Introduction to Alpine Climbing Skills

If you don't have a lot of previous backcountry experience or only have rock or ice climbing experience course participants will learn:

• Basic backcountry navigation and travel skills.
• Backpacking and backcountry camping skills like site selection and water treatment in alpine areas.
• How to more safely manage low difficulty but high consequence terrain like 3rd and 4th class scrambling sections.
• Route finding and belay management.
• Transitioning between scrambling terrain and technical terrain.
• After taking this climbing course participants should feel capable of climbing basic alpine climbs such as more difficult 14ers or routes with a mix of scrambling and pitched climbing. We generally recommend this as a two day overnight course for the best learning experience.

Participants should be capable of the following prior to participating in this course:

• Basic outdoor self care. What to wear, how much water and snacks, etc.
• Putting on a regular climbing harness, shoes, and helmet without assistance.
• The ability to use different device for toprope belaying is a requirement.
• The ability to clean and descend routes using lowering or rappeling techniques is strongly encouraged to make more time to focus on climbing technique instead of rope skills.

Participants without the required skills may be asked to book additional days to ensure the best learning experience.