Good afternoon all,

I am planning on signing up for a glacier/crevice travel course sometime next year to learn the necessary skills to be safe when venturing out to the mountains. Any of you have recommendations of schools or companies that put these together? Location does not matter - I live in Texas so I would have to travel no matter where the course is held. Input as well as reviews, good/bad experiences, cost of class, student/instructor ratio, is more than welcomed.

Cheers!

FC

American Alpine Institute, Pro Ski and Guiding, Chris Simmons Mt Guide, Kurt Hicks Mt Guide, Mountain Madness, Alpine