Intro to Scrambling

This course takes place over 5 non-consecutive days. There is an intro lecture, a gym sesh at BRC, followed by 3 field days.

Prerequisite: Some scrambling experience with exposure to heights in an outdoor setting is a must. Rock climbing experience via top rope, lead or multi pitch is also helpful but not required. We will be in exposed areas without rope protection so beware! Sign up at your own risk.  

Fitness: Students should be in good shape to hike and scramble through the terrain at an average pace. Our round trip hikes to and from the Flatirons should be less than 4-5 miles each outing depending on the route. The better shape you are in, the more you can enjoy the scrambling.

Gear: Helmet, small pack and appropriate shoes for scrambling. Some people like to hike in approach shoes and scramble the route in climbing shoes for the first time. We will discuss this and more gear in our lecture. 

We will be using the CMC’s “Best Flatiron Scrambles” guide by Simon Testa which I highly recommend you get for the class but purchase is not mandatory. As Simon states in the guide: “Scrambling is typically reserved for routes with a difficulty of class 3 or 4. This guide includes routes designated with technical climbing grades from 5.0 to 5.5 so arguably a more appropriate term for these grades is free soloing.” 

Our first field day will start with the easiest class 4 climb in the guide book and progress to harder climbs in the low 5th class range in the following field days.