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Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership - Part 1
Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership, Part 1
Curriculum & Structure
AMTL Part 1 - Comprehensive Skills & Intro to Leadership
In this first 12-day program, we help you develop a very complete set of alpine climbing skills for rock, snow, and ice, from the basics on up, and as we progress through each set of skills, we will provide you with a lot of enjoyable practice climbing so you can master each technique. You will learn route finding and hazard assessment skills as well as self-rescue. Through the course you will make a series of classic alpine ascents on rock routes and on major glaciers, and you and your fellow team members will lead the final climb as you apply all the climbing and leadership skills learned during the program.
Climbing steep snow on the N. Ridge of Mt. Baker. Jason Martin
We place as much emphasis on good mountain judgment as we do on the development of technical skills, and throughout this course we'll be helping you observe and analyze climbing routes, terrain features, and hazards so that by the end of the program you will have developed the ability to lead a small team safely through a rugged and complex environment and rope teams on basic and intermediate alpine routes. The climbs we make typically include four or five of the following: Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, Glacier Peak, Cutthroat Peak, South Early Winter Spire, Liberty Bell, and Silver Star. Join this course for excellent skills development, diverse and beautiful alpine climbing experience, and preparation for leading your own alpine climbing teams.
Curriculum Highlights
Alpine Travel & Climbing Skills
- Selection & use of personal equipment as well as ropes, knots, & harnesses
- Design concepts, selection, & use of technical equipment for rock, snow, & ice climbing
- The uses of map, compass, altimeter, and GPS
- Principles of glacier travel & route finding
- Belaying techniques on rock, snow, & ice
- The concept and application of the self-belay
- Self-arrest from all positions
- Free climbing technique on rock, snow, & ice
- French, German, and American cramponing techniques
- Interrelationship, choice between, & application of all principal ice axe positions
- Rappelling & prusiking
- Glissading for speed & ease of descent
Objective Hazards Evaluation & Self-Rescue Skills
- Evaluation & prediction of mountain weather patterns
- Introduction to the assessment of natural hazards
- Individual & team crevasse rescue techniques
Leadership Skills
- Technical & personal functions of individuals in the rope team; role and responsibility
- Problem solving: gathering appropriate data & assessment techniques
- Evolving leadership roles: individual leadership vs. collective decision making
Environmental Protection Skills
- An introduction to alpine ecology
- Leave No Trace travel, camping, & climbing skills