The Climbing Company

elevate your skills

Develop your capability & empower your adventures with specialty skills courses

The Climbing Company (formerly Melbourne Climbing School) has courses designed to teach safety skills to all levels, from absolute beginner to advanced rescue skills and these courses are suitable for both professionals and enthusiasts.

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Answer a few questions to discover which course suits you best

Get Started Rock climbingSnow/Skialpine Climbing
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All Environments Alpine Rock Snow
All Skill-Levels Advanced Intermediate Beginner

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All Environments Alpine Rock Snow
All Skill-Levels Advanced Intermediate Beginner

  • Rescue Skills 1-day Refresher

    Stay sharp, stay safe

    A focused one-day review of essential rescue skills for climbers who want to maintain their emergency response capabilities. Perfect for keeping your rescue techniques current and efficient.

    What will we cover?

    – Quick review of essential rescue skills
    – Practice of common rescue scenarios
    – Updates on current best practices
    – Efficiency improvements for your existing techniques
    – Equipment checks and updates

    Key Skills Refreshed:

    – Escaping the belay
    – Assisted hoists and lowering
    – Rope rescue techniques
    – Casualty management
    – Emergency response protocols

    Rescue Skills 1-day Refresher
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  • Top-Rope Anchors and Abseiling

    Perfect for beginners and parents

    This two-day course is aimed at people wanting to learn how to set up their own top-rope anchors to climb safely in the outdoors.

    What are the aims of this course?

    The aim of this course is to provide a comprehensive set of skills that you can use to set up your own top-rope climbs in the outdoors. These skills include:

    • Anchors. You need the ability to set safe anchors at the top of the cliff, capable of holding a fall.
    • Abseiling. To get down safely, you can either walk (which is how you got up there) or you can abseil. We will learn the latter… with a prusik backup.
    • Belaying and Lowering. You need to know how to safely belay a climber as they ascend the cliff (it’s not just as simple as holding the rope), and you need to know how to safely lower them to the ground after they have finished climbing.
    • Rope Management. As well as tying a Figure-8 for the climber and threading the belay device to belay with, you need to know how to manage the excess rope on the ground and how to care for the rope
    • Safety. You need to know how to create a safe climbing environment by recognising and mitigating the dangers of climbing, by wearing a helmet, using redundant anchors and ensuring your own safety by securing yourself while you build and dismantle the anchors.
    Top-Rope Anchors and Abseiling
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  • Single Pitch Trad

    Learn to use pro like a pro

    This is a two-day course designed to teach existing lead climbers how to use trad gear safely and effectively. We practice placing nuts, cams and other equipment to secure our system to the rock.

    What will we learn?

    On this course you will learn to:

    • Adjust belay habits to suit traditional rock climbing
    • Prepare your gear prior to leaving the ground ready for safe, efficient climbing
    • Identify the best type of gear for a particular rock feature
    • Build multi-point EARNEST anchor systems using trad gear and your rope
    • Return at the end of your session without leaving any of your equipment behind
    • Recognise the most common trad climbing mistakes and easy methods to mitigate them
    Single Pitch Trad
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  • Top-Rope Solo

    Climb alone, climb smart

    Learn the complex art of top-rope soloing with expert Andy King. This two-day course covers equipment, setup, safety systems, and risk management for competent single-pitch trad leaders ready to climb independently.

    What Will We Learn?

    Equipment and Systems

    • Specialised gear selection (rope, pulleys, lanyards, backup devices)
    • Rope management systems
    • Equipment setup and inspection
    • Personal anchor systems
    • Backup device configuration
      Safety Protocols
    • Risk assessment and hazard identification
    • System redundancy principles
    • Equipment failure scenarios
    • Environmental considerations
    • Emergency protocols when climbing alone
      Practical Techniques
    • Rope feeding and management
    • Transition techniques
    • Redirect systems
    • Getting started and finishing routes
    • Troubleshooting common issues
      Advanced Applications
    • Route selection criteria
    • Training applications
    • Efficiency improvements
    • System modifications for different scenarios
    Top-Rope Solo
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  • Advanced Rescue Skills

    Rope skills that would make Andy Kirkpatrick proud

    This advanced course expands on the essential skills covered already, tackling some more advanced topics that will hopefully be seldom used, but are carefully designed to get you safely out of some of the most complicated situations. We will take turns acting as the “casualty” and the rescuer, inventing and responding to some really far-out situations competently and efficiently.

