The Climbing Wall

The Climbing Barn at Brewster is an excellent example of a community coming together to complete a project. Five years ago, two students, Jamie Butler '98, and Kevin Gineset '96, decided to improve student life and activities on campus. They wanted to create a climbing gym for the school. Both saw it as a facility and activity that could be used by the sports program, dorms, and clubs for team building, and most importantly the climbing barn would serve as a new place where students could go to relax, hang out, and learn a new activity. After gaining support from the community, these two students brought their proposal to the Board of Trustees during the Fall Parents' Weekend in 1995. The trustees approved the project. The home for the climbing gym would be the Haines storage barn, a place jammed with years of accumulated materials.

The barn started to take shape during the 1996-97 school year. The barn was gutted to create high loft ceilings — a fun project for frustrated faculty during grade-report time. Before we started building, the project needed funding. During the Fall Parents' Weekend in 1996, we held an open house with parents to share our plans. From this one meeting, we raised enough funds to begin the project. A number of calls and meetings took place with possible contractors, and Ted Hammond was hired to design and construct the facility. Jim Shimberg, a professional mountain guide and owner of the Plymouth Rock Gym, assisted Ted with the construction and design of the barn. The main climbing wall was completed by spring 1997 and was climbable; however, the upstairs and storage facilities were yet to be completed.

The 1997-98 school year was the first full year of use for the climbing barn. It was open to the public to use on certain weekends and weekdays; however it was being opened as much as it could be. Use of the barn began to be more frequent once Mr. Hanewald, the climbing wall supervisor, began to coach the Outdoor Skills Program and involved the students from this program in the facilitation of the climbing program. The students from the Outdoor Skills Program have contributed greatly to improving the barn. From painting the walls and climbing surface to measuring the floor space for a protective rubber floor for landing, the students keep adding to the facility. The T-shirts now on sale are another example of their efforts. From their design the students will sell these shirts and use the proceeds for a project they decide on. Now in the third full year of use, the barn has been open an average of twice a week, sometimes more. It is a program and facility that has seen "the j-curve" in growth, with the continued support of the Outdoor Programs, the students and faculty of Brewster, and parent contributions, the quality of the place and program will continue to climb higher and higher.

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Brewster Climbing Wall Safety Guidelines

1st edition April 1997
Revised July 1999

Training of Facilitators
At this time, training of all facilitators occurs within the Brewster community. Jonathan Fouser is responsible for training and certifying all people wishing to climb in the barn or act as facilitators. No climbing session takes place without Jonathan Fouser's consent and supervision.

Hours of training: 9-hour session
Training Agenda:

Introduction of terms
Introduction/explanation of climbing hardware
How to inspect climbing gear
Harness fitting and buckle safety
Instruction of figure-eight knot and barrel
Rope connection to harness
Belay instruction and practice
Climbing calls

Faculty Facilitators
Jonathan Fouser

— lead facilitator

— O.S.P. leader

— climbing wall supervisor

Doug Kiley

— assistant facilitator

At this time only, the above mentioned are allowed to supervise a climbing session. Anyone interested in becoming a facilitator must: spend 10 hours working as a facilitator in training, lead three outdoor climbing trips, and have an AMGA top rope certification.

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Climbing Procedure

1. The Harness:

• Participants use the school's harnesses unless their own harnesses have been approved by the wall supervisor. The wall supervisor must record in the logbook which harnesses have been approved.
• All buckles must be doubled back.
• Clothes should be tightly tucked in.

2. The Connection: the rope and participant

• All climbing participants will be attached to the rope by tying directly through both harness loops using a "figure-eight follow through knot." The figure-eight knot will always be backed with a barrel knot.
• Certain participation programs will allow for a connection with a figure-eight on a bite, attached with a carabiner to the harness.
• The rope leads up the wall from the climbing participant, feeds through our anchor system, and comes back down to the belayer.
• The belayer, that is the person who is in control of the climbing rope and the climber's safety, uses the "ATC" belay device. The rope is fed through this device and connected to the harness with a locking carabiner that is locking down and facing outward (rather than up against the body).
• If the climber outweighs the belayer, the belayer is required to clip into the secure floor anchor and to have another participant hold onto the harness as a ballast support to protect the belayer from group lift.

3. Belaying guidelines:

• Always keep the braking hand in contact with the rope.
• Stand as close to the climbing wall as space and conditions permit.
• Proper tightness of the belay rope should be maintained. Keep excess slack out of the rope.
• Move at the participant's pace and be ready to catch a fall at any time.
• Make sure the participant does not climb, up or down, faster than you can manage the rope.
• Keep full attention focused on the climber at all times.
• Use the calls and signals the facility has adopted for the program; communications need to be clear and consistent at all times.

4. Communication

1. These calls are to be used when the climber and belayer are ready to begin the climb: When both folks are ready, they begin by checking each other. The duo goes through "ABCDE," referring to the steps and order.
2. 1. the figure-eight knot
   2. buckles. All buckles must be doubled back.
   3. carabiner. Make sure it is locked and screwing down.
   4. belay device. Check the correct feed and brake hand.
   5. Helmet
3. After the climber and belayer have checked each other with the "ABCDE" check, they are ready to initiate the climbing calls, which will start the climb.
   Climber: on belay?
   Belayer: belay on.
   Climber: climbing.
   Belayer: climb on.
4. While climbing, these calls are to be used when referring to the rope:
   Up rope = please tighten the rope.
   Slack = please loosen the rope.
   Take = from the climber's perspective, I am ready to come down. Take up the rope.
5. Climber lets belayer know they are ready to come down after they have completed their goals.
6. All participants must be aware of the "freeze" or "stop" command, which can only be communicated by the facilitators. When this is called, all participants must stop and take care of climbing participants in order for facilitators to deal with the problem at hand.