Advanced Mountaineering

The Advanced Mountaineering Course is a 4day program. The itinerary is somewhat flexible and will vary depending on weather, conditions and course location. To maximize your learning, this course will either be based at a remote mountain hut or a backcountry camp. The proximity of the mountain environment will provide with many learning opportunities for the students. Below is a sample itinerary:

Pre-trip meeting; 7:00 PM in town (2 hours)

• Welcome, introduction, goals, agenda & waivers.
• Review of planed itinerary and current conditions
• Issue of required gear and session on packing strategy

Day 1: Drive, hike in & set up camp

After an early start, we will drive to the trail head and hike into the backcountry location selected for the course. Once the camp is established, we will spend the remainder of the day reviewing and learning skills like movement on snow & ice, rope management, advanced navigation & route planing, hazard management & leadership. When ever possible, the instructor will give participant the opportunity to practice leadership skills

Day 2: Skills Review Day

Day 2 focus is to review, standardize and integrate some of the advanced mountaineering skills and techniques. Some of the topics covered in this section include advanced snow and glacier travel, ice climbing as well as advanced crevasse rescue. We will also continue building on yesterday’s skills.

Day 3 to 5: More Skills and Peak Ascents

The focus on these last 3 days is to ascend various peaks and routes while continuing to work on various mountaineering skills and give ample leadership opportunities to participants. Topics covered in this section include: ascent & descent progression in mixed alpine terrain, improvised snow/rock & ice anchors and alpine rock climbing skills.

Participant will be responsible for choosing some of the objectives and the skills they are interested on expanding on. On the last day, we will try and accomplish one last peak ascent before hiking out and returning to civilization. The exact return time is flexible and depends on participant goals and needs

Varied outdoor rock climbing experience with comfort climbing 5.8, experience with rope management and previous rock climbing course (intro to advanced) is useful. Previous mountaineering experience or participation in an introduction to mountaineering course is required.  Excellent physical fitness and ability to carry heavy pack on rocky terrain, snow and off trails.

Complete_Mountaineering-equipment-list

This course is available in the Selkirk mountains, the Canadian Rockies, the Coast mountains, and the European Alps.

Some of the areas we often visit on the Nelson courses include; Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, Valhalla Provincial Parks & Goat range Provincial Park in the Selkirk mountains, The MacBeth Icefields, the Horseshoe Glacier and Starbird Pass near Glacier creek in the Purcell mountains.

Due to the higher elevations, proximity to dominant winds and weather conditions, mountain weather is difficult to predict. It is most often worse than the weather in the surrounding valleys and can change quickly as it is really hard to predict for more than 24hrs ahead.

In summer you expect temperatures to be from 10 C to 28C in the day while overnight temperature can drop dramatically in the high alpine, even below zero. Temperatures are much colder at higher elevations, even in the summer. It is not uncommon to have overnight freezing temperatures in the alpine, outside a mountain hut or near a back country camp.

It is always an interesting challenge to know exactly what you are going to get, therefore is important to be flexible with timing and not too attached to a particular goal or objective. Be prepared by bringing all required items, this ensure you will be dressed for all variations as temperatures, wind, precipitation.

• Pre-course planning support
• Fully certified IFMGA and/or ACMG Alpine Guide or Mountain Guide services
• 20 years of experience in the area
• Alternative plan based on current conditions
• Rope use & all technical equipment
• hut costs
• wilderness permits for national parks
• Park permits and Liability Insurance
• Emergency response plan
• Group safety equipment

Services NOT included:

• 5% gst tax
• dinners & breakfast meals on trip, available for $45/night
• technical gear including ice axe, crampons, helmet, harness, prussix cords, carabiners *SMG rentals $30 day
• personal clothing, overnight equipment, mountaineering boots *see equipment list for more details
• personal lunch & snacks
• travel to meeting location and accommodation prior to field portion trip
• transport to trailhead
• gratuities
• trip interruption, cancellation insurance or medical insurance
• additional costs incurred if changes made to itinerary due to weather

How experienced do I need to be?

Varied outdoor rock climbing experience with comfort climbing 5.8, experience with rope management and previous rock climbing course (intro to advanced) is useful. Previous mountaineering experience or participation in an introduction to mountaineering course is required.  Excellent physical fitness and ability to carry heavy pack on rocky terrain, snow and off trails.

Is it safe?

On all our courses, SMG provides you with fully certified IFMGA/ACMG Mountain, alpine and rock guides. This guaranties you the highest safety standards in the industry. Mountaineering remains hazardous and while it is impossible to eliminate all the hazards, our guides will maximize your experience and greatly minimize the risks involved.

Can I rent some of the equipment needed during the programs?

On this program we offer participants access to all the technical equipment at no extra charge. This includes; harnesses, helmets, belay device, carabineers, ice axes, crampons and much more. Contact us for specific sizes and availability.

Where can I rent/buy climbing & outdoor equipment?

Here are a few outdoor stores in Nelson that supply good service and quality outdoor equipment and gear rental, please ensure you rent gear well in advance.

Rivers Oceans and Mountains 354-2056 www.roamshop.com
Valhalla Pure Outfitters 354-1006 www.vpo.ca