    What will we learn?

    Among the skills you will learn are:

    • Assisted Abseils (getting an unconscious person to the ground)
    • Lowering past a knot (getting a conscious casualty to the ground from a multi-pitch climb)
    • Z-drags without an auto-block belay device
    • Rescuing an unconscious person from a lead climb
    Advanced Rescue Skills
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  • Multi-Pitch Trad

    Conquer that fear of heights

    Do you hunger for thrilling exposure? Do you want to really challenge your control over your fear of heights? How about the amazing views that most people simply will never see?

    What will we learn?

    Among the skills covered in this course are:

    • Planning your day before you start, preparing for any eventuality
    • The importance of clear, concise communication on multi-pitch routes
    • Additional types of anchor systems
    • Additional belay techniques
    • Smooth transitioning from top-belay to lead-belay while on the wall
    • The importance of staying vigilant even after arriving at the top
    • Preparing equipment for a walking descent, or –
    • Using two ropes for very-long abseils
    Multi-Pitch Trad
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    Gift Vouchers

    Give the gift of climbing to your loved one!

    Give the gift of climbing to your loved one! Or you can buy this for yourself if you like. No judgements here.

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  • Indoor Learn-To-Lead

    Mastering belay from first principles

    This 6-hour course, spread over two sessions, is for people who want to learn lead-climbing and belaying in a comprehensive, principles-first way.

    Aim Of This Course:

    The aim of this course is to break down the lead-climbing and belaying process into small chunks and practice each separately, spending the second session putting it all together and practising/tweaking your technique to ensure the entire process is smooth and confident.

    Indoor Learn-To-Lead
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  • Falling Clinic (second half of Indoor LTL)

    Heebie-Jeebies begone!

    Is your fear of falling on lead holding you back? We aim to fix that and get you back on the rope and trying your best without fear!

    What will we learn?

    We run through the following skills, continually refining them until they are committed to (muscle) memory:
     
    Belayer Skills:
    – Catching leader falls (small to large)
    – Feet position on the ground, on the wall
     
    Climber skills:
    – Taking a leader-fall (we start small, don’t worry!)

    Falling Clinic (second half of Indoor LTL)
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  • Sport Climbing Conversion

    Take your first steps outside

    The aim of this course is to provide a comprehensive introduction to climbing “Sport” routes in the outdoors, tailored specifically to Melbourne’s rapidly growing indoor climbing community.

    What will we learn?

    On this course you will learn to:

    • Apply indoor lead-belay and lead-climbing techniques to outdoor rock
    • Build anchors on fixed hardware
    • Return at the end of your session without leaving any of your equipment behind (often called “cleaning” the route)
    • Abseiling on a doubled rope
    • Inspect fixed sport climbing hardware and anchors before you use them
    • Recognise the most common sport climbing mistakes and easy methods to mitigate them
    • Make intelligent decisions in the outdoors.
      BONUS – as part of this course you will learn about the humble prusik loop – a very simple, extremely useful piece of climbing equipment that not many sport climbers carry or even own. You will learn just how useful it can be in all sorts of situations, and as a special thank-you for signing up to this course – we’ll give you one to keep!
    Sport Climbing Conversion
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  • Essential Self-Rescue Skills

    Basic Rescue Skills all climbers should know

    This is a two-day course covering tips, tricks and practising rescue scenarios that anyone could come across in the outdoors. These essential skills you should know to become a safe outdoor climber, and the tool-box of skills you can draw from to enhance your everyday climbing experience will be valuable as well!

