Rules & Policies

KCC Rules & Policies.   

You will be required to pass a quiz on these rules before being eligible for membership.  Read carefully!

Membership Orientations are held on as need basis. These include top-rope (TR) belay testing/certification. A new member must be able to pass a TR cert., even if that member intends only to use the bouldering room.  After each class the membership list will be updated and distributed to those Staffers on the Sheriff’s call list.

• Introduction/Rules
  • Should you pass & be accepted, you must pay for at least one month to become a member.  Student memberships are only available on a yearly basis — there are no monthly student memberships.
  • A minimum of a monthly membership is required to start.
  • For those who are new and can’t pass a TR belay certification test, beginners’ classes are available at: YMCA, Genesis, and Bliss Climbing and Fitness.
  • Minimum requirements for membership.
    • Membership in the KCC is not open to everyone. If a person applies for membership, it is not guaranteed that he or she will be accepted as a member. The staff member(s) conducting the membership meeting may refuse membership to anyone without providing justification. A membership refusal may be appealed to the president of the club but his decision is final.
    • Members must sign a permanent waiver. See the ‘Waivers’ page.
  • Family membership.
    • Children under 18 are not members, even if they are included under a family membership.
    • Anyone under 18 MUST be accompanied by a MEMBER who is 21 yrs old or older.
  • A member who doesn’t renew will be unable to view the next month’s combination for the gate & door lock.

• All members must be KCC TR certified even to use bouldering facilities.
  • Your Tag is proof of membership (but not necessarily an indication of active status or being in good standing with KCC – i.e., dues paid up, etc.)
  • The tag is proof of having met the KCC’s criteria for reasonable competence in an activity; other members should not take this as a guarantee of proficiency, but should instead make their own assessment and climb only with partners/belayers who they judge to be sufficiently safe.
  • The KCC is a 24/7/365 operation.  Access to the club is available to the members via a combination lock system. Even though it is a 24/7 operation, climbing after midnight is discouraged. The Sheriff will patrol the area and will stop and question anyone they believe to be suspicious, particularly late at night.
  • The KCC is a member-owned, not-for-profit club; it doesn’t have anyone who gets paid for their work (including instructors, officers, & Staff), and much of the time no Staffers are on-site to help you or monitor activities.  Instead, think of KCC as your local crag—look after yourself and help one another.  To contact the club use the e-mail link available on the website, or leave a note on the whiteboard in the hallway.

• Membership dues are only part of a member’s responsibilities. By becoming a member, you agree to participate in:
  • Clean up
  • Security
  • Maintenance
    • KCC also requests your help with maintenance (mowing and work days – infrequent).  We keep our fees low and provide a quality venue by voluntary efforts, i.e., yours!

• Tags.
  • A tag color indicates a certification level. If you have not been KCC certified for a given climbing or belaying activity, you are not to perform that activity, even if you are capable. 
  • You MUST wear your tag ON YOUR HARNESS at all times. If your tag becomes dilapidated, lost or is destroyed, request a replacement from a staff member (preferably during one of the Tuesday night membership meetings).  
  • Tag color codes
    • Blue – top-rope & bouldering
    • Red. – lead climb, lead belay
    • Yellow – multi-pitch & rappelling  
    • Green – staff
    • White.- aid climbing
  • Rappelling is only allowed in conjunction with multi-pitch climbing or KCC-organized maintenance. Rappelling is not allowed as an individual, independent activity.
  • Reachout on the ‘Contact Us’ page to schedule a lead certification.

• Officers:
  • Todd Newman – President.
  • John Lucian – Vice President.
  • John Lucian II – Treasurer.
  • Paige Lauer – Public Relations.
    
• Complaints and arbitration.
  • Complaints and/or suggestions can be addressed to Paige Lauer or John Lucian. Their decisions are final.
  • Financial issues and combination requests should be directed to Todd Newman via the website ‘Contact Us’ page.
    
• Staff can be identified by a GREEN tag on their harness.
  • Staff members are available to answer questions about the club’s operation, climbing safety, climbing and route-setting etiquette.
  • Staff members as well as the general membership have both the authority and responsibility to challenge /question ANYONE who: does not have a tag, demonstrates unsafe climbing practices, or violates club rules.
  • A staff member may ask for your ID in order to verify you are a current member and that you are who your tag says you are.
    
• Prohibitions:
  • Drugs. This includes abuse of prescription drugs.
  • Alcohol. This includes beer.
  • Smoking. This includes outside but on the premises (inside the fence and including the parking lot).
  • Wild or risky behavior, horsing around. This includes anything dangerous to anyone (including yourself) or offensive to others.
  • Route setting or route stripping without officer approval.
  • “Good sense” guidelines. – We can’t make a rule for everything. 
    
• We expect members to act in a responsible, civil, and mature manner. 
  • The premises are monitored by video surveillance at all time.
  • Trash; pick it up and pack it out. There are trash cans provided, use them.
  • If the trash cans are full, bag the trash and replace the liner. Trash can be thrown in the dumpster on Monday night.  
  • Vacuums and brooms are provided, sweep up, it only takes a few minutes.
    
• Children
  • Children (under 12) should be supervised by a parent and should not be allowed to wander around outside the parent’s view.
  • If you are climbing and small children are in the area, pay special attention.
  • Language and behavior. In general, but especially when children are present, please be prudent in your choice of words and behavior
    
• Safe climbing practices.
  • Don’t climb dramatically “off anchor” – i.e., try to climb on the anchor intended for that route, or if no route is marked, climb underneath the anchor as much as possible.  For overhanging routes climbed on toprope, be sure the rope runs through the intermediate draws (otherwise, if the climber pops off midway, they may crash the back of their head into the wall at the opposite side of the room during the pendulum).  Belayers should be conscious of where their climber will swing if they fall.  Belayers owe the utmost duty to manage the rope and return their climbers safely to the ground.  This is not to be undertaken lightly or casually.  If, in catching a fall, you are plucked from your feet and slam into the wall, you cannot let go of the rope with the brake hand.  If you are attacked by wasps, hornets, or angry birds, you cannot release your brake hand.  If you catch fire while belaying, we suggest you just ‘deal with it.’  If, for some reason, the rope starts to slip through your brake hand and burns your flesh, your reaction MUST be to clench down harder with the brake hand – NOT to let go, which is an instinct that must be overcome.  (Stepping on the tail of the rope can also work, but isn’t foolproof.)  As the climbing sport moves towards smaller rope diameters and ‘faster’ or more slick finishes, maintaining control can be an issue with standard belay devices – KCC encourages leather gloves (no lining) for belaying, especially if the rope is ‘fast’ (small-diameter and slick finish), weather is cold, the rope is wet, or your hands are particularly delicate; these must be new gloves dedicated to climbing (i.e., not the ones you use to change batteries in your car). 
  • Procedure when hair, clothing, runners, or flesh get sucked into the belay device, blocking it: 1) silently curse, 2) ask the climber to get back on the wall to relieve tension on the rope, then try to pull loose whatever is caught, 3) if the climber cannot get back on the wall – e.g., an overhang or roof route – ask the climber to grab onto the rope and hoist themselves upward, using both feet and hands, then relieving tension (‘boinking’), 4) if anyone is nearby, ask for assistance in hoisting the climber to relieve tension, 5) if these methods fail, you can try hopping upward to momentarily relieve tension while pulling with both hands on the brake side and whatever is stuck, but realize you will pendulum, 6) if all else fails, you may need to cut the hair or clothing with a knife if you have one – be careful not to slice into the rope, however.

• Don’t practice things you haven’t thought through.
  • Pay attention while belaying.  No matter how experienced you are. And help keep others, especially children, from walking into the fall zone of your climber.
  • Use the “BARK” system. Buckles (of harness), Anchor, Rigging (of rope thru belay device), Knot.
  • If you are climbing with a new partner, review the rope management and belay calls. If you are climbing outside and it is windy or noisy (trains!), review hand signals for ‘ready to lower’ and so forth.
    
• Don’t engage in climbing you’re not certified for.
  • If you wish to learn how to lead climb, talk to a Staffer for the requirements and proper training methods.  Lead Classes are conducted occasionally at KCC; you may sign up for one on the whiteboard.  You will need to pass a Lead Cert conducted by one of three staffers who do this before you are eligible to lead climb or lead belay.
    
• Spotting
  • ‘Spotting’ is the term used when someone is trying to protect the climber’s head and neck during a low-height fall during lead climbing (before clipping the first draw) or bouldering.  It isn’t intended for trying to reduce injuries to ankles or wrists.
    
  • Knowing when to spot. 
    • Spotting introduces new hazards, both to the climber and to the person spotting.  Spotting is considered almost mandatory for the belayer in real-world outdoor lead climbing, and is expected at KCC for lead climbing both outside and inside.  Spotting in the bouldering room is generally unnecessary and should only be done when the climber is inverted or likely to invert if they fall at certain places in the route and the crash pads haven’t been positioned properly to protect that area of the route.  Realize that improper spotting may cause more harm than good, so practice doing it correctly.
      
  • How to spot. 
    • Judge the weight of the climber compared to your own, for instance.  When spotting, tuck your thumbs tight against the palm of your hand — one of the most common spotting injuries is hyper-extending the thumb.  Keep elbows slightly bent.  Stand close enough underneath the climber to be able to do something if the need arises — if you are 5 or 8 feet behind their landing zone, you’ll never touch them before they drop, hit, and topple over.  The idea is NOT to catch them, but instead to make sure they land on their feet, and that they don’t topple over afterwards and strike their head or wrench their neck.  In general, aim for the climber’s shoulder blades to help guide them onto their feet.  Protect their noggin & neck area! However, the spotter should beware of taking a foot or knee to the face, and then they’ll be the one who’s injured. The spotter should never take their eye off the climber, since they should continually be repositioning themselves both to remain effective and to avoid injury.  There’s almost no time to react, so your hands and body should be in the correct place before your climber ever pops loose from the wall. Do not agree to spot anyone who is skipping bolts or otherwise endangering themselves unnecessarily.  Beyond a certain height, there’s very little that a novice spotter can do safely, and the spotter and climber should agree on this in advance in real-world settings where the first bolt or placement is quite high. 
      
  • Pay attention in the bouldering room
    • Don’t move crash pads out from underneath a climber. Be aware of your surroundings: who is above you, and who is below you, and clear your fall zone of any hard objects.  Keep young children out of the bouldering room if you are climbing there, unless the children are kept well away from the fall zone by the attending parent or guardian.    
    • If a boulderer has forgotten to place a crash pad under a difficult or dangerous section of the route, please do move the pad under them if you can do so safely.
      
  • How to fall. 
    • Although gravity is doing the hard work, you can reduce your chances of injury by using proper falling technique – i.e., drop and roll, in which you allow the energy of the impact to disperse instead of coming to a sudden stop by, say, “sticking a landing” like a gymnast would.   

• Additional membership information.
  
  • Guests & visitors          
    • A guest is the legal and moral responsibility of the sponsoring member they are with. If a guest is injured or causes injury, the legal consequences may fall to the sponsoring member; so choose your guests wisely and make sure you get the waiver signed.
    • ALL visitors, whether climbing or not, MUST sign a temporary waiver, which visitors are to keep on their person while on KCC property. 
    • Those under 18 yrs old MUST have the signature of a parent or guardian.  They must also be the guest of a member who is 21 or older (but not necessarily a parent or guardian).
    • It is the member’s responsibility to see that their guest signs a wavier and pays the guest fee.
    • Temporary waivers for guests remain with the signer and can be re-used (except for those under 18). If the visitor is 18 yrs old and wishes to return at a future date, he or she may keep the waiver and use it again on their return visit. Visitors under 18 must have a parent or guardian sign a new copy each time they return. The waiver that a guest/visitor or friend signs is called “temporary”, as opposed to a “permanent” waiver of members which remains on file with KCC.
    • It is the member’s responsibility to ask to see the waiver of those on premises who are without a belay tag. Further, the member is to ask those without a tag or waiver to either:
      • Get a waiver
      • Or leave.
    • A member in good standing may bring a friend to “experience climbing” one time without charge. One time means a single calendar day. This friend must also sign a waiver.
    • A member in good standing (paid up) can bring friends to watch but not climb as often as they wish for no charge. However, each friend must sign a new waiver or present a temporary waiver to the member each time they come in.
    • Again, the safety and actions of visitors are the responsibility of the sponsoring member.

• Membership revocation.
  • Revocation of membership will be at the discretion of a KCC officer.
  • The prorated (starting at the beginning of the next calendar month) membership amount will be returned.
  • Your permanent waiver will remain in force.
  • Your belay tags will be forfeit and returned to a KCC officer.
    
• Combination dispersal.
  • The combination is distributed via e-mail 
  • The combination is NOT to be shared. Holders of a family membership are not to share the combination with family members under 18 yrs old.
  • In general the combination is changed monthly, on or about the 5th of the month.

• On premise responsibilities
  • Opening:
    • Stow the locks.
    • Walk through and report problems on whiteboard (if urgent, call a staff member or officer).
    • Check for doors unlocked.
    • Lights on.
    • Water running.
    • Left over people.
    • Unusual levels of trash.
    • Beer cans, cigarettes, etc.  
  • While here:
    • It is the members’ responsibility to ask to see the waiver of those on premises who are without a belay tag. Further, the member is to ask those without a tag or waiver to get a waiver or leave.
    • It is the member’s responsibility to be alert for any unsafe events or techniques and to call the perpetrator to task.
    • It is the member’s responsibility to personally demonstrate safe technique when climbing or belaying at the KCC.
    • If you are alone or otherwise vulnerable and the weather permits, it’s a good idea to “lock yourself in”.  
  • Leaving:
    • Check to see if anyone else is there and make sure they belong there (not drifters). Inform them that you are leaving and they are the last ones
    • If you are the last one(s), walk through the whole place and make sure all the doors are locked, the lights are off (inside and out), and water is not running.
    • Make sure the boards/ladders on the front wall are stowed in the hallway.
    • Lock the gate so the next person can get to the lock.
  • Cleaning is an ongoing issue. 
    • Each of us contributes to the dirt and each of us should contribute to cleaning. 
    • Take a few minutes to vacuum a chamber, empty trash, or clean the bathroom. 
    • We can’t afford to hire it done and it’s not fair that just a few people are stuck with the duty. If you wish to contribute: TP, trash bags, vacuum bags, cleaning supplies, paper towels, etc, it is appreciated.
  • If you can help out with mowing, that also is appreciated. Contact Paul Polk or Todd Newman.