I cannot say enough good things about
Mountain Productions' Annual Hoist School, in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I took the class a few years ago and learned a TON. The class is split into two main segments - a rigging portion and a
chain hoist repair portion. The rigging portion was traditionally taught by Sapsis, but I know Eric Rouse from
PSU taught it for at least one year in the recent past. The rigging portion is spread over 1.5 days and has a ton of information mostly dealing with the mathematics and forces behind rigging, as opposed to "here's how to properly orient a
shackle" - although they
cover that as well. It's a very challenging course, but there's plenty of time spent asking questions and applying knowledge to real-world rigging scenarios, and the best part is that you can get up and walk through Mountain's shop and put the stuff you've just learned into
practical use. The
chain hoist portion is also 1.5 days and has a rep from CM who teaches you how to maintain and repair CM chain hoists, and at the conclusion of the course, you take a written test and if you pass, you become a CM-Certified
Chain Hoist Repair Technician (great resume credit, plus very useful). You also spend about half a day in seminars with Tomcat, Motion Labs, Rose Brand, Mountain themselves (they'll take you all around their facility and show you how they operate - they do some pretty incredible stuff down there), and I'm sure a few others I'm forgetting. The best part is that the fee includes EVERYTHING - hotel, transportation to and from the warehouse each day, food, plus evening activities. You also walk away literally weighed down with
swag, in the form of a GIANT duffel that can't even zip closed because it's too stuffed with t-shirts and brochures and hats and bags and the like. The
current early price is $850, which is a steal for all that you'll get out of it. I'd highly recommend it. Feel free to ask me any questions if you'd like to know more.