🕒 Takes 45-60 mins on Wednesday evening.
Your role is to ensure everyone has a climbing partner.
What to do
At 18:15:
Arrive at the centre and make contact with the Event Director for the evening
Pre-event:
Set up a pairing station with the following:
- A phone or laptop with the attendee list on it
- A Climbing Clan banner
- A walkie talkie
The Event Director will give you what you need, but if you have your own laptop or phone, that helps a lot. You’ll have been emailed a link to the sign sign-in sheet and if you’ve not had access on your device before, talk to the Event Director ASAP (before the event if you can!)
From 18:30, when people arrive:
- Take their name and check them off as having arrived at Pairing
- Check their belay status
- Check if its their first time (you can see this in the first column of the sheet)
- Try to have a quick chat with them to get a sense of what kind of climbing they're keen for
- Once you've sent them out climbing, tick them off so you know how many climbers you still have left to be paired
Top tips for Pairing:
- Before starting, do a quick check around the centre to identify climbers who have already arrived and are looking for a partner.
- As people enter, identify them and get a sense of their personality/climbing goals.
- Observe who's around and start pairing them up.
- Focus on matching people with similar attitudes and confidence levels rather than climbing grades. Pair those who push hard together and those who prefer a relaxed session together.
- Pair experienced newcomers with experienced climbers who have attended a few sessions. Lead belayers who are joining us for the first time should ideally be put in 3s.
- Prioritise getting people climbing, even if the pairing isn't perfect. Avoid holding onto climbers waiting for the perfect match.
- Try to prevent a build-up of people at the pairing area, as it makes it harder to keep track of everyone. Get people paired and away.
- Discourage climbers from leaving the pairing area with a response like, "Would you mind staying? I'll get you sorted in a sec."
- For those who don't top-rope belay, consider placing them in groups of three with people who do belay.
- Consider pairing non-belayers with top-rope-only belayers, as they often climb at similar levels.
- Stay attentive to the walkie-talkie, but prioritise getting climbers paired up. The walkie-talkie can wait.
