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Intro
4000m 'Summits & Skills' 2012
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Course
overview
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Course
dates & availability
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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, and altimeters. |
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Dates:
these
are listed in the column on the right, and
they show the live availability from our secure
online booking system. When you book online,
you receive immediate confirmation, your Alpine
Information Booklet, course specific kit list
and invoice. |
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Course Dates
Intro Course
- [5+] 10 - 16 Jun 2012
- [ 1 ] 24 - 30 Jun 2012
- [ 3 ] 8 - 14 Jul 2012
- [5+] 15 - 21 Jul 2012
- [5+] 29 Jul - 4 Aug 2012
- [5+] 12 - 18 Aug 2012
- [5+] 26 Aug - 1 Sep 2012
- [5+] 9 - 15 Sep 2012
- [5+] 16 - 22 Sep 2012
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| Client
feedback |
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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
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A
really rewarding course. The climbs
were great, and taught loads too
Phil
Mason , Alpine Intro
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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
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Brief
Course Itinerary
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Sunday
Travel to Chamonix to arrive for the 17:00 check-in
followed by and course safety and itinerary briefings.
There is time for kit checks or rental of equipment.
Briefings are over by 19:00 and the team accompany
the group to pre-dinner drinks. Many clients opt
to travel out a day or two early to do a two day
acclimatisation weekend course to provide an extra
night in a hut, and to ascend a 3000m peak. Night
in Chamonix. |
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Monday
Alpine
skills, navigation, route planning and snow techniques
day. There are a huge
range of options and skills that can be covered
today including climbing to an Alpine summit via
a steep ground,
practice of hazard awareness, use of
GPS & altimeters, moving on snow and emergency
procedures .
Guiding ratio 1:6 (max).
Evening theory session on the key safety knots and
ropework. Night in Chamonix. |
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Tuesday
Day
to learn and practice 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. This is one of your most important
days of the course in terms of skills development
as it is essential to have good footwork on Mont
Blanc. Guiding ratio 1:6 (max).
Evening session on
Alpine weather prediction and the effects of mountains.
Night in Chamonix. |
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Wednesday
Glacier
travel skills, practicing building snow anchors,
crevasse rescue, and probing for crevasses, spent
on a journey across either the Vallée Blanche,
Pointe Lachenal and the Col du Midi, or the massive
Argentiere glacier basin. The day is essential for
your acclimatisation before Gran Paradiso. Guiding
ratio 1:6 (max).
Evening session on climbers crevasse rescue and
emergency hoist systems. Night
in Chamonix. |
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Thursday
A
morning of rock climbing skills, to learn / practice
belaying safely and how to lead / set up safe anchors
on rock climbs. You
climb either in the Chamonix or Aosta valleys, depending
on where the weather is better. The drive to Pont
below Gran Paradiso takes just over an hour, and
after lunch you trek up to either the Chabod or
Victor Emmanuel hut on Gran Paradiso itself. Guiding
ratio 1:3 (max). Night in mountain hut. |
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Friday
Summit
Gran Paradiso 4061m after an Alpine start from the
high hut, then after you have reached the summit,
you descend to the refuge for lunchtime. After this
you trek back down to the valley in Pont, and make
the return drive to Chamonix. Celebrations
in Chamonix in the evening. Guiding ratio 1:3 (max).
Evening instruction session, then a celebratory
meal, with the final night spent in Chamonix. |
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Saturday
Breakfast
then the accommodation check out is by 10:00. Most
arrange their airport transfers to leave around
this time, to catch a flight from Geneva about midday.
Depart for home. Some
people opt to book a tandem paraglider flight in
the morning to celebrate the weeks efforts, and
prices for this are from 90€ for a c.30 minute
flight. These flights can be booked in resort up
to the day before you wish to fly. Depart for home. |
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| 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 itinerary as a guide to the types
of route / activity you attempt. |
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Course
Photo Gallery
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Why
choose this course?
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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
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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. |
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Course
Prices
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Standard
course
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5
days guiding, 7 days holiday in total |
£799 |
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Premium
course
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7
days guiding, 8 days holiday in total
(Standard course plus Acclimatisation
weekend)
LINK |
£898 |
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Secure
online booking system |
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Course Inclusions: 1) UIMLA guide for 1 day
and IFMGA guide for 4 days, 2) Chamonix course hosts for
logistics & briefings, 3) Evening technical instruction
sessions, 4) B&B accommodation in Chamonix (inc. linen,
bedding & towels) for the whole week, so you don't
need to move out when in huts, 5) One night half board
in mountain hut (inc. costs for guides), 6) Pre course
information booklet, 7) Equipment discount voucher for
UK shops, 8) Free 36 page technical Course Instruction
Booklet, 9) Road transport in Chamonix valley including
tunnel ticket and road transport to / from Gran Paradiso,
10) Icicle discounts privilege card for reductions in
local shops and restaurants in Chamonix. |
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| Exclusions:
1) Travel to and from Chamonix, 2) Equipment hire, 3)
Cable cars & uplift (c. 60 euros depending on itinerary),
4) Personal laundry, telephone calls, lunches, evening
meals in valley, & any purchases in mountain huts
/ hotels / restaurants, 5) Certificate for NNAS navigation
award, 6) Sunday pre-dinner drinks & Friday celebratory
meal & drinks, 7) Activities insurance, & excess
baggage charges. |
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| Upgrade
options |
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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. |
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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. |
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Private
Room Upgrade
£150 (subject
to availability) |
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 for
the nights spent in Chamonix. |
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