Ryan in New Zealand

How to join:

Now that the club has become so large, all we officially do is host the yearly convention in West Virginia, maintain this blog, and maintain the Facebook group.  Thus, there is no official procedure for joining–to participate, join our Facebook group and post to its wall to meet other queer/ally climbers, or simply attend our summer convention and meet people there.

Chavez, some 11

Requirements to join:

To attend an HC convention, you must be an experienced outdoor climber with great lead belaying skills.  You can bring less experienced friends with you, but they cannot belay anyone besides you or each other, and they must wear helmets when climbing and at the base of ALL crags.  If you have any doubts about your experience, or this policy, please send us an e-mail.

We don’t want to sound like jerks, because many new climbers have been forged on HC trips–just don’t abandon your friends on Day 2 because you found a project, or allow them to belay other people without revealing their inexperience.  Our climbers rope up with the assumption that their belayers know about short roping, cleaning, rappelling, etc.  Conversely, never assume that just because someone shows up at an HC convention, they know how to belay properly.  Use the same discretion you would use when meeting climbing partners anywhere else.

All that said, part of the reason for this policy is that we want MORE lgbt people climbing and we think that standard will encourage them to learn about climbing before (as opposed to during) the convention.  E-mail the club closest to you, or our dictators, and we’ll make sure to find a place for you to learn or teach you ourselves.