Alpine Rock Climbing Course (4 days)

GALLERY

DETAILS

Washington has some of the most spectacular alpine routes anywhere. Rock climbing combined with steep sections of snow or ice and glacier travel make for the perfect training ground for the Greater Ranges. This four-day course will allow students to not only climb a beautiful alpine rock route, but will also teach the basics of traditional (trad) climbing as applied on alpine ridges, faces, and towers. This course is the ideal first-step if you hope to tackle grade four or grade five alpine routes, and can include sleeping on a bivi ledge high on a technical ridge. Typical course areas include North Cascades National Park, the Index Town Walls, and Snoqualmie Pass. Previous outdoor rock climbing experience and excellent fitness is required. Previous exposure to traditional (trad) climbing very helpful. Outdoor rock climbing experience can be gained on our Intro to Outdoor Rock Climbing trip or our Trad Climbing Course. Students who have previously completed our Trad Lead Climbing Course or have equivocal experience may be able to lead portions of the routes we climb.

Skills Covered:

Packing for alpine routes requiring on-route bivies
Backcountry Navigation
Reading a Route Topo
Methods of traveling through 3rd and 4th-class terrain
Introduction to alpine rock and snow anchors
Rope systems for 5th-class rock in an alpine environment
Rope Management at a Multi-pitch Belay
Attaching to a Multi-pitch Anchor
Multi-pitch Communication
Lead Belaying
Removing and Racking Protection
Racking Extension and Cordallette
Crack Climbing Technique
Efficient Climbing Movement
Deconstructing Anchors
Rappelling and Lowering
Route Finding in Vertical Terrain
Wilderness Camping
Leave-No-Trace Ethics

We will have a logistics meeting and gear check at least three days before your trip is scheduled to depart.

Duration

4 Days 3 Nights Camping

Passport

Not Required for Americans

Minimum Age

16 years old

Activity

Rock Climbing and Instruction

Accommodation

Tents

PRICE BASIS

PRICE INCLUDES

Stoves/Cook Kits
Tents
Group climbing equipment
Guide Services
Pre-trip Planning/Information session on packing and gear
Backpacking, rock climbing, and general outdoor safety skills

PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE

Transportation (We will help arrange carpools)
Parking or entry fees
Meals/Snacks/Drinks
Gratuities for Guides

ITINERARY

Day 1:

After meeting at a convenient Park & Ride we carpool to a rock climbing area where we can practice multi-pitch techniques on trad routes. This could be in Index, Exit 38, or Vantage depending on student ability and weather. We learn communication, rope skills, and how to use traditional protection before spending the rest of the day climbing a variety of traditionally protected (trad) routes and focusing on efficiency and quality of movement. In the evening we head to camp to relax and learn how to read climbing topos (climbing maps).

Day 2:

We continue our training today, moving-on to multi-pitch climbing. Students will manage belays, provide a lead belay to instructors, deconstruct anchors, remove protection, rack protection, and set-up the next belay after climbing each pitch. After climbing one or several multi-pitch routes students will practice rappelling or lowering down routes from anchor to anchor. At the end of the day we will either camp near the rock climbing site where we have been doing our training, or drive closer to a trailhead for our alpine climb.

Day 3:

Today we hike into our first alpine objective. Depending on the distance to and difficulty of the objective(s) we choose, we may have one or two alpine climbing objectives over the course of today and tomorrow. Instructors will communicate the plan to students ahead of time. We will camp in the mountains tonight under a star filled sky and rest for the climbing tomorrow.

Day 4:

Our final day of the course, and a grand finale. We climb a classic alpine rock route, descend the route, return to camp, and hike back to the trailhead. This will be a long, tiring, and rewarding day in the mountains. Generally we stop for a celebratory meal on our drive homeward.

FAQs

General FAQ's

Testimonials

If you are interested in doing any climbing or hiking but need a guide , I highly recommend Miyar Adventures...Sandeep is a wonderful person and you will actually learn (and practice ) climbing and crevasse rescue techniques in addition to the trip/climb ...it is definitely beyond a just a "get you to the summit" experience. He genuinely cares and brings in other excellent guides for bigger groups. My husband and I recently successfully made it to the summit of Mount Baker with Sandeep, two other guides and a group of friends and we had a fantastic experience. He and the guides he works with are very knowledgeable so I had confidence in their abilities to lead us but they are also very friendly and fun so that overall trip was enjoyable. I will definitely climb with Miyar Adventures again!
Monica Henry
What an awesome experience to go on climbing Mt. Rainier with Miyar Adventures. Sandeep and his team of guides ( Kirk, Alexis, Joe, Ben, Chris, Jasmin ) did an awesome job to lead the multiple rope teams trough snow skill preparations and guiding through safely on glacier journey. The amount of efforts put into multi-month preparation, pre-trip meetings, accessibility to gears for rent and attention to details with food/weight/personal gears were all instrumental in almost all of us (in a group of 24) able to summit Mt. Rainier and have wonderful memories. We knew we were in best company and safe hands with prior experience with Miyar Adventures led climb to Mt. Baker and few other preparation trips. And guides calibrated their approach from novice climbers to experienced climbers to push enough to have an enjoyable experience. I highly recommend to go with Miyar Adventures on amazing trips they have lined up around the Puget Sound Area and internationally.
Harshit Shah
Sandeep is possibly the best person (Miyar and guides) in the business to take you on the mountains. Anyone who has trained with him to summit Rainier over the years can tell you how much he cares about his peeps. Talk to him and he can always find a way to make it happen. I have been trying to climb Rainier for few years with personal constraints (need to be always available, can return anytime, 24*7 sat phone access etc) and many times I had to return mid climb from big ones like Baker and Rainier. It was really easy to talk to the guides about this situation. I never once felt unsafe on the mountains. This is a big deal given how much we learnt when it comes to snow skills and glacier training. Be safe and go with Miyar!
Vivek Garg