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Sierra
Expedition - YMCA
Adventure Guides
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Planet Granite
From the April 2004 Staging of this event
Advance posting (for recruiting belayers):
The Mystic and Tioga circles are sponsoring the April expedition event, rock climbing at Planet Granite in Santa Clara on Sat, April 3, from 3:30-5:30.
Dads are needed to serve as belayers. Ideally, we will have two belayers from each circle. The more belayers we have, the more climbing the girls get to do.
New
belayers are required to attend a single training session in advance of
the event. The two sessions and their respective training coordinators
are:
Anyone attending the training sessions needs to bring their daughter to train with. Your daughter should bring a bike helmet to wear during the session.
At a separate time following training, you must pass a short test given by a Planet Granite employee.
For
those dads who received belay cards last year, they are still valid.
However, Planet Granite strongly recommends that you attend one of the
training sessions as a refresher course.
If
you're willing to be a belayer for this event, please notify your
circle navigator and/or one of the training coordinators ASAP.
Belaying dads are required to sign a waiver, and must bring a photocopy of their drivers license to the event.
Check back here for more information on this event.
Posting for participants immediately prior to the event
Next Event - Planet Granite
The Mystic and Tioga circles are sponsoring the April expedition event, rock climbing at Planet Granite in Santa Clara on Saturday, April 3 from 3:30PM to 5:30 PM. However, you may continue climbing after the Sierra Expedition event as long as the facility is open.
Planet
Granite is located at 2901 Mead Avenue in Santa Clara. You can follow
the link above to get directions to the Santa Clara facility.
You will need to complete a waiver form before you can use the facility. The PDF form can be found at http://www.planetgranite.com/waiver.html.
It will save time if you print this at home and then bring the
completed form with you to Planet Granite. A waiver is needed for both
you and your princess(es).
For climbing, kids need appropriate clothing
and safety gear. Specifically, close-toed shoes (not sandals), thin
pants (not shorts), and some kind of helmet (preferably a bike helmet).
They have some helmets available if you don't have one, but not enough
for all of the girls.
The host circles will be providing snacks, but it's a good idea to bring along your own water bottle.
Once
there, you may climb with any certified belayer (all the belayers are
volunteers from our Expedition). Belayers will be wearing YMCA T-shirts.
Have FUN!
From the April 2003 staging of this event
Here's the original e-mail from Allwyn Lobo after his initial investigation of Planet Granite (11/8/2002):
Here is some information on Planet Granite (a possible Expedition Event).
- The facility has approx. 86 climbs.
- We would have to use it on a weekend.
- They have hosted some YAG expeditions in the past.
-
To have the whole event run smoothly (if one of the circles wishes to
sponsor this event). It is highly recommended that we get volunteer
dads to go in and get certified to 'Belay' (handle the ropes). This
involves a one hour instruction followed by unlimited practice right
after. The volunteer dad would bring a climber (princess) to practice
with. Fee for the instruction $10.00 per brave. They have agreed to
waive the fee for the practice climber (not for the instruction itself)
on condition that on the day of the final event we will have atleast
twice the number of climbers to every brave who goes through the
instruction.
-
The volunteer dads who have gone through instruction for Belaying need
to go through a 5-10 mt. 'Check' (test) any day after the
instruction. This will allow them to Belay on the day of the event.
Volunteers can go in any day at their convenience to get this done.
- Waivers will have to be signed and submitted. I suggest this be done a week before the event so that they can be verified for
correctness by Planet Granite staff and will help us have more time for climbing.
- There are 15 beginner climbs.
- The ratio between 'Belayer'/'Climber' would be 1:4 this would give each princess enough climbing time.
- The facility would be open to the public while we are present and so we will have to share the climbs.
-
For each pair (Brave/Princess) the cost would be $22.00 and this
includes all gear and unlimited use of the facility for the day.
- Since we will have pre-certified Belayer's (Volunteer braves) we will not need PGranite Staff and will avoid this cost.
This
is getting looong, I wanted to get this out so that we could think of
ways we could possibly do this if there is sufficient
interest.
Planet Granite - Advance Information posted on the web site to prep for the event:
There
will be an expedition rock climbing event on April 5th at Planet
Granite. This will be our first event at this venue, and a certain
amount of advance preparation is in order.
