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Photo credit: Dan Gadja
I decided to help out by volunteering since Brendan and I have been at Nationals for a while. I was looking for a low-stress job and finally found one I THOUGHT was going to be the least among of stress: being a Speed Clipper. I have to say, once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy and the least amount of stress I have ever experienced volunteering at a climbing event.
But who would have thought how complicated it would be???!!! So, for my orientation, I was given a crazy amount of information by a very experienced parent in the discipline of speed climbing. Here is everything I learned in case you want a 'relatively' stress-free volunteering experience!
- First, DON'T FORGET YOUR HARNESS...like me...I had it at the hotel, just forgot to bring it.🙄
- Then, you have to learn how to tie the safety rope to your harness. This is the clip/rope that you need to attach to the auto-belay rope, so in case it gets dropped, it won't go all the way up to the top of the tower. This gets attached to your belay loop on your harness.
- Next, you have to learn how to open the Carabiner one-handed to attach to each climber.
- After a climber descends, you attach the safety rope and unclip them, either holding the auto-belay rope or clipping it to yourself.
- THEN, in between each climber, you look up and make sure the auto-belay rope isn't twisted. If it is, untwist until it is straight. A twisted rope could cause the auto-belay to fail...and we don't want that!
- Now, for the cameras, the two clippers must work in unison, unclipping both climbers at the same time. This looks professional and synchronized on the video and has the least amount of commotion in the view.
That's it! There are a few nuances that you will learn, but the time really flies by fast! And it was a lot of fun seeing the fastest climbers in the country do their thing. I think this will be my new favorite volunteer job...🤔 .
CLIMB ON!
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