UKC

I have an SPA assessment coming up in couple of weeks with Peak MT and wondered if anyone has done an assessment with them or any other company and wouldn't mind telling me some tips or ideas for it.

Please and thanks

Adam

In reply to afearn91:

don't rush, check all your crabs are done up. Relax and don't try to impress anyone - just show you can work safely and avoid avoidable issues. Make sure you can justify everything you do, don't say you do something because thats the way you've been shown, give a reason!

In reply to afearn91:

check and double check all your crabs are done up and gravity is workign the right way

In reply to goose299:

Don't try any new stuff on the day. stick to what you know. don't get flustered.
Don't use any fixed protection for belays - stakes etc
Don't use cams for top (bottom) rope belays that you cant see from the ground.
Make sure you're slick in tying off your belay plate, Italian hitch, etc

Good luck!

In reply to afearn91:

Have a look at a document I produced as a bit of a skills/setup checklist...

http://www.jbmountainskills.co.uk/news/single-pitch-award-review-document

Just enjoy it, I'm sure you'll learn some stuff, treat it as a chance to show of your skills! Importantly keep yourself safe at all times.

Best of luck!

In reply to afearn91:

Have a look at a document I produced as a bit of a skills/setup checklist...

http://www.jbmountainskills.co.uk/news/single-pitch-award-review-document

Just enjoy it, I'm sure you'll learn some stuff too, treat it as a chance to show off your skills! Importantly keep yourself safe at all times.

Best of luck!

In reply to afearn91:

Have a look at a document I produced as a bit of a skills/setup checklist...

http://www.jbmountainskills.co.uk/news/single-pitch-award-review-document

Just enjoy it, I'm sure you'll learn some stuff too, treat it as a chance to show off your skills! Importantly keep yourself safe at all times.

Best of luck!

In reply to afearn91:
set yourself up like you know what you're doing. Put your harness on without faff, uncoil your rope like you've done it a thousand times, etc. etc. Sounds simple, but as soon as you've shown the assessor that you are confident and capable, he/she will pay less attention to you.

As well as crabs, blah blah blah, chat to the assessor. I found the more I was talking about missions we'd been on, the less 'formal' it became and it was just a nice days climbing and rigging

Enjoy it! Don't worry about little mistakes, it's still part of the learning process. If you make a mistake don't spend the rest of the time worrying about it; learn from it and move on. All four of us on my assessment made a few slight errors but we all passed.
Stay safe, don't do anything new. Never say you're doing something because that's what someone said or showed you, be able to justify what you're doing.
On our personal climbing day the assessor only seemed to ask us about our anchors when something was wrong. I was really pleased at the top of the first climb when he had a quick look then walked off without saying anything, but on the second climb he started asking questions. Don't try and second guess them. They know what they're doing and will ask you a question if they're not completely happy with your set up so don't try and claim that it is.

In reply to afearn91:

Keep everything you do simple, don't rush and enjoy the day. No assessor is looking to fail you from the off, so just be relaxed, chat climbing and be safe around cliff tops and do what you'd normally do.

Specifics - think about rescue situations and practice releasable abs.

Good luck and have a great time.

In reply to Al Cartwright:



Really? On a recent training course we used stakes, trees, even convenient but robust looking fence posts to build anchors.

In reply to Derry:


Hopefully the assessors who move on once they've seen how slick you are at putting on a harness and getting your rope out are few and far between.

In reply to afearn91:

Thanks guys a massive help!

In reply to Hyphin:

When I'm assessing I like to see people using appropriate anchors. If they've place a No.3 wire instead of using a big tree that's next to it for example, I'm going to ask why.

In reply to jezb1:

What I thought and what I was taught, hence wandering why that was being cautioned against.

In reply to Hyphin:

exactly - what if the only SAFE anchor is a stake or a tree!

In reply to jezb1:

good stuff.....just one question, would you ever belay in guide mode on your ATC on any of the set ups pictured there?

In reply to Morgan Woods:

On an SPA assessment if I were doing that again?

No, it just complicates things like lowering and problem solving.

Use it all the time when working as an MIA and personal climbing though...

In reply to Hyphin:

Trees that you can assess, how well routed they are sure, but we were cautioned against using stakes that could potentially be rusted just below the surface. Especially when you can just as easily use some bomber trad gear right next to it, if its all you have then yeah, use it.
Just passing on what I was cautioned against on my assessment when I did tie off a huge stake that was driven into a crack.

In reply to Al Cartwright:


Again we were taught to have a good look, shake, pull back grass at base to look for rust; and even then always back-up.

Would be interesting to know how consistent assessment is, especially as I'm sure I read advice on this forum (different thread) not to go to same person for training and assessment. (Think the MLT site gives opposing advise but too lazy right now to check.)

Again (not sure how to lift another quote) someone above says if assessor questions your set up don't try to defend it. We were told if questioned it would be to see if we knew why we were doing what we were doing, not just reproducing what we had seen/been taught.

The instructor we had seemed keen to stress that there were several different ways to do most things, he taught/demonstrated/used those he felt most comfortable/familiar with but was happy for folk to use any techniques that they could demonstrate to be safe. Is this representative of approach most assessors adopt?

In reply to Hyphin:

If you can justify your reasoning with sound judgement then there'll be no issue using a stake/tree/fencepost.

In reply to Hyphin:

I want people to justify their setups even if they're text book, give me an insight to their thoughts.

Assessors are experienced climbers, we know there's many ways of doing things, as long as it works and is safe it's ok. Sometimes I see setups and think I'd never do it that way, but if it works and is safe... I'll always teach stuff on assessments too, it's another opportunity to learn as a candidate.

I'd go to the same assessor as training, if you liked them(!), just makes your life easier as you know what to expect, but each to their own. If you pass with one assessor, you can pass with any.