If your troop is full of climbing monkeys like ours is, then you can expect that you’ll need to be able to offer them the opportunity to climb at least once, if not twice per year. I can’t encourage you enough to look into the training that your local council offers. When I trained, I was one of four in our troop. We currently have another three or four that want to follow in our footholds. I must say, it does a lot to ease the minds of parents knowing that their children are in well instructed hands as they climb oh so high or dangle from upwards of sixty-five feet in the air.
This youth is using techniques that he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn outside of boy scouts. He has this ability because our troop has a strong sense of leadership and dedication to keeping trained adult leaders to facilitate a rounded program.
It isn’t only critical that you have trained leaders in place, they must continue to practice what they’ve learned. One would be surprised at just how fast you can get rusty in the ability to tie a knot. We often use Animated Knots by Grog to keep our instructors at the top of their game. This fantastic website takes you through the motions of each knot. It has almost every knot we use in climbing, as well as scouting, fishing, and boating. It is a wonderful resource.
In addition, you have to keep using your skills for actual climbing so that you keep what you’ve learned fresh. The more you can climb in the first couple of years the better because with every new adventure, your self confidence soars.
If you’re a climbing instructor with your troop, I’d love it if you’d post a comment about how you stay fresh in your technique and the fun your troop has because of it.
Troop 483 Blog 
