Thursday April 21st

Due to the lack of school on Thursday and Joel's absence, we will be departing from our normal outdoor schedule. The outdoor session will begin at 4:30pm for Junior Team climbers at the base of "The Walkup" at Gregory Hills. Senior Team climbers may show up at 5:15pm. Climbing will end at 7pm.

Outdoor Team Climbing Sessions

Thursday nights at Gregory Hills, Zimmerman Park, or Phipps Park
Click here for last year's map (still applicable) to the climbing at Gregory Hills

TIMES:
Junior Team outdoor sessions go from 6:00 - 7:15pm
Senior Team outdoor sessions go from 6:45 - 8:15pm
All sessions meet at their respected times at the base of “Welcome to Billings” or the parking lot of Zimmerman or Phipps.
Due to a limited time window we will start at 6:00pm and 6:45pm sharp. Account for the 5 minute hike to the base in your arrival time estimate.

RULES:

1. All team members must have a climbing partner(s) with whom they will not separate from the start until the end of the evening.
2. Youth D’s are not allowed to belay.
3. Youth D’s under the age of 10 must have a parent / responsible adult accompanying them at all times.
4. All team parents are welcome to attend, watch, and learn.
5. Youth C’s may belay another team member with adult supervision. (highly encouraged)Senior team members (youth B, A & J) may belay // lead belay if they have been checked by Joel or Jim.
   
6. Only Senior team members (youth B, A & J) are allowed to walk along the top rim of the climbing area.
7. Wandering away from the group, horseplay, and rule infractions results in a warning. Second offense and you will no longer be welcome to climb with the team outside.

GEAR:
rugged shoes, harness, climbing shoes, chalk, chalk bag, water, warm jacket, hat, gloves, rain jacket, bug spray, camera. and a back pack to carry it all.

WEATHER:
A final weather go // no-go decision will be made at 4pm Thursday afternoon. If the weather looks questionable, call the gym (25-CLIMB) after 4pm. If the weather is unclimbable
we will have practice at our normal indoor practice hour times. Juniors 6pm, Seniors 7:15pm. If the weather goes bad during an outdoor session, kids will be
evacuated to cars at the base of the hill and wait for parent pick-up.

Bozeman Spring Fling

Saturday, April 16. Registration 8-8:45 AM, Climbing 9-2, Awards at 2:30ish. FIVE HOURS OF CLIMBING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Online registration here.

Schedule Note

The team will not be climbing outside the first two weeks of practice. Our first Thursday outdoor session will be April 21st. The google calendar has been updated.

Try Outs and Costs

TRY OUTS:

Next week on Tuesday the 29th and Thursday the 31st Steepteam coaches will be at Steepworld Climbing Gym from 6pm to 8pm for kids and parents to ask questions, register for the team, sign forms, and demonstrate the prerequisite abilities for the spring outdoor session. Climbers can come in at anytime during the hours posted above as these are not official practice sessions. All we ask is that climbers do come in on one of the days as we would like the administrative tasks out of the way when the team begins on April 5th. Please see the post below regarding what the prerequisite abilities are.

TEAM COSTS:

Gym Fees: This grants climbers access to use Steepworld Climbing Gym. All team members are expected to hold a membership at the gym while on the team. A three month membership runs $90 and gives you full access to the gym.

Team Fees: This cost covers coachers time and travel, ropes and anchors, insurance, administration, and other necessities needed to run the Steepteam non-profit program. For the 2011 spring session the team costs will be $130. This cost may fluctuate in the future dependent with the goals of the program and the number of kids participating.

Spring 2011 Outdoor Session

It's -4 outside, but spring is on the way. The focus of the spring session will be on climbing outside, the team will also attend two comps, (Billings and Bozeman) but will not be training for Regional, Divisional, and National competitions. Team members are welcome to compete in those events if they desire to do so. The winter bouldering session is our competition focused session.

TRY OUTS:

Steepteam is not a guide service. Steepteam is a program for youth with climbing experience to develop further skills towards becoming a life long rock climber. Our outdoor sessions take place in potentially dangerous environments which are not conducive to teaching beginners.

All team members are expected to have their own shoes, harness, chalkbag, locking biner, and belay device.

On the first day of practice all junior team members (birth years 1998-2002) are expected to A.) climb a 5.9 boulder problem in the gym, B.) properly put on and secure their own harness and C.) properly tie into a climbing rope.

All senior team members (birth years 1993-1997) are expected to A.) climb a v1 boulder problem in the gym, B.) properly put on and secure their own harness and C.) properly tie into a climbing rope, and D.) demonstrate proper top rope belay technique.

Tryouts will take place Tuesday March 29th or Thursday March 31st, where all climbers will be expected to demonstrate the above skills in front of a coach.

If your kid does not have the above skills, Steepworld Climbing Gym has opportunities to learn basic rock climbing skills and safety techniques through its Development Program. After the above skills have been established the climber may transition into the Steepteam program.

PRACTICE:

Starts April 5th and run every Tuesday and Thursday until June 9th. Tuesday practices will be at Steepworld Climbing Gym and the Thursday practices will be outside at Zimmerman Park or Gregory Hills. Junior team 6pm-7:15pm. Senior team 7:15pm-8:45pm.

COMPETITIONS:

April 16th - Bozeman

April 30th - Billings

May 14th - Regionals in Bozeman. All team members are encouraged to attend. You do not need to be a USAC member to compete.

If you are planning on competing towards USA Climbing SCS Nationals you will need to attend three local comps, thus you would also need to attend either Pocatello on April 2nd or Provo on May 7th. The Divisional Championship is June 18th in Salt Lake.

OUTDOOR TRIPS:

May 7th

May 21st

June 5th - Dirtfest

June 11th

The above dates can also be viewed at the STEEPTEAM CALENDAR

COSTS:

Gym Fees: This grants climbers access to use the Steepworld Climbing Gym. All team members are expected to hold a membership at the gym while on the team. A three month membership runs $90 and gives you full access to the gym.

Team Fees: This cost covers coaches, gear, insurance, administration, and other necessities needed to run the Steepteam non-profit program. We are still determining our spring session costs at this time, more info will be posted when known.

Visit Steepworld Climbing Gym or call 25-CLIMB for more information.

Nationals Results

Gnarly Charlie and Coltron Waymonator went down to Boulder for the ABS Nationals this past weekend. Out of the 39 best climbers in the country, Colton finished in 27th place and Charlie 3rd. Congrats to both on great performances.

Boise Regionals Schedule

HERE is a link to the Front Boise's website and tentative schedule for the Big Sky ABS Regional Championship on January 15th.