"North Carolina Rock Climbing Instruction with AMGA/USMGA/WALS Certified Guide"

Rock Climbing in the Southeast: We offer rock climbing instruction and guiding in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Our focus is to help you efficiently reach your climbing goals, while developing superior risk management awareness and technical skill proficiency. In short, our aim is to make you a better climber as quickly as possible. Our instruction can cover beginner rock climbing, intermediate and aid climbing, lead climbing, self-rescue and guide training.

Ice Climbing: We also offer ice climbing instruction and guiding in the southeastern, northeastern and western U.S.

The Mountain Experience: We offer scheduled group and custom mountaineering expeditions to Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

Climbing Rescue & Medical Courses: We offer climbing-specific courses on wilderness medicine and self-rescue, either privately or in scheduled classes throughout the year.

Our Courses: Our guided rock climbing instruction and guiding is tailored to the client's goals, is highly personalized, and is loosely organized around the following knowledge suites:

Intro to Outdoor Rock Climbing: gear overview; basic climbing movement and techniques; belaying and ground anchors; basic risk assessment; and more.

Top Rope Setup: rock and tree analysis; rigging options; media selection and ERNEST analysis; cliff side safety systems; and more.

Lead Climbing I: single-point protection workshop (nuts, sliders, cams, etc.); rope physics/selection; rack selection and organization; reading routes, choosing placements and riggings; avoiding zipper, z clips and backclips; learning to control rope travel and drag; lead climbing psychology. The course makes extensive use of mock leads with transitions into anchors.

Lead Climbing II: advanced leading concepts, theory and practice (exploiting cam angles, wedge physics, building awareness of vector dynamics; utilizing multidirectional anchors as URPs while leading; identifying and managing critical curvature) and involves advanced mock leading problems.

Multi-pitch Climbing: complex anchors, macro-micro route finding, anchor selection and orientation, and more.

Self-Rescue I & II: belay escapes, directs, knot passes, raises, lowers, ascensions, pick-offs, rescue theory/planning, and more.

Guide Skills Course: client care, climbing with multiple clients, advanced belay systems, advanced rappel systems, transitions, and more.

To book a date to climb with us, click here, e-mail climb@granitearches.com, or call us at 423-413-1432

Our Guides:

Swis Stockton is a USMGA/AMGA Certified Rock Instructor, WEMT, Paramedic, ACLS/PEPP/BTLS, and Wilderness Advanced Life Support (WALS) certified. He completed the Swiss/UIAGM High Altitude Guides Rescue Course and guides in Peru, Ecuador, and US on rock, snow and ice. More.

North Drew Dekle has been guiding for 15 years and logued hundreds of guiding days in the southeastern U.S., teaching climbing to numerous camps, groups and individuals. He is WFR certified through WMA and finished EMT training in 1995. He is an avid snow skier. Learn more.

Rod Thomas is an AMGA Certified Rock Instructor and a great addition to Granite Arches. Rod guides rock full time now, no longer working the winters as a ski instructor in Idaho. Rod holds WFR certification through WMA, and yes, ladies, he DOES like long walks on the beach. Learn more.

Van Roberts completed the AMGA Top Rope Site Manager course, and he is a WMI WEMT, and he holds Level I and II avalanche certification from AAI. Van has skied, climbed, and mountaineered throughout the Tetons, Joshua Tree, Red Rocks, Cochise Stronghold, and all over the southeast. More.

We hope to climb with you soon!