Excellence in rock climbing classes, rescue, AMGA instruction and wilderness medicine classes.
Why Granite Arches?
- Convenience & Experience: A one stop shop for rock climbing classes, ice climbing classes, guided climbs and wilderness medicine classes since 1996--well before the other outfits.
- Focus on YOU: Our focus is on YOUR climbing goals, not OUR climbing accomplishments.
- Beautifully Crafted Classes: Beginner, Intermediate, Group, Lead, Trad, Rescue, AMGA SPI courses in custom locations throughout North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and beyond.
- Certifications: All Staff AMGA certified with years of experience. Home of the 2016 Best Guide in the Blue Ridge by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine.
- Real Medical Courses by Physician Climbers: Medical courses (WFA, WAFA, and WFR and CLIME®) offered in-house by emergency physician/guide.
Excellence in rock climbing classes, rescue, AMGA instruction and wilderness medicine classes.
Why Granite Arches?
Rock Climbing Classes
Granite Arches offers a full range of rock climbing classes for climbers of all levels of experience and every climbing goal. All of our classes are private and follow a logical progression, ensuring rapid learning and understanding of climbing systems and techniques. Our classes include:
- Introduction to Outdoor Climbing
- Group Climbing
- Gym to Crag
- Toprope and Anchor Building
- Sport Climbing
- Lead Climbing I (Trad)
- Lead Climbing II (Advanced Trad)
- Multipitch
- AMGA Single Pitch Instructor (SPI) Course
- AMGA Single Pitch Instructor (SPI) Exam
- SPI Private Review and Exam Preparation (SPI-PREP)
- Rescue I
- Rescue II (Advanced)
Guided Rock Climbs
Granite Arches offers guided climbing adventures on hundreds of climbs in the southeastern U.S. and beyond. From the small intimate crags in Virginia to the soaring granite climbs of North Carolina to the Tennessee sandstone crags, Granite Arches can take you there. We also offer travel climbing to more exotic locations in other states.
In North Carolina, some of our most visited crags include Looking Glass Rock, Cedar Rock, Whitesides, Table Rock, Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain State Park.
In Georgia we frequent Tallulah Gorge and other smaller crags.
We utilize several areas in Tennessee and South Carolina and Virginia.
Our guides are selected for their technical and teaching skills and supportive demeanor. At Granite Arches, we are concerned with your progress toward your goals, and not our own egos. We offer supportive, positive climbing instruction.
AMGA SPI Course and Exam and Preparation Courses
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.
Benefits:
- 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.
- The SPI Assessment is a minimum of 16 hours run over a two-day period.
- Our SPI Private Review and Exam Preparation (SPI-PREP) days are a great way to prepare for the SPI Course or Exam. Instruction is customized to your needs and is often used to assess your skill-set and improve weak areas.
- Certification lasts for three years as long as the candidate keeps current AMGA Membership and First Aid Certification.
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