Winter learning

by **tehchad** » 10 Sep 2012, 20:05

I've done several, but I am a complete noob when it comes to winter, avy, winter camping, cravasse work, et al.

Those of you who have done any of the above, how did you learn it? I see the Boulder Rock Club has a mountain school in Estes that does this type of training and I lean towards that. Right now, my goal is to climb Denali in the next couple of years. If I find someone here who is capable and willing, awesome! If not, I'd like to be able to contribute to a guided group (RMI or etc).

What are your thoughts?

by **MatB** » 10 Sep 2012, 20:25

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but I am in a similar position. Don't have any ambition to climb Denali but would like to have the knowledge to climb in the winter. As fall comes to a close, my focus will be this spring and learning how to safely climb couloirs. With next summer's focus being on learning more about roped climbing, specifically how to set up rappels as that would open more hiking/climbing options for me (getting down is typically my biggest concern on sketchier terrain).

More throwing this out there in case there are any out there looking to add someone to their crew (who they may have to teach).

Last thing I throw out there is I teach and do not have any teaching buddies with the same passion for the mountains (I hike solo the majority of the time during the summer). So if your in a similar boat, shoot me a pm.

by **rking007** » 10 Sep 2012, 20:36

Hopefully there will be another Winter Welcome on Quandary or some such peak this year. This would be a great way to climb with knowledgeable folks who are also 14ers.com members. Seems like a great way to put your toes in the water, so to speak, and also meet a ton of cool people! As for myself, I've also learned more than a ton of things from browsing these forums and humbly asking questions and listening.

by **pseudoghost** » 10 Sep 2012, 20:43

I'd recommend the CMC. As others have said on this board before, the CMC has a lot of bureaucracy, and it's pretty painful for someone who's already experienced with hiking in the beginning... But they have great classes, and it's a good place to meet fellow mountaineers. Your other option is to pay a lot more to take classes from a mountaineering school. I wouldn't recommend relying on the charity of strangers to learn skills that your life may depend on.

by **Dex** » 10 Sep 2012, 20:57

tehchad wrote:I've done several, but I am a complete noob when it comes to winter, avy, winter camping, cravasse work, et al.

I can tell you that in winter hiking it is the small things that make a difference.

And be prepared to spend some money.

by **TomPierce** » 10 Sep 2012, 21:11

tehchad: As an initial step I'd suggest taking a full-on avalanche course here in Colorado. Why? Think about it: Even if your mountaineering goals are in areas other than Colorado, the bulk of your training will surely be on winter Colorado climbs. And if you take such a course you'll quickly learn that due to geography the avalanche conditions here are among the most dangerous in the US. Assessing avalanche conditions is an essential snow survival skill, and IMO taking either a quicky crash lesson as part of a multi-day mountaineering course, or in another part of the country with much different conditions (eg the PNW) is not giving enough focus to this essential topic.

After that, the CMC (or other vendor) winter camping/high altitude mountaineering courses could be a good start. I know climbing_rob on this site is well skilled in teaching the CMC course.

Just my opinions.

-Tom

by **tehchad** » 10 Sep 2012, 21:22

TomPierce wrote:tehchad: As an initial step I'd suggest taking a full-on avalanche course here in Colorado. Why? Think about it: Even if your mountaineering goals are in areas other than Colorado, the bulk of your training will surely be on winter Colorado climbs. And if you take such a course you'll quickly learn that due to geography the avalanche conditions here are among the most dangerous in the US. Assessing avalanche conditions is an essential snow survival skill, and IMO taking either a quicky crash lesson as part of a multi-day mountaineering course, or in another part of the country with much different conditions (eg the PNW) is not giving enough focus to this essential topic.

After that, the CMC (or other vendor) winter camping/high altitude mountaineering courses could be a good start. I know climbing_rob on this site is well skilled in teaching the CMC course.

Just my opinions.

-Tom

So you would suggest an avy course to begin, then some experience just doing it, and THEN something with CMC. Correct?

I'm considering the Denali prep course from CMC. http://www.totalclimbing.com/page.php?pname=course&course_id=533&category_id=44 I must wait until Dec, but it appears to be comprehensive.

by **d_baker** » 10 Sep 2012, 21:28

tehchad wrote:I'm considering the Denali prep course from CMC. http://www.totalclimbing.com/page.php?pname=course&course_id=533&category_id=44 I must wait until Dec, but it appears to be comprehensive.

That would be CMS (Colorado Mountain School).

CMC is Colorado Mountain Club, which Tom is referring to in regards to climbing_rob.

Good luck finding and choosing a method for gaining the skills to reach your goals!

by **smoove** » 10 Sep 2012, 21:34

I'm considering the Denali prep course from CMC. http://www.totalclimbing.com/page.php?pname=course&course_id=533&category_id=44 I must wait until Dec, but it appears to be comprehensive.

That's actually CMS, not CMC. I have no doubt that's a great course, but it's a whole lot pricier than the CMC. I'd have to double check, but the CMC's HAMS course is probably $150 tops. They're starting HAMS seminars on Oct. 1 at the AMC in Golden, actually. If you're interested, you may just be able to show up at 6:30 at pay $7 at the door. You might have to take BMS before HAMS, though. But I'd recommend BMS anyway. Main drawback to that (if you're not allowed to waive into HAMS) is that you'd have to take BMS next summer and then HAMS in Jan. 2014.

by **climbingaggie03** » 10 Sep 2012, 22:34

I'd say it depends, the way I learned was doing alot of rock climbing, with reading freedom of the hills obsessively and then practicing in non-threatening situations and working my way up from there. I did have friends who were in a pretty similar boat and we all learned winter mountaineering together. It's kind of hard to do crevasse rescue in CO but honestly it's not that complicated. If you can set up the rope systems on flat ground, you can do it on a glacier.

Honestly I think the best thing you can do is get out there! An avy course is a great idea and a guided climb on Ranier or something like that could teach you alot too. RMI also does crevasse rescue classes. It doesn't take too many times of winter camping to figure out the tricks of the trade. I'd also think about learning to ski tour, skis are much better than snow shoes for non technical routes and Skis also make great tent stakes in snow.

by **TomPierce** » 10 Sep 2012, 23:22

To clarify, I think avalanche awareness/avoidance/rescue is such a key skill that compressing it into a module of a larger mountaineering session probably isn't realistic for the recreational climber, ie it'd take a solid 2+ days to cover avalanche stuff alone. I suspect most can't take the time off work for a 8-10 day session to cover everything. If you look at how/why people die in the Colorado winter backcountry, avalanches rank way up there. Get that dialed in, then learn from there.

Another save-your-ass skill for glaciated peaks is crevasse rescue, but IMO the better skill to try and master is crevasse fall avoidance, ie reading a glacier. I'm very far from advanced on the topic, only a novice really, but I've learned a little and believe that that's where to spend your time and money; go to AK or the PNW to learn from experts.

Just my .02.

-Tom

Website · by **Scott P** » 11 Sep 2012, 07:14

We're doing a hut trip on November 30-December 1 if anyone is interested. We'll be climbing Shrine Mountain and Wingle Ridge, which is a good way to practice for winter climbs.

Since we'll be staying at a cabin, you won't need winter camping gear.

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