AMGA Single Pitch Instructor SPI Course

The Single Pitch Instructor (SPI) Program teaches climbing instructors to proficiently facilitate and instruct the sport of rock climbing in a single pitch setting. The SPI is the only internationally recognized single pitch climbing instructor certification program in the United States. It was developed to fit in the AMGA Rock program.

Why take your course with Granite Arches?

• Approach: We take a positive approach to the SPI course. The course is all about learning and positivity. Our course is not about highlighting our achievements or prowess. It is about helping you develop your skills.
• Organization: Granite Arches offers a highly structured and organized SPI course. We have spent a large amount of time organizing the various course components into a very logical progression.  For each course component, various techniques/options are clearly outlined with full explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of each solution.  The student is offered the reason and application of what they are learning.  This greatly increases the efficiency of learning.  It introduces students to the skills needed to take and pass the AMGA SPI Exam.
• Tools: To help achieve the above, Granite Arches SPI course uses custom educational materials including bolt blocks, laminated handouts and custom demonstrations.
• Instructor: Our SPI courses are taught by Swis Stockton.  Swis  is a veteran educator who loves to teach SPI.  A senior AMGA instructor assessing the quality of Granite Arches SPI course wrote that Swis provides an "awesome product."  He said that "His eagerness to involve the students themselves instead of just lecturing to them set Swis apart . . . he constantly encouraged questions from the students, and addressed technical issues with a keen awareness of current discussions and debates . . . his informal, down-to-earth demeanor and presentation belied the time and effort he had applied to every aspect of the course."  He also wrote that Swis has an "eminently approachable nature and accessible teaching style."  Finally he commented, "Overall, Swis provided a great course -- not just a textbook SPI course, but a truly inspired program from start to finish."

Benefits of taking the SPI:

• It significantly improves the instructor’s skill sets and integrates into the next level of training, the AMGA Rock Instructor Course.
• The program is for current, active rock climbers who have a real desire to teach rock climbing to novices in a single pitch setting.
• The SPI Course is a 27-hour training course that normally runs as three consecutive nine-hour days or day classes with evening sessions.  This course is necessary to take the AMGA SPI Assessment.
• The SPI Assessment is a minimum of 16 hours run over a two-day period.
• Certification lasts for three years as long as the candidate keeps current AMGA Membership and First Aid Certification.
• After three years current SPI’s can re-take the SPI Assessment to regain the SPI certification.
• Taking any higher level AMGA Course also re-certifies the SPI certification for another three years.

Prerequisites:

• You are a Professional Member of the AMGA.
• You have a genuine interest in rock climbing and instructing novices on single pitch crags.
• You are at least 18 years old at the time of the course.
• You have at least 12 months prior climbing experience.
• You are an active climber with traditional lead climbing experience (leader placing pro).
• You have led a minimum of 15 traditional rock climbing routes (any grade).
• You are capable of comfortably climbing 5.8 while on a top rope.The above prerequisites are absolute minimums. Without having at least this amount experience you are unlikely to make best use of the training.