Spire 1 - Organizers Guide

WEEKEND OVERVIEW & GOALS

For our second WAC Trip we travel to Spire rock in beautiful Spanaway! At Spire Rock students will learn rock climbing techniques, perform their first rappels, learn to “prusik” a rope, “rope-up” for glacier travel, and learn to function as a member of a rope team.

PLANNING THE WEEKEND

Three weeks prior:

    • Update volunteer survey for current year

    • Send volunteer survey out to Instructor List

    • Assign roles and responsibilities (including ERP team).

Week of the trip:

    • Make announcement to the students at the Tuesday night class before the field trip.

    • Send out student / instructor packets

Day before the trip:

    • Arrange for food with the restaurant.

    • Make sure coffee and snacks are ordered for set up crew.

      • Get 2 "Coffee-to-Go" packs from Starbucks located at 12821 Pacific Ave. S, Tacoma 98444 (253) 539-3049

      • Ideas for snacks are: bagels & cream cheese, donuts, danish and fruit.

      • Coffee costs $15.26 per carton

Map & Driving Directions:

Sprinker Recreation Center

700 Military Road East

Tacoma, WA 98444

From North/South:

From I-5, take exit 127 following the Mt. Rainier / Puyallup signs to Highway 512 going East. Take the second exit (Parkland/Spanaway-Pacific Ave) and at the stop light turn right onto Pacific Ave (SR 7). Head South for 2.7 miles then turn right on Military Road (152nd St.) Sprinker Center is 1 1/2 blocks down on the right.

From the East:

Go West on Highway 512. Take the Mt. Rainier / Highway 7 exit and follow the off ramp around to your left. At the stoplight turn left onto Pacific Ave. Go South on Pacific Ave for 2.7 miles and turn right on Military Road (152nd St.) Sprinker Center is 1 1/2 blocks down on the right.

As you enter the parking lot, SPIRE Rock is located to the far left of the facility between the ball fields and Breseman Forest.

STUDENT GEAR LIST

Optional Gear

Microspikes

Sit Pad

Tarp

Small Towel

CLASS / GROUP GEAR

Additional Instructor Gear

Instructors please bring extra gear; radios, first aid kits, stoves, clothes, food, etc in case of emergencies.

Group leaders bring watch and whatever extra gear you can.

STUDENT SKILLS CHECKLIST / STATION NOTES

Rappel:

Climb:

Glacier Rope-Up:

Balance Rock & Crack Technique:

Prusik:

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

INSTRUCTOR ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Station / Group Leader Responsibilities:

  1. Rappel:

      • ALL students will receive a back-up belay on their rappels this weekend. NO EXCEPTIONS

  2. Climb:

      • Instructors will be belaying students this weekend, NO STUDENT BELAYERS.

  3. Glacier Rope-up

      • Focus on repetition and really getting the students comfortable with the rope-up process

      • Practice the running belay / passing the protection

  4. Balace Rock / Crack Technique:

      • Learn basic crack climbing techniques

      • Practice / get students comfortable with balance movements walking on steeper terrain

  5. Prusik:

      • Practice Texas Prusik system

  6. Group leader:

    • Prior to trip: Reach out to the students in your group to answer any questions they have and to ensure they have all necessary gear.

    • Day of trip: Bring a watch and tarp if you have one. Check-in the students at the parking lot. Pack-check (recruit other instructors to assist). The Group Leader stays with their group throughout all 7 stations. Organizers will give a 10 minutes warning for station changes, in that time group leaders will need to wrangle their students and start getting them organized and moving towards the next station. On SPIRE students can get stuck on top waiting to rappel at times so this is an important thing to take into consideration to keep everyone on schedule.

      • Be aware of how your students are doing, keep track of what skills they need work on

      • Make sure they are eating and drinking

    • After the trip: Submit a student feedback report about the students in your group. Follow up with students in your group to make sure the trip went well for them and to answer any additional questions/concerns they may have.

Overall Safety Notes:

All student rappels this weekend will be backed up by an instructor belay. NO EXCEPTIONS.

CONTACT INFORMATION / RESOURCES

Previous Organizers:

Use these contacts as a resource while planning the weekend. They will have advice, tips & tricks, as well and potential pitfalls to watch out for.

Permits Needed:

Co-Chairs will have permit - organizers need to make sure they have a printed copy on site.

LESSONS LEARNED

TODO

EMERGENCY INFORMATION

MultiCare Spanaway Urgent Care (8am-4pm)

Address: 225 176th St. South

Spanaway

Phone Number: 253-0459-7770

Driving Directions:

Head South on C Street South toward 149th St. S - 0.3 miles

Turn left onto Military Road S - 0.2 miles

Take the 1st right onto Pacific Ave. South - 1.5 mies

Turn right on WA-704 / 176th South, destination will be on the right - 315 ft.

ERP Plan:

Click HERE for last years ERP. Make sure all content and contacts are up to date prior to the weekend.

Click HERE for Incident report form.

Click HERE for SOAP Notes Form.

CRISIS PLAN INITIATION:

Click HERE for chain of command / initiation tree