Alpine Snow & Ice Skills

This course is designed for climbers who already have basic ice climbing and mountaineering experience and want to develop the technical skills needed to begin tackling alpine snow and ice objectives on their own. It is offered as a one-day skills course, with an optional second day on an alpine route.

Your skills day is spent in terrain where we can focus on instruction, repetition, and experimentation. We’ll work on snow and ice protection and anchors, as well as how to move through increasingly complex terrain and solve problems as they arise. You'll have time to build anchors, test different systems, practice transitions, and work through problems with your guide.

The emphasis is on understanding how and why these systems work.

Skills we may cover, depending on your goals and conditions:

Protection & Anchors
- Ice-screw placement
- V-threads and bollards
- Pickets, ice axes, and buried snow anchors
- Using terrain and natural features for protection
- Building and equalizing snow and ice anchors
- Assessing anchor quality

Movement & Rope Systems
- Efficient movement with crampons and ice tools
- Alpine belay systems and transitions
- Rope management
- Retreat & Problem Solving

Retreating from technical terrain
- Building improvised rappel and retreat anchors
- Decision-making and risk assessment in alpine terrain

Want to see these skills in action? Add an Alpine Climbing Day

Add a second day and head into the mountains with your guide to climb an appropriate alpine snow and ice route. Possible objectives include Mt. Willard, Mt. Webster, or Mt. Washington. Route selection depends on weather, conditions, and ability. Your guide leads and explains their decisions along the way, so you can see how anchors, rope management, and route choices work on a real objective.

Your alpine day meeting time and schedule vary with the objective and will be confirmed with your guide.

Prerequisites
Previous ice climbing and mountaineering experience is required. Participants should be comfortable using crampons and ice tools and should know how to tie into a climbing rope and belay.

Appropriate previous courses, or equivalent, include:
- Intro to Ice Climbing
- Intro to Mountaineering
- Three-Day Basic Mountaineering

What’s Included:
- Ice axe, crampons, helmet & harness
- All rental gear included — even cold-weather clothing if needed
- Small ratios for personalized instruction

What’s Not Included:
- Lunch, snacks & plenty of water (a warm drink in a thermos is great for staying warm)
- Choose high-calorie, easy-to-eat foods to keep energy up throughout the day

Meeting Location & Schedule:
- Meet at 2733 White Mountain Hwy, North Conway, NH
- Arrive by 8:00 AM for gear check, outfitting & guide introductions
- Course runs 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM