North Georgia Safe Climbing Initiative

The Atlanta Chapter of The American Alpine Club is once again raising money to help a local collegiate climbing club provide educational resources and safe climbing gear for its student climbers. This year we are proudly focusing on Georgia Tech's Climbing Club. All money raised funds our drive to update climbing equipment that will allow GT climbers to climb safely outdoors.

Some background: On October 14th, 2023, the southeastern climbing community was devastated when a young climber fell to her death at Cherokee Rock Village (Sand Rock) in Alabama. The tragedy hit the youth climbing community of North Georgia particularly hard as the climber was a student at a nearby college. As is often the case with any tragedy, there was much discussion about what can be learned - we at the ATL Chapter of the American Alpine Club began to think about we can do to better support collegiate climbers in our area. As we often lead educational clinics with these collegiate clubs, we joined forces and began to think about expertise, knowledge, and the equipment used by the clubs: was it safe? modern? and were they doing everything they could to minimize risk when they climbed outside?

In addition to bringing the necessary knowledge and techniques, climbers hoping to climb safely outdoors should wear climbing specific helmets, use ropes that are not worn, wear climbing specific and modern harnesses (those with double back buckles), consider the use of assisted breaking devices (such as Gri-Gris), and use appropriate locking carabiners and anchor building materials - when bouldering, climbers should use crash pads.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the American Alpine Club - Atlanta Chapter has partnered with Georgia Tech's Climbing Club and launched this spirited campaign to secure funding for modern and appropriate climbing equipment. Our goal is simple: we hope to raise $3,000 to properly outfit this climbing club for years to come. This gear will be purchased by the American Alpine Club (using our extensive relationships with outdoor vendors) and given to the club for club use only. 100% of these funds will go back to the Georgia Tech Climbing Club. The gear purchased will be owned by the climbing club, not individuals, and this gear will be locked in the club locker for outdoor events -- to be enjoyed by countless future climbers at Georgia Tech

We hope you'll consider donating to this cause and its mission to make climbing in North Georgia more safe. Please note that any donation helps

Thank you for your support... see you out there!