Alpine Introductory Course

Alpine mountaineering presents a whole new set of challenges and hazards that require skills and techniques very different to those used at the crag or in Scotland. Approaching climbs always involves glacier travel, often in the dark of early morning. Routes are usually very long and efficient movement is essential to get back to the hut before the snow on the glacier softens and crevase danger increases.

A six day introductory course will provide you with all the skills you need to go out and climb Alpine routes without a guide. You will be shown all the technical skills of climbing on rock, snow and ice, how and when to rope up and how to use the rope, crevasse rescue and glacier travel. Also you will learn how to use the excellent system of Alpine Huts and telepheriques, the grading system and using guidebooks and how to deal with the high altitude.

An itinerary for a six day Introductory Course could run like this -

• Day 1 - A glacier day looking at the hazards of glaciers and morains and movement skills - crampon technique and walking roped.
• Day 2 - Walk up to an Alpine hut and practice crevasse rescue techniques near the hut.
• Day 3 - An early start and an ascent of a glaciated peak before returning back to the hut and walking down to the valley.
• Day 4 - A valley based day at a crag to cover prussicking, belaying, abseiling and to do some good rock climbing.
• Day 5 - Walk up to another hut completing a rocky scramble on the way looking at moving together on technical ground.
• Day 6 - Early start to climb a summit (possibly 4000m) using all the skills learned over the week.

An introductory course works well with one guide to three or four clients. As with all guiding though the smaller the ratio the more flexibility we have to tackle more adventurous objectives. To achieve as much as you are able to on the course you should consider a ratio of one guide to two clients, to have a more sociable time and still cover everything for you to get out on your own one to four is great.

Prices for a course based on the above programme and including half board accommodation in huts and in the valley for seven nights are below. Prices are per person and the only extras are lift fees and packed lunches.

The Mont Blanc range is a great place to do an introductory course as there is the best system of lifts and huts there making the greatest range of objectives open to us. This also makes it busier though. Arolla and Saas Grund are brilliant introductory course venues and are much quieter. For somewhere different, why not go to the Gran Paradiso in Italy?

Having spent six days training and acclimatising you will be in great shape. Why not add three days to the training course to climb Mont Blanc? Booking three days instead of just two doubles your chances of getting to the top as there are two feasible summit days instead of one. The maximum ratio for Mont Blanc is one guide to two clients.

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