All dads should download the child's waiver form,
fill out both pages COMPLETELY for your princess, and turn it in to
your circle Navigator. Completed waivers must reach the hosting tribe by February 27th. Specifically, David Price (Tioga), Brian Beahm (Ohlone), and Allwyn Lobo (Ohlone) will collect the waiver forms. Here's page 1 and page 2
of the waiver form. Planet Granite put these on their web site as GIF
images for some reason, and they may look odd in your browser. However,
they should print satisfactorily.
To conduct this event, volunteer dads are needed to serve as belayers.
The belayers are required to attend a single training session in
advance of the event. Training sessions will be held on Saturday, March
22nd at 3:30 - 4:30 PM and Saturday, March 29th at 2:00 - 3:00 PM.
Certification for the climbing event involves attending one of these
1-hour training sessions at Planet Granite, and then returning for a
brief test of your new skills on a subsequent day. You must bring a
practise-partner to the training session.
If you're willing to be a belayer, please notify your circle Navigator and/or the training coordinators (Dave Lemire of the Tioga tribe for March 22nd or Paul Summers of the Ohlone for March 29th).
New information (posted March 19th):
Dads
are also required to sign a waiver for Planet Granite. This must be
faxed to Planet Granite along with a photocopy of your driver's
license. This PDF file has the waiver form and a fax cover page for this purpose. Please email Dave Price
of the Tioga Circle to confirm the fact that you have done this. Doing
this in advance will save you from having to do this when you arrive
for the event.
Late e-mail suggesting alternate procedure for checking in:
Gentlemen:
During
the process of faxing in the Chinook waivers to Planet Granite, I
received a call from their manager who said that the drivers license on
the waiver was not enough - but a copy of the DL is required.
Second,
he said the most expedient way to get through the check in process this
weekend, was to bring your completed, signed waiver with a copy of your
DL as you check in. The reason was even if they had a copy of your
waiver and DL, they would then have to search the pile and looking
through a disorganized pile of 100+ waivers will take "some time."
This all seem very sound to me, so this is what I have advised our tribe to do.
Hope this helps.
Greg
[NOTE: At the event, checking in with waiver in hand worked well. Sending them in in advance was not necessary.]
Post Event Notes prepared by David Price:
Planet Granite ? April - post event notes
Location
Planet Granite - Rock Climbing Gyms
2901 Mead Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95051
Voice: (408) 727-2777 - Fax: (408) 727-2772
http://www.planetgranite.com/santaclara/index.html
Hours
Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 am to 11:00 pm
Tuesday & Thursday 6:30 am to 11:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Planet Granite Contact Person
Dave Geissberger, Manager
email: permassage@yahoo.com
Planning and Hosting
This
event requires a lot of planning, coordination and communication. It is
recommended that two circles co-host the event. Planet Granite hosts a
lot of birthday parties and other events on weekends. Book the date of
the event a few months in advance to insure availability.
Waivers
All
participants will have to complete a waiver furnished by Planet
Granite. Every person using the facilities must complete the Planet
Granite liability waiver. For participants under the age of 18, the
waiver must be signed by their parent. If the participant is NOT
accompanied by their parent at the time they turn in the waiver to
Planet Granite, then they must also submit a copy of the signing
parent's driver's license so the signature can be verified. See
attached forms, but check Planet Granite?s website for most current
forms.
Belay Training
Dads
interested in belaying should bring their daughter and attend a
45-minutes belay lesson in advance of the event day. Dads will have to
pass a 5-minute belay test in advance of the day of the event. Plan on
1-belayer for every 6-climbers at the event. Dads who have trained will
be on file and available to belay at future events.
Food and Drink
Cupcakes,
fruit, pretzels & chips work well. McDonald's bug juice worked well
for the girls. There is a water fountain. It can get hot in the
facility; belayers should have a water bottle with them. Planet Granite
has tables and chairs on site. Bring a couple of bags of hard candy.
You can fill buckets and place them at the top of the climbs to give
the girls that extra incentive.
Costs
Training - Instruction fee of $10.00 per dad; daughters climbed for free on training day.
Event
- Each pair (dad/daughter) will cost $22.00 and this includes all gear
and unlimited use of the facility for the day. Since we will have
pre-certified Belayer's (Volunteer dads) we will not need to utilize
the Planet Granite staff and will avoid this cost. Be prepared to pay a
deposit and sign a contract. At the time this is being written, we are
still working out the final bill with Planet Granite.