For climbing coaches and people who want to develop their own climbing.
/ Development / Fundamentals of Climbing Workshops
There are three Fundamentals workshops, each building the knowledge and skills of the coach from working with novices when they’re at that tricky stage of learning the basic climbing skills, through to more advanced key skills required to climb more complex terrain.
The workshops are ideal for anyone working with children or novice adult climbers including coaches and climbing wall staff, teachers and Active Schools Coordinators, youth workers, Duke of Edinburgh or Scouts and Guides leaders, parents or club members. They are also a great way to develop your own climbing and technique for anyone that wants to take their climbing to the next level.
Fundamentals of climbing 1: Movement
What you’ll learn
This first workshop looks at the very basics of climbing, focusing on balance and movement and the key principles of the sport.
The main topics covered are:
The theory of Long Term Participant Development (LTPD) that underpins coaching
The differences between calendar age and training age and differences in boys’ and girls’ physical and emotional development
The key principles of agility, balance and coordination
What is centre of gravity and weight transfer?
Economy of movement
Different footholds and handholds and their specific uses
Warming-up techniques and some basic climbing games
To book onto one of our courses, you need to be a member of Mountaineering Scotland. Thanks to your membership fees, we can subsidise the costs of our courses and offer you cheaper course prices than most commercial providers.
The FUNdamentals of Climbing 2 investigates in greater detail many of the most basic sport-specific techniques (movements), building on the key movements in FUNdamentals of Climbing 1 and developing them from the off-vertical (slab) medium to vertical and overhanging medium.
The main topics covered are:
The Key Principles of Base of Support and how it relates to the Centre of Gravity
Body positioning and balance on vertical and slightly overhanging terrain
The Key Principles of Agility, Balance and Coordination
Techniques to maximise climbing ability and economy of movement
To book onto one of our courses, you need to be a member of Mountaineering Scotland. Thanks to your membership fees, we can subsidise the costs of our courses and offer you cheaper course prices than most commercial providers.
This workshop presents a big step forward. It builds on the movement and technique content of F1 and F2 and combines the theory and the practical elements of those workshops being delivered in more challenging situations. An understanding of all basic techniques is now assumed. The terrain will now be more difficult involving poorer hand and footholds and now moves on to much steeper ground. You will observe and analyse techniques learnt in the previous FUNdamentals 1 & 2 courses, and you will be introduced to dynamic and coordinated climbing movements. At this stage participants are expected to have a deep understanding of the centre of gravity and base of support and be familiar with tracking these in climbing movement. Since dynamic movement is now covered, the ability use advanced observation techniques is also required in order to track what is happening when the movement is conducted at speed.
What you should expect for the course outcomes:
Identify and explore how the use of Centre of Gravity and Base of Support develops in more challenging climbing environments
Explain demonstrate and evaluate how the FUNdamental climbing techniques develop as the terrain and difficulty become more challenging
Design and evaluate activities to explain the theory and practice of momentum, dynamic movement and coordination
Select and use appropriate methods of observation, including use of technology
To book onto one of our courses, you need to be a member of Mountaineering Scotland. Thanks to your membership fees, we can subsidise the costs of our courses and offer you cheaper course prices than most commercial providers.
There are currently two workshops, the first giving a basic level of knowledge of human biology and physiology, and an introduction to the theory of training. The second is a two-day workshop going into more detail for personalised climbing-specific coaching.
For further details and how to book, visit the Mountaineering Scotland website: