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Intro 4000m 'Summits & Skills' 2010
Climbing Skill
Fitness & Stamina
Icicle groups on Pointe Lachenal
Course overview

Client feedback

Your first trip to the Alps is your most important and most rewarding, as you begin your Alpine climbing career, and learn safety skills that you will use for the rest of your life in the mountains.
To join our Alpine Intro course you need no previous experience of climbing or mountaineering. This course is suitable for keen hill walkers, indoor wall climbers, or ramblers, to introduce you to the key technical aspects necessary for mountaineering.
A key feature of the Intro course is that you attempt a 4000m peak, such as Gran Paradiso, at the end of the week. This involves a day ascending to a mountain hut for the night, and an Alpine start the next morning to ascend the peak. A great experience, and this will confirm how much you have already learned during the week.

Alpine Introduction courses focus on the skills that you will require for ascents on Alpine rock, ice and snow; including ropework, glacier travel, navigation, crampon & ice axe use, avalanche prediction, and equipment selection.

I must admit that I was a bit scared about my first trip to the Alps, but the Icicle hosts and Guides really looked after us, and we were supported loads, especially during our ascent of our first 4000m Alpine peak
Lara Glenn , Alpine Intro 2009
A really rewarding course. The climbs were great, and taught loads too
Phil Mason , Alpine Intro 2009
Thank you so much for a brilliant week. We learnt more than we thought there was to know, which is down to the professionalism of the guides, & the great set up you have in Chamonix
Peter & Sue Thomas, Alpine Intro '08
Even if you have had no previous contact with ropes, or any experience of ice or rock climbing, by the end of the week you will have climbed vertical pitches of ice, led a rock route and climbed an Alpine 4000m mountain.
A principal feature of this course are the evening theory sessions, where you learn the background theory, so that the daylight hours are optimised for your climbing time. You can read more about these instruction sessions, which cover ropework, Alpine weather, avalanches, and crevasse rescue, by clicking here.
You will also stay in a mountain hut and and should gain your National Navigation Award Scheme (NNAS, www.nnas.org.uk) Bronze or Silver level award through learning advanced use of the map and compass, as well as altimeters and GPS.
Dates: 13 - 19 June 2010, 27 June - 3 July 2010, 11 - 17 July 2010, 18 - 24 July 2010, 1 - 7 August 2010, 8 - 14 August 2010, 15 - 21 August 2010, 29 August - 4 September 2010, 12 - 18 September 2010, 19 - 25 September 2010. For current availability on this course click here.
The course at a glance...
Week long course, run during summer. Price £799pp, includes accommodation.
• The focus of the week is to introduce you to rock, ice and snow climbing in the Alps.
Top tip... consider this course if you want to learn and have no climbing experience.
You could also consider week long... Alpine Autonomy or Mont Blanc Summit.

Course Films & Photos


Here's the clients view (literally) thanks to a short film of the training climbs and then ascent of Gran Paradiso 4061m, shot by Adriaan in the summer of 2009. You can also see images in the course photo gallery below.

Brief Course Itinerary

Sun Travel to Chamonix to arrive for the 18:00 check-in followed by and course safety and itinerary briefings. There is time for kit checks or rental of equipment. Briefings are over by 20:00 and the Chamonix hosts accompany the group to pre-dinner drinks to answer any queries. Night in Chamonix.
Mon Alpine skills, navigation, route planning and snow techniques day. Climb an Alpine summit via a steep ground, practice hazard awareness, use of GPS & altimeters. Guiding ratio 1:6 (max). Night in Chamonix.
Tue Day to learn using crampons and ice axes on the Mer de Glace glacier (2000m). You also climb vertical ice, create ice anchors, and learn glacier travel skills. Guiding ratio 1:6 (max). Night in Chamonix.
Wed Glacier travel skills, practicing building snow anchors, crevasse rescue, and probing for crevasses, spent on a journey across the massive Argentiere glacier basin. Guiding ratio 1:6 (max). Night in Chamonix.
Thu A morning of rock climbing skills, to learn / practice belaying safely and how to lead / set up safe anchors on rock climbs. After lunch you go to the hut for Paradiso. Guiding ratio 1:3 (max). Night in mountain hut.
Fri Summit Gran Paradiso 4061m from an Alpine start from the high hut, then descend and return drive to Chamonix. Celebrations in Chamonix in the evening. Guiding ratio 1:3 (max). Night in Chamonix.
Sat Breakfast, then course debrief, with feedback and questions and answers session. Depart for home.
ITINERARY NOTES: Where possible we follow itineraries. Mountain adventures are weather and conditions dependant, so occasionaly we are forced to alter the plans. If this is the case, suitable alternatives are offered. Please use this outline itinerary as a guide to the types of route / activity that you will attempt.
Course Photo Gallery

Why choose this course?

This course is genuinely one of our favourites to run, as those booking on it are declaring that they want to learn as much as they can, and are seeking to kick start their Alpine career by getting the key skills and knowledge, before they attempt some of the bigger and harder routes. This is a great attitude with which to begin Alpine climbing, and is a very sensible approach if for example you have never worn crampons before.

Alpine skills & knowledge test

Try to answer the questions below, and see how much you already know. The answers are beneath. After you complete one of our Alpine Intro courses, you should be able to answer all these questions, and much more with the greatest of ease.

Q1. What is the minimum length rope two climbers should take for a wet glacier crossing?

ANSWER: They should take a 30m rope, as a wet glacier is snow covered, so crevasses could be hidden. Each climber should tie on the end of the rope and take in chest coild until 10 to 12 metres are tied off between them.

Q2. What is a foehn wind, and how is it generated?

ANSWER: A foehn wind is caused by the enforced uplift of an airmass over a mountain, and as it cools with altitude the humity condenses and precipitation falls. On the descent the drier air mass is rapidy compressed and warms quickly. The net effect is that the air reaches the same altitude on the far side of the mountain drier and warmer than on the uplift side.

Q3. How can you retreat from a multi-pitch ice / glacier climb without leaving any ice screws behind?

ANSWER: By constructing Abalakov belay systems, which are two inter-connecting holes drilled into the ice, using ice screws, through which some abseil tat is threaded and tied off.

Q4. How do you tell a left and right crampon apart?

ANSWER: The buckles / strap attachments are always on the outside of the crampon, to reduce the snagging / trip hazard. Also looking a the crampons from above, a left boot crampon bends to the right, and vice-versa.

Course Prices

Standard course
5 days guiding, 7 days holiday in total £799
Premium course
7 days guiding, 8 days holiday in total
(Standard course plus Acclimatisation weekend)
LINK
£898
Secure online booking system
Standard Course Inclusions: 1) UIMLA guide for 1 day and IFMGA guide for four days, 2) Chamonix course hosts for logistics & briefings, 3) B&B accommodation in Chamonix (inc. beddings & towels), 4) One night half board in mountain hut (inc. costs for guides), 5) Pre course information booklet, 6) Equipment discount voucher for UK shops, 7) Free 36 page technical Course Instruction Booklet, 8) Road transport in Chamonix valley including tunnel ticket and road transport to / from Gran Paradiso, 9) Cable cars & uplift as specified in detailed itinerary (Monday to Friday), worth up to 60 euros, 10) Evening technical instruction.
Exclusions: 1) Travel to and from Chamonix, 2) Equipment hire, 3) Personal laundry, telephone calls, lunches, evening meals in valley, & any purchases in mountain huts / hotels / restaurants, 4) Certificate for NNAS navigation award, 5) Activities insurance, & excess baggage charges.
Upgrade options
Acclimatisation Weekend
£99 (throughout the season)
To get the most out your course, acclimatisation is essential so that you minimise the chances of AMS (altitude sickness) later on during your course, details.
Half Board Upgrade
£99 (throughout the season)
For every night that you are in town, you eat in a different restaurant in the centre of Chamonix. Always three courses, to power you for the next day.
Private Room Upgrade
£120
(7-27 June & 6-26 Sept)
£150 (28 June - 5 Sept)
The course accommodation is usually in rooms of two sharing. Two people booking / sending forms together are guaranteed a room of two sharing. This upgrade guarantees you a private room on your own for your course.