About the AMGA Certification
AMGA SPI
Anyone unfamiliar with outdoor rock climbing may be unaware of what the AMGA SPI certification means for you and your instructor. The American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) is a national organization that provides a framework for professional mountaineering training and guidelines. The AMGA provides many levels of certification for rock climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing, and backcountry skiing.
Terrain around Boston is generally considered “single pitch” terrain, where the walls are limited to about 100 ft tall. For the AMGA, the certification to guide and instruct any skill in single-pitch terrain is covered in their Single Pitch Instructor (SPI) certification process.
The final step in the SPI certification is a 2-day instructor exam. To apply to the exam, the climber must build a larger trad-climbing resume and have marked completion of their course. During the exam, instructors are graded based on competency at all SPI rescue scenarios, their general climbing ability, how they manage mock-clients, and more. In order to maintain a valid certification, an instructor must recertify every 3 years, maintain active wilderness first aid training, and be CPR certified.
From personal experience, I cannot imagine taking out a group of climbers without the training provided by the AMGA. I believe that the SPI training is the bare minimum you should expect of the leader of your day out. To me, the inability to obtain an SPI certification tells me that the climber has not yet experienced the technical climbing and training required to manage themselves and others at the same time nor respond to rescues in climbing terrain. We encourage you to ask anyone that you are considering hiring if at least one certified climber will be present on your trip.
What does the AMGA SPI mean?
Just in order to apply for the AMGA SPI course, a prospective instructor must submit a resume demonstrating that they have experience in many forms of outdoor climbing, including a list of completed trad climbs. Trad climbing is generally considered the most technical, difficult, and risky form of single-pitch climbing.
The AMGA SPI course is a 3-day course in the mountains where instructors are taught the skills specific to introducing new climbers to the sport and managing group risk. This includes many rescue scenarios, risk mitigation strategies, teaching skills, and more that many recreational climbers would not have previous exposure to.
Why hire SPI with us?
When GBCS was formed, it was due to a lack of certified instruction in the Boston area. Most outdoor climbing organizations in Boston have zero certified climbers in any form of leadership, and we are currently the one of the two Boston-based climbing organization/business with more than one certified instructor.
GBCS was created with the promise that every one of our trips will be lead by a fully-certified SPI, and we require that all assistants have at least taken the SPI course. This means that you can feel confident that trip is lead by a climber that is familiar with and regularly practices single-pitch rescues, seen all forms of climbing in the Boston terrain, teaches modern best-practices, and regularly seeks more training and evaluation.
We know that you are giving us your trust when you hire us for your day out. That is why we intend to honor that trust by ensuring that your day is lead by someone that takes that training seriously.