Tag Archives: BCEP

May1

BCEP – Scouting a hike at Catherine Creek (Coyote Wall)

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Last year, I took the BCEP class with the Mazamas – Basic Climbing Education Program. It was interesting; a great chance to review my well-trained skills, practice some that I hadn’t used in ages, and get to meet some new climbing and outdoors people. It was fun, and ticked all the boxes that I had hoped that it would.

My faith in the outdoors community reinvigorated, I quickly and happily volunteered to help teach BCEP this year. I was expecting to assist with the same group that I’d taken the class with the previous year, since leaders tend to continue teaching year over year, so I was a bit surprised when I was placed with a different group… but it turns out, this new group was just starting out – the first year the leader had led a BCEP team on their own.

The chance to help out with a new group, and to help build a similar culture of excitement and optimism for the outdoors? All while getting to show people the unbridled joy of rock climbing? Of seeing new views off the side of a mountain?

Well. Sign me right the heck up.


Saturday, 25-Mar-2023


My next event for BCEP 2023 was a training hike, combined with a chance to practice some of the skills that the students had first learned in the MMC. I’d volunteered to lead it, since good form for belaying and rappelling is quite near and dear to me… but that meant scouting the terrain first, and locking down a location to review the skills. A “leader’s recon”, if you’ll forgive the ROTC parlance that’s still somehow engrained in my brain…

(Ed Note: No, Ben never was a cadet in ROTC. Yet somehow he found a way to take a few of their leadership classes, which wormed their way into his long-term memory)

The goal was simple: Jess and I would hike Coyote Wall, at Catherine Creek, and track down a good spot to set up a few anchors to belay / rappel off.




The execution was… less simple.

Turns out – Catherine Creek doesn’t have a lot of viable cliffs. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a LOT of cliffs at Catherine Creek! But here’s the thing… none of them had any particularly good anchor points, or approaches, or… really any of the things that I was looking for in a training area. They all looked great from a distance, but I quickly lost faith in them as we approached closer in.

On top of that, the “standard” BCEP route was blocked off by a sign.

“But Ben, you walk past signs all the time! Why would you care about this one?”

“Well, Other-Ben, this sign said ‘NO TRESSPASSING’ and was pockmarked with bullet holes”

“Good choice on not walking past that sign, Ben”



With the standard route blockaded and no grand areas to be found, I settled on the best that I could – a nice meadow on a 15 Degree slope, with a few good trees that we could anchor off of. It wasn’t the best, but it was what we had. And that’s what we use, in the wilderness – not what we want to have, but what we actually have.

I figured it’d be a good lesson, you know?

And hey – I got to hike with Jess! And we got to see some amazing sunset views, alongside glorious Gorge vistas! I’ll take it as a win, all day any day.


Apr30

BCEP, 2023 – The first session, climbing at the MMC

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Last year, I took the BCEP class with the Mazamas – Basic Climbing Education Program. It was interesting; a great chance to review my well-trained skills, practice some that I hadn’t used in ages, and get to meet some new climbing and outdoors people. It was fun, and ticked all the boxes that I had hoped that it would.

My faith in the outdoors community reinvigorated, I quickly and happily volunteered to help teach BCEP this year. I was expecting to assist with the same group that I’d taken the class with the previous year, since leaders tend to continue teaching year over year, so I was a bit surprised when I was placed with a different group… but it turns out, this new group was just starting out – the first year the leader had led a BCEP team on their own.

The chance to help out with a new group, and to help build a similar culture of excitement and optimism for the outdoors? All while getting to show people the unbridled joy of rock climbing? Of seeing new views off the side of a mountain?

Well. Sign me right the heck up.


Saturday, 18-Mar-2023


As the intro says, I helped teach BCEP this year! It’s been a long time since I’d assisted with a climbing class in any way, probably since the summer of 2019 or so, and even longer since I’d really been an official assistant. I was super excited, but unfortunately had missed the first few events thanks to being in Ireland when they happened.

I know, I know… bad form, Ben!

But in my defense, Ireland was planned before BCEP, and I had been assigned to this group instead of choosing it, so… yeah. Not my fault, I swear!



Anyways, the first event that I assisted with was perfect for me – the first climbing session in the Mazamas mountaineering center! Harkening back to my own course as a student, the MMC has a few short walls that’re used to teach students the basics of rock climbing – how to secure a harness, how to tie in, how to belay… and even how to rappel!

It was an excellent day – I taught at the rappel station, mainly, and had a blast walking the students through the process while helping encourage them to ask questions and understand the entire system, instead of just memorizing the sequence of events required. It was great, and absolutely scratched that itch to teach that I’ve had in the back of my head.


It would be a few more weeks until we actually climbed real rocks together at Horsethief, but I still got to see the shift in people as they become more and more confident… going from someone fumbling with a carabiner to someone confidently hopping off a ledge with their rappel device locked into place.



I did, of course, get a quick climb in myself. You can’t blame me! Assistants get to have fun too, sometimes!

Jun6

BCEP – Graduation!!!

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Who are the Mazamas, you may ask? And what’s BCEP, you may enquire? Well, let me fill you in dear reader. When I first moved to Oregon, I pretty quickly heard about a mountaineering group in town called The Mazamas.

Similar to the AMC back in Boston, they teach classes and do conservation outreach projects. Over the years, I’d interacted with them tangentially – attending a few classes, volunteering with a few groups, but I’d never been able to actually take a course officially. I’d applied to their Advanced Rock climbing class, but wasn’t accepted for one reason or another.

Now, nearly seven years after first moving to Oregon, I was trying again. This time beginning at the bottom – while you may notice that I’m not quite a beginner when it comes to the outdoors, I was tired. These last few years haven’t been easy, and I was just tired of fighting… the chance to just sit back and meet new people while enjoying a few group hikes was more than worth the price of admission.


Saturday, 30-Apr-2022

I graduated BCEP!

Yup! Flying colors, up in here! I even remembered all the details about rope travel and using pruissics… which I still feel weird doing, since I’m used to kleimheists… Ahh well. It does make sense, even though it’s not quite what I’m used to.

I’m not too sure what to write about here, though I do very much want to commemorate the completion of an amazing course. I had a great time, learned a lot of subtle details and alternative methods, and made quite a few good friends along the way. I got a lot of hiking in, and had a chance to explore the Mazamas Lodge… while also having a glorious weekend playing in the snow!

The day of our test was pretty simple and straightforward, as one would expect. I wouldn’t say that it was a formality, since we absolutely got grilled on details, but it was 100% a celebration at the same time. There was more food than I ever could have expected, of a glorious variety and quality that I’ve come to expect from the chefs in the Snake Dogs.

I can’t wait to continue this adventure!