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Topic Date User

Alpine courses? 18-Jan-2007 At 5:59:04 PM AntiPrincess

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Just returned from a really fun alpine climbing holiday in NZ (my 4th!) so thought I'd chime in with some
advice for people who are contemplating their first alpine season.

1. Being aerobically fit is more important than the grade you are climbing. (Walking uphill carrying a pack
is a good form of training)
2. Learn and practise alpine rock techniques (e.g. simul climbing, terrain belays, efficient anchors/
transitions) before you go. Ditto for roping up for glacier travel, crevasse rescue systems, etc.
3. Do some ski touring so you have some idea about a range of snow conditions.
4. Plan to go with climbing partners who you already know, like and trust.
5. Hire a guide and do a course
6. Do some independent (i.e. unguided) alpine climbing straight after your course. Otherwise you'll forget
everything you've learnt by the next season and you're throwing money away. At the end of your course,
your guide will have plenty of good suggestions about what you are ready (and perhaps not ready) to try
on your own.
7. Join NZAC.

I did quite a bit of independent alpine climbing after doing a course in my first season, but between my
first and second seasons there was a gap of 3 years. So I hired a guide 1-1 (Stuart Hollaway) to help me
brush up my skills, and to give me the chance to climb some significantly steeper and more technical
routes than anything I had done so far. This turned out to be a brilliant idea - as well as being awesome
fun it was a big boost to my skills and confidence. The second time around you've done all the basics so
can spend a lot more time actually climbing. Having someone very experienced explain all their decisions
(about route selection, anchor selection, weather etc.) in real time is something you can't get from a book,
and Stu was also careful to point out how I might approach things differently when climbing in an amateur
party rather than a guided situation. Straight afterwards I went climbing with my housemate and
consolidated everything I'd just learned.

Looking back at those first 2 seasons, I think they were a pretty much ideal mountain apprenticeship...