Winter Mountaineering & Advanced Crevasse Rescue - Foothills - 2022

Climbing Course

Winter Mountaineering & Advanced Crevasse Rescue

COURSE IS FULL. This course prepares students to plan trips as well as introduce the fundamentals of climbing in the winter as well as advanced glacier travel/rescue skills

REGISTRATION TIME FRAMES:

Application is now closed

Course is full and has a waitlist. We are no longer taking application or requests to register.

Application Submissions: October 01 - October 08 

Application results published: No Later Than November 1

Cancellation : Refund minus $10 by 2nd Session (January 8). No refunds on or after this date.

The Foothills Climbing Committee is committed to building and fostering a representative climbing community that reflects the spaces in which we live and recreate. We recognize that outdoor recreation has historically excluded communities of color, women, and LGBTQ people. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other underrepresented communities. 

WELCOME TO WINTER MOUNTAINEERING & ADVANCED CREVASSE rESCUE (WCR)!

This course teaches both the technical and non-technical skills needed to comfortably plan and lead climbs in the winter and on glaciers.

Through evening sessions at the program center and days in the field, students will practice good climbing technique, perfect self and team arrests, learn to place protection in snow and ice, manage moderately-steep snow slopes (up 55 deg), build and equalize anchors, construct advanced haul systems for crevasse rescue, set up group camps, and more!  Lectures will also cover trip planning, including route selection, in-the-field evaluation, a navigation refresher, and how to write a practical trip plan.

The course is composed of multiple sessions broken into 3 disciplines

Winter Mountaineering

  • 1 lecture
  • 1 winter conditioner
  • 1 winter overnight - snow travel techniques and a required overnight in a snow trench/cave
  • 1 winter summit attempt

Intermediate Glacier Travel

  • 1 lecture
  • 1 late spring summit attempt
  • 1 early summer student-led climb

Advanced Crevasse Rescue

  • Team Rescue - 1 weeknight practice, 2 weekend day field trips
  • Solo Rescue - 2 weeknight practices, 1 weekend day practice

Please see below for course dates: only one offering of each lecture or field trip will be offered

This course assumes competency in the following

  • basic knots and hitches
  • crevasse self-extrication (ascending a rope)
  • rappelling
  • basic crevasse rescue (Z-Pulley)
  • basic snow/glacier travel (roped/unroped travel, rope management, navigation) 

Note: we have had more applications than available spots in the course (6). Competitive applicants generally have at least 5 attempts of a glaciated peak and a history of volunteering. We also prefer students that have gone through the Foothills Basic Climbing Course or are involved with the Foothills Branch.

Graduation Requirements

 

  • Attend the Basic Instructor Review 
  • Successfully completed a Level 1 AIARE course prior to attending the Winter Overnight Skills session in January.
  • Satisfactory complete all course lectures, assignments, field trips, and climbs
  • Volunteer  3 days with the Basic Course, two of which must be instructional field trips (Fundamentals, Snow 1, Snow 2, etc). Rope leading on a  basic glacier climb counts as 1 volunteer day

COVID-19

The Foothills Climbing Courses require frequent in-person training indoors and outdoors. All students and instructors must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the beginning of the course. If you are accepted into the course, you will be asked to provide your State Issued identification and vaccination card prior to being allowed to register. Additionally, all participants (Instructors and Students) will be required to keep up to date with current public head guidelines vis-a-vis COVID vaccines and boosters, exposure for quarantine, etc from the Mountaineers, King County, State of Washington, and Center for Disease Control

Course Requirements

This course has no scheduled activities.

Roster
Required Equipment

TBD

Course Materials

You must register for this course to see course materials.