    What will we learn?

    On this course you will learn:

    • Tying off a belay device
    • Escaping the belay to attend to an emergency situation
    • Z-drags and assisted hoists
    • Additional prusik knots and their uses
    • Prusiking up, and prusiking past a knot
    • Abseiling down, and abseiling past a knot
    • Retrievable single rope abseil
    • Lowering a partner past a knot (i.e. lowering a partner more than the rope length)
    • Various ways to belay if you don’t have a belay device
    Essential Self-Rescue Skills
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  • Big Wall Course 1

    Take your climbing higher

    Learn the fundamental techniques needed for big wall climbing: aid climbing, hauling, and complex rope systems. Perfect for experienced multi-pitch climbers ready to tackle bigger objectives.

    What Will We Learn?

    Preparation and Equipment

    • Proper gear organiSation and racking for longer routes
    • Haul bag setup and packing techniques
    • Tag line systems and their applications
    • Equipment selection for big wall climbing
      Climbing Techniques
    • Introduction to aid climbing fundamentals
    • Solo climbing techniques and safety systems
    • Advanced rope management
    • Strategies for harder pitches
      Following and Cleaning
    • Following efficiently with aiders/etriers
    • Cleaning gear on steeper terrain
    • Short pendulum techniques
    • Basic pendulum cleaning
    • Managing traverses and diagonals
    • Rebelays (rules and advantages on classic big wall push)
    Big Wall Course 1
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  • Big Wall Course 2

    Life on the wall awaits

    Master advanced big wall techniques including portaledge camping, complex hauling systems, and multi-day strategy. For those ready to spend multiple days on major walls.

    What Will We Learn?

    Advanced Aid Techniques

    • Complex aid climbing scenarios
    • Efficient progression on difficult terrain
    • Advanced placement techniques
    • Managing steep and blank sections
      Portaledge Systems
    • Portaledge setup and breakdown
    • Living systems on the wall
    • Bivy management and considerations
    • Weather management strategies
      Advanced Wall Systems
    • Multi-pitch hauling strategies
    • Complex hauling solutions
    • Simultaneous climbing techniques
    • Rope management for longer routes
      Safety and Rescue
    • Big wall specific rescue techniques
    • Managing emergencies on the wall
    • Retreat systems and strategies
    • Route planning and risk management
    Big Wall Course 2
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  • One-Day Trad Refresher

    Get back in the game safely

    This is a ONE-day course designed to help existing trad-climbers get back into the game of trad climbing safely and effectively. We will tailor the session to you and make sure that your system is safe and ready for independent use!

    What will we cover?

    • Review and update of gear placement techniques
    • Modern anchor building practices
    • Current safety standards and best practices
    • Personal systems check and optimization
    • Tactical considerations for route selection and protection
    One-Day Trad Refresher
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  • Mental Training for Trad Climbing

    Master your mind, master the climb

    An innovative course combining practical skills and mental techniques to help you push your trad climbing to the next level. Learn to manage fear, make better decisions, and climb with confidence.

    What will we cover?

    Practical Skills Foundation:

    • Practicing with trad gear (ensuring correct placement techniques)
    • Understanding gear limitations and testing placements
    • Aid climbing practice to build placement confidence
    • How to choose routes suitable for your current level
    • Creating detailed route maps (rest points, crux zones, gear placements) 
      Mental Skills Development:
    • Fear management techniques specific to trad climbing
    • Decision-making frameworks for route selection
    • Visualisation techniques for route planning
    • Building confidence through progressive challenges
    • Techniques for maintaining focus during long routes 
      Creating Security:
    • How to make a “nest” or secure point before crux sections
    • Managing the relationship between mental and physical aspects
    • Building resilience through controlled exposure
    • Partner communication and trust building
    • Developing personal risk assessment skills
    Mental Training for Trad Climbing
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