CAWA Trips
The following is some general information about what is expected from members attending CAWA climbing trips and events and what follows is only a general guideline and should not be taken as definitive advice.
Unfortunately, due to legal and liability issues, CAWA cannot provide training to anyone and legally all participants on trips must not only be CAWA members, but also be ‘independent participants’. This means that they need to be able to take care of themselves and have appropriate experience for the type of climbing that is being done. This does not mean however, that minors cannot participate in CAWA events – rather, they must be supervised by a competent parent or legal guardian. CAWA does not, and cannot provide supervision.
Some of the locations that CAWA organises trip to are simply not suitable for inexperienced and/or ‘dependent’ climbers and to take inexperienced people to these places can cause lots of problems. Of course many of the trips are suitable for relatively inexperienced climbers – places such as Willyabrup, Kalbarri and some places at Albany, for example.
To give an example – on a recent climbing trip - there was one person that was obviously inexperienced and not a good climber. They were however, made very welcome and came and climbed with other people on the single pitch easy climbs. However even of these climbs – like 10 m grade 10 climbs - they had considerable difficulty and showed poor ropework skills and obviously didn’t have many of the basic skills required for more serious climbing . When a few of us headed off to do a serious multi-pitch climb, the inexperienced climber wanted to come along. Despite numerous gentle hints that the climb would be unsuitable for them, they kept on insisting that they wanted to come. In the end, someone took them aside and told them that they were not welcome as they would be a dangerous liability on the climb. To take this person along would have not only put them at risk, but the other memebrs of the team as well.
On the other hand, there was another climber for whom this was also their first CAWA trip. However on the short and easy climbs, they quickly showed that they were not only a good climber, but were also well versed in a wide variety of climbing techniques such as setting up anchors, belays, placing and removing protection and kept a cool head in difficult situations. As a result, they were invited along to do the multi-pitch climb.
Basically, it is a matter of trust – and this comes by showing other climbing that you are capable of handling the expected situations.
Unfortunately, many people only ‘learn’ to climb in-doors and lack the skills and techniques required for some types of climbing on rock, such as placing and removing cams and nuts, setting up anchors and belays, and multi-pitch climbing. While the gym-skills may be OK for some sports-type climbing, they are often inadequate for the type of climbing sometimes done on CAWA trips. These ‘gym-trained’ climbers as well as other climbers that clearly lack experience and the required skills, while always very welcome to join CAWA and come along on CAWA trips, may sometimes be…. dissuaded… from participating in some trips or parts of trips until they can show that they are capable of acting as an ‘independent participant’. The best ways of course to gain experience is to do local climbing with other experienced climbers and/or to do a climbing course with a reputable company.
The best way to become involved, particularly in CAWA trips is to get to meet other climbers and show that you are a capable and independent climber and to do this in a relatively safe environment, such as at Churchman’s Brook, Statham’s or Mountain Quarry etc.
So if you want to come on a CAWA trip, then by all means do – but please do not be insulted or disappointed if, in the opinion of other more experienced climbers, you are asked not to take part in particular climbs. They only have in mind your, as well as their own, safety.
In addition to formal CAWA trips, there are a number of informal groups that usually meet on weekends and go to one of the local crags. While making contact with some of these groups may be initially difficult, it is worth asking around and talking to people at the gyms and outdoors and also within the CAWA membership so that if you want to find a group that suits your climbing ability and style, you can. By participating in these informal groups, people will get to know, and trust you.