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Want To Be A Dirtbag?

Written By: Craig McClure

I’ve had a lot of bad ideas so I get pretty excited when I have a good one.  The Crackerjack Group recently held a “flyer” of a class we dubbed The Dirtbag Clinic..  and it worked. The idea came about because we had some friends in town for the Mountain Rescue Association Conference and they wanted to get together and train.  They didn’t want a “class” in the formal sense but rather just wanted to get out on the rock, experiment, and share ideas. To make this happen we needed to find a few more like-minded and we needed to keep it simple and inexpensive. It needed to be accessible. 

The way to keep it simple was to eliminate all the frills and logistics.  Show up. Train. Go away. We didn’t coordinate meals, secure lodging, or do a bunch of paperwork.  When we started talking about this someone said “I don’t care if they sleep down by the river in a van. It isn’t our problem” and BAM, we had a name. The Dirtbag Clinic!  Nothing fancy, just good training.

$200 for two FULL days of training in a great location fully supported with gear, ideas, instruction, and complete hands on evolutions.  We had 5 agencies represented and just 8 students and… it. Was. Perfect. (keep in mind this was on a Monday and Tuesday with less than a month notice).  We got to cover whatever the attendees had on their mind and had the freedom and flexibility to run down rabbit holes, experiment, and slow down when we hit good teaching points.

Some of what we covered:

Basic shared tension systems and variable tension concepts with Petzl RIG, Petzl ID, Black Diamond ATC Guide (the Petzl Reverso would work here too) and Bluewater VT Prusik all on Sterling HTP 9mm and 11mm.

Artificial High Directionals using the Arizona Vortex in tripod, a frame, and monopod configurations.  We played with advanced anchoring concepts by placing active and passive rock protection and the “voodoo” system.

Pickoffs and small team raises using some techniques the class hadn’t seen.  One team had IDs in the kits but only used them as descenders. With our small team and two person load they discovered the simplicity and power of using the ID and building 9:1 MA with Petzl Jags and Rock Exotica Azteks.

Edge safety management with constant two points of contact And.. EVERYONE got a chance to be a leader and build that confidence.  We beta tested some new command quick reference cards and worked on clean, clear, and simple communication.  

And so much more..

The real jewel of the class was on day two and I asked “So what do you want to do?” and the group chose to do a pickoff evolution with a monopod, guyed using only rock pro placements, on a twin tension system, using ID’s and the inside 9:1 MA system.  That’s a TON of moving parts and aside from two of us nobody else had ever deployed each of those components, let alone all of those components combined. They accepted the challenge and learned a ton. Really… isn’t that what real learning and growth is about?  Find a challenge, take a risk, and give it your best effort. You may be surprised at the results. 

It was a fantastic experience and I believe the success was in the approach of the Dirtbag Clinic. Nobody had to slog through agency approvals for a few hundred dollars or justify the training.  They just showed up, worked super hard, and left with big smiles. If you were there please weigh in here with your experience.

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Cheers,

Craig

 
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About The Author:

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Craig McClure

Craig is a 14+ year Search and Rescue veteran in the Pacific Northwest and is the founder of The Crackerjack Group. Craig is a founding member and instructor with the International Technical Rescue Association. He’s currently a SAR volunteer for Deschutes County Oregon, rescue member of the MRA accredited mountain rescue team, an EMT, and specializes in technical and backcountry winter disciplines. He holds an AIARE Avalanche level 2 certification and is an expert backcountry skier. Equally comfortable in the field or command, he’s served as the coordinator for the Incident Management team and has participated in approximately 400 missions in his career reaching back to 2004 as a wilderness K9 handler. Craig is a frequent instructor for technical disciplines at SAR conferences, has served as an evaluator for MRA team accreditation, and was the a safety officer and rigger for the first descents into the glacial caves of Mt St Helens. He has led and participated in high alpine glacial rescues, big wall vertical rescues, and complex extraction missions. He enjoys teaching and believes his greatest offering is the ability to guide teams as a whole to improve communication, efficiency, and understanding of well-reasoned default operating guidelines. . Craig serves on the Curriculum Committee of the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association Search and Rescue Advisory Council and is a co-author and instructor of the state SAR Incident Management program. In 2013 he was recognized as the state SAR Volunteer of the Year. He has also served as a sworn Reserve Deputy and in addition to uniformed patrol, worked seasonally as a snowmobile patrol deputy and as a sworn municipal Police Officer and is a graduate of the Oregon Department of Public Safety and Standards Police Academy. He is certified NRA Range Safety Officer. Craig brings a solid perspective on leadership, objective-based management, and great personal experience as a field operator.

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