Are mountaineering courses worth the money?
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Thanks for any responses! |
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I can't speak to the short 3 day course, but a few years ago I took the Alpine Ascents 13 Day Cascades course. 100% worth it. There were only 2 of us in the course, so it was tailored exactly to our needs/abilites/desires. Our guide was Pat Timson - upon checking in to the office I remember an employee said "you guys got lucky; this guys a legend." I believe he was correct and had the utmost faith and confidence in him. All downtime was spent training & learning. |
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I think the classes are a good thing. I live in Mn and didn't have any friends with mountaineering exp. to learn from so I took a 6 day seminar with rmi and loved it. I already had technical climbing experience and 4 season backpacking experience but I still found the course very useful. I read FOTH prior and tons of forums but in the field guidance was great. |
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If he's in the Northeast, maybe look into the Adirondack Mountain Club's Winter Mountaineering School |
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Where are you located? |
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Rich, |
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The gear list for overnight trips is extensive, but the day-hike list is much more manageable. Double boots are required for any backpacking trips: if it gets warm (wet) you need to be able to dry your liners overnight. Day-hikers only need single boots. |
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Fox Mountain Guides has a 3-day mountaineering course in NH. It's more expensive than both of the options listed, but run by professional guides. They also head up Mt. Washington. I've had great experiences with them -- though it's been a few years. I think you can tack on an ice climbing course if there's room. Or, screw it, just ice climb the whole time instead. |
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Registration for 2016 is ending soon - program starts in a little over 2 weeks. If you want in and have trouble registering, PM me and I'll see what I can do. |
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I just looked at the IMCS course. Looks pretty cool, too, and similar to FMG. FMG includes lodging. |
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Good eye, Chicken, I lived in NY until this last Spring. WMS is just so much damn fun I'm flying up for it this year. It'll help me realign my psyche after having a 70F Christmas :-\ |
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My climbing partners and myself did Mt. Baker with Mt. Baker Mountain Guides and have nothing but awesome things to say about them. Ahead of time we told John we want to climb but were mainly interested in learning skills for future big mountains like Rainier, Denali, and such. Several days with those guides taught us more than I realized we didn't know. Completely worth the investment. |
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chickencheese wrote: But I grew up around mountains/camping and all this stuff is 2nd nature to me.Just because someone grew up around mountains doesn't mean they have learned proper technique. I'm speaking in general term, not about you, specifically. chickencheese wrote: I don't know if recommending against the class is unwise.I think dissuading someone from getting professional instruction is unwise, unless you feel adequately knowledgeable and capable of instructing him yourself. |
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I've done a beginner 4 day course. 2-3 years later I did an advanced mountaineering course. |
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chickencheese wrote: I'd much rather have $700 in gear than a low key weekend learning how to dress myself, boil water or strap on cramp ons, but can anyone else offer a different perspective?Funny how people will spend tons of money and gear and never spend any money on learning how to use it. The class you described sounds superbasic, but then again your friend's skill level sounds pretty low. A class would be a good way to jump start that. Also look for a local mountaineering club, you can usually get education there way cheaper than any guide service (do a little research since quality can vary there), but the other nice thing is he will get to meet lots of other potential partners in crime. |
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chickencheese wrote:Rich, Thanks for the reply, we are in the northeast and he's planning on taking the class with IMCS in North Conway. I was researching lower cost options and found the ADK Course which I was going to recommend to him until I saw the gear list.. Are there any local relatively low cost options for renting some of it?You are in N. Conway - doesn't IME have a consignment shop? Ought to be able to get some good stuff cheap there. |
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I'd say he should go ahead and do a course, and rent the gear he needs for it. There's always the potential he finds out that mountaineering is not for him, and that's a very small investment to make, rather than buying all the gear needed. |
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Winter Class is the good one, recommended. |