review the scheme frequently to see that it’s working properly, and may change conditions at any time.

List of providers:-

Outdoor instruction

Arapiles Climbing Guides: https://www.arapiles.com.au/

Australian School of Mountaineering: https://climbingadventures.com.au/

Blue Mountains Adventure Company - https://bmac.com.au/

Blue Mountains Climbing School - https://climbingschool.com.au/

Climbing Guides Australia - https://climbingguidesaustralia.com.au/#courses

High and Wild - https://www.highandwild.com.au/rock-climbing/

Paddlerock - https://paddlerock.com.au/climbing/

Summit Climbing Group - https://summitclimbing.com.au/gyms-courses/

The Climbing Company (Arapiles) - operates at Mt Arapiles - https://climbco.com.au/

Gyms

Climbfit - https://www.climbfit.com.au/learn/clinics-coaching/

Climbing Jungle Ballina - https://www.climbingjungle.com.au/lead-climbing-course/

Good grip - operates at 9 Degrees - https://www.goodgripclimbingschool.com/

Nomad - https://www.nomadbouldering.com.au/classes-and-groups/beginner-rock-climbing-course

Northern Beaches Rockhouse - https://www.rockhouse.com.au/lead-clinic

Sydney Rockclimbing - operates at SICG St Peters - https://www.sydneyrockclimbing.com.au/learn-to-climb/

Sydney Community College - operates at SICG St Peters - https://www.sydneycommunitycollege.edu.au/course/IRCB

The Edge Castle Hill - https://www.edgerockclimbing.com.au/youthclasses.html

First Aid

Red Cross - https://www.redcross.org.au/firstaid/

St Johns - https://stjohnnsw.com.au/first-aid-courses