Snow and Glacier Mountaineering Basics

  Snow and Glacier Mountaineering Basics – May 10th & 12th

Instructor: Ash Campbell assisted by Rick Light
(B-I/E-M) Are you doing Mt. Rainier this summer, or bagging a Colorado Fourteener next winter, or just wondering how or why mountaineers do what they do?  This class will give you a basic overview of how to safely navigate in the very-dangerous areas of big western mountains:  steep snow, avalanches, and glaciers.   It will include an evening indoors and a Saturday outdoors.  Class size will be limited to 9 students, so early registration is suggested.
The evening session will be a discussion that’s structured around photographs taken in the Rockies, Cascades and Coast Range of British Columbia, that cover concepts and details about: 

• how glaciers and avalanches move, 
• route planning, 
• risk assessment, 
• efficient gear configurations, 
• roped travel, 
• self-arrest, 
• team belays and 
• crevasse rescue.  

Detailed glacier-climbing guidelines prepared by the presenter should be downloaded and read by each participant prior to this session.  An email with the link to this file will be sent out upon your registration.  The Saturday outdoor class will be an all-day practice on a steep, hard-packed snow slope (probably at the Santa Fe Ski Basin) that’s appropriate for self-belay and self-arrest and been “prepared” to learn crevasse travel and rescue.  It will be a fun and full day of learning.
The instructor for this course is Ash Campbell, who has been leading treks to climb glaciated peaks in the Northwest for some 20years.  He's fun to be with, a great teacher, and you will learn a lot just spending time with him.
To register for this course send an email to lamclimbingschool@gmail.com informing us of your intent to register, and click here for information on payment (cost is $40).  Your place in the course is not assured until we receive your payment.  Registrants will receive email info on time/place/details of the course.