Alpine Skills: Snow & Ice
CRAG’s 4 day Snow & Ice Alpine Skills Course is the perfect way to kick start your mountaineering career! This challenging course will be run with a small group of just 4 keen participants and one guide. The small group size allows all team members to learn skills that are most relevant to their goals & abilities. Everyone will have lots of opportunities to participate in the decision making, route finding, leading and all the other steps required to safely climb mountains! During the course there will be two alpine ascent days on beautiful glaciated peaks!
Below is some more information about the course but if you have any questions please contact us any time at info@cdnalpine.com
DATES 2025
- June 9-12th (4 spots left)
- June 30-July 3rd (4 spots left)
- See Alpine Skills Course: Rock for Aug/Sep course options.
COST: $1195 + GST
Max Group Size: 4
Prerequisites: Good fitness, off-trail backpacking or scrambling experience, self-sufficient camping skills, and completion of a Glacier Travel Course or similar experience. See below for more details about the prerequisites for this challenging course.
Meeting Place & Time: Columbia Icefields Tent Campground at 8:00am the first day.
Book your spot: Please contact us at info@cdnalpine.com for a registration package. A non-refundable deposit of $450 is required to book your spot with the remainder due 6 weeks prior to the start of the course. Reading and completing a Waiver form is required to participate in all courses or trips. A copy of the Waiver will be provided to you before booking and can also be downloaded here: CRAG Waiver Form. Before booking you must acknowledge that you have read & agree to the Waiver form.
Skills Covered
There are many possible topics and we pride ourselves on having small enough group sizes to customize the instruction to meet the needs of all participants. The main goal of the course is to help participants become self-sufficient in a variety of snow, ice, and glacier mountaineering terrain. Some of the specific topics covered will include:
- Glacier travel
- Snow & ice climbing
- Anchor building & belaying on snow, ice & rock
- Rapelling snow, ice and rock
- Intro to mixed climbing skills
- Route finding
- Ropework skills for mountaineering
- Weather & avalanche basics
- Conditions forecasting & assessment
- Navigation skills
- Light & fast techniques
- Gear selection
- Resources & ways to continue learning
Agenda
Weather, conditions and skill levels may affect the order of activities and climbing objectives chosen. In particular there are many other peaks we may attempt depending on conditions at the time. However, here is a typical outline for the week:
Day 1 – Glacier travel & snow/ice climbing skills at the Columbia Icefields. Building on the skills from the Glacier Travel Course, participants will have chance to practice ice climbing, ice anchors for belaying & rappelling, navigation, multipitch rope systems and more!
Day 2 – Alpine climb day! We will attempt an alpine peak involving glacier travel and other challenging terrain! This will be a long day with a pre-dawn start, usually around 3:00am. Current snow conditions and weather will help us decide which peak is best but the spectacular Mt. A2 will be the most likely choice!
Day 3 – Alpine rock skills. The day will be spent at a rock climbing area where we will learn the basics of rock protection, anchor building, and ropework in alpine terrain. We will also practice climbing rock terrain with boots & crampons, a common mountaineering scenario! In the afternoon we will prepare for another big climb the next day.
Day 4 – Alpine climb day number 2! On the final day we will put many of the new skills into practice as we ascend another glaciated peak on the Columbia or Wapta Icefields. During the ascent the goal is to give all participants lots of opportunities to lead & make decisions under the supervision of the guide. This will be a great way to to build the confidence for attempting these types of mountains independently! After a course debrief we will say our goodbye’s and head home for some well deserved rest!
Prerequisites
- Fitness: The Alpine Skills Course is a very physically demanding trip in the mountains with not a lot of time for rest. Therefore, the biggest prerequisite is good physical fitness & endurance! You don’t need to be an Olympic athlete but you must be able to complete long days on your feet while carrying a pack in very rugged terrain. The longest days may include up to 25km of distance and 1500m of elevation gain. This course would be hard to enjoy if it is way beyond your fitness level or if you get bad blisters the first day! If you are unsure about your abilities please contact us at any time.
- Outdoor Experience: All participants must have basic hiking, camping and general outdoors skills. You need to be comfortable being self-sufficient with all the camping & such so that we can focus our energy on the climbing.
- Scrambling Experience: All participants must have hiked or scrambled at least a couple of mountains so that you have an idea of what is involved fitness-wise for mountaineering in the Rockies. Small peaks such as Ha Ling or East End of Rundle are just fine but be aware that the peaks we attempt during the course will be much longer and more demanding! If you haven’t done any scrambling but are confident in your fitness & abilities feel free to get in touch.
- Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue: All participants must have basic glacier travel & crevasse rescue skills including experience with crampons. A 2 day Glacier Travel Course is scheduled immediately prior to the Alpine Skills Course for those without previous experience. Most participants combine the two courses for an awesome 6 days in the mountains!
- Climbing Experience: No previous technical climbing experience of any sort is required. However, if you do have some climbing skills the small group size will allow plenty of opportunities to improve & learn new techniques!
