ALPINE ROCK COURSE
This course will teach you the skills to take on complex rock terrain in the alpine on your own. We will start with leading traditional (trad) routes and build to multi pitch routes and managing alpine terrain. This is a great course for someone who already has the steep snow and glacier experience and wants to expand on the skills needed for climbing peaks that involve rock in the Cascades. Alternatively, if you see yourself sticking to alpine routes that don’t involve steep snow or glaciers this course is for you.
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Course is taught by an AMGA Certified Rock Guide.
Course length
6 Days
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Locations we offer this course
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Washington - The first 4 days will be in Index, the second two will be a final objective in Snoqualmie, Darrington, Mountain Loop Highway, or Twin Sisters.
2024 Course Dates
Private Course Availability: April through September 2024
Group Course Dates:
June 17 - 22
July 24 - 29
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Don't see a date in a location you are looking for? Reach out to us about setting up a private course on your preferred date.​​​
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Prerequisite
Must have experience sport leading and lead belaying. Should be able to lead 5.8 sport routes outside. If you don’t meet this prerequisite, talk to us about taking a sport climbing course with us. Contact us if you have any questions about whether or not this is the right course for you.
Course Ratio
Max 3 students per guide
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Cost
$1595 per person
We need at least 2 participants to run this course at group rates.
SKILLS YOU WILL LEARN
Appropriate gear selection
Traditional gear placement
Anchor building and evaluation using traditional gear
Anchor building and evaluation using natural anchors or terrain features
Leading techniques for trad climbing
Route finding and topos
Efficient anchor building and evaluation for multi pitch climbing with traditional gear or terrain features
Methods to belaying a follower
Efficient trad multi pitch transitions
Efficient rope management
Efficient a multi pitch rappel transitions
Route finding and topos
Student leadership on short multi-pitch trad routes
Crack climbing technique
How to manage scrambling and low fifth class terrain
Fundamental multipitch self rescue (ascending, hauling, lowers)
COURSE ITINERARY
DAY 1 (INDEX)
We will meet up in the morning to do paperwork and introductions. We will start the day with knot review then dive into gear placement and anchor building. We will spend the rest of the morning practicing placing trad gear and building anchors. We will spend the afternoon talking about techniques for leading trad climbs. There is free camping nearby the climbing area. If folks are looking for more peace and quite we would recommend the Beckler Creek Campground about 20 min up the road.
DAY 2 (INDEX)
We will start the day with more leading practice. We will talk about cleaning anchors, rappelling and basic single pitch rescue techniques.
DAY 3 (INDEX)
This is the day we will dive deep into multi pitch theory. We will talk about belays, anchors and transitions. We will likely utilize one of the via ferratas at Index to practice systems.
DAY 4 (INDEX OR DARRINGTON)
Most of the day will be spent practicing systems by climbing moderate short multi pitch routes. It is likely we will stay in Index, but have the possibility to climb something in the Darrington area.
DAYS 5 AND 6 (SNOQUALMIE PASS, DARRINGTON, TWIN SISTERS)
We will spend the final two days of the course practicing all of our new skills by climbing a couple moderate alpine rock routes. Objectives could be in Snoqualmie Pass, Darrington, the Mountain Loop Highway, or the Twin Sisters. Some examples of final objectives include
South Face, The Tooth, Snoqualmie Pass
East Face, Chair Peak, Snoqualmie Pass
Ragged Edges, Vesper Peak, Mountain Loop Highway
Blueberry Buttress, Exfoliation Dome, Darrington
Green Creek Arete, Twin Sisters
WHAT'S INCLUDED
