The Sierra Nevada is a complex mountain range, and its variety of rock faces, rock ridges, small glaciers, and high summits make it an excellent training ground on which to acquire the skills of general mountaineering. In this introductory course, we take advantage of all that the Sierra has to offer, practicing on a wide variety of terrain in order to create an excellent foundation for climbing skills that you can effectively and safely apply in a big-mountain environment.

A climber on the Swiss Arete of Mount Sill in the Palisade region of the Eastern Sierra.

Our ultimate goal is to help you become so well skilled that after this course you will be able to go on your own mountaineering trips with assurance and a high level of safety. We are therefore very complete in our coverage of fundamental skills, rather than emphasizing a single area, and by the end of these five days of training and climbing, you should be very comfortable in the high mountain environment.

This program covers technical skills, Leave No Trace (LNT) ethics and procedures, hazard assessment, and the development of good mountain judgment. Because our goal is to make you qualified to climb moderate routes on high alpine peaks and because they can offer such varied conditions, we train in the skills for rock, snow, and ice-climbing. Starting in a comfortable practice area we demonstrate and then apply each of the skills, and we include extensive practice climbing with a top rope and rappelling. We also put emphasis on understanding protective systems, and each day we spend time working on knots, belaying fellow climbers, learning about different forms of protection, and establishing anchors.

We give thorough attention to the broader skills that are essential for a safe and successful mountaineering trip. We look at issues of route finding and assessment (both in terms of individual pitches and in the broader context of valley and mountain systems), and we devote time to the effective use of map, compass, and altimeter in route finding. We discuss mountain weather and the hazards of rock fall and ice fall, and we learn how to observe and analyze conditions and how they can affect our route choices. With this training, you should emerge from this program qualified to climb as a solid rope team member on significant alpine routes of moderate difficulty.

Climbing Skills

• selection and use of personal equipment
• selection and use of ropes, knots, and harnesses
• selection and use of technical gear for rock, snow, and ice climbing
• belaying techniques on rock, snow, and ice
• rappelling
• free climbing techniques on low and high angle snow and rock
• self-arrest
• the concept and application of the self-belay

General Knowledge

• Leave No Trace travel, camping, and climbing
• an introduction to alpine ecology
• map and compass; reading, intersection, and triangulation
• evaluation and prediction of mountain weather patterns
• introduction to avalanche hazard evaluation
• introduction to first aid, altitude illness, and evacuation of injured climbers
• application of belaying and free climbing techniques to multi-pitch ascents

A climber in the North Couloir of North Peak in the Eastern Sierra. Photo by Justin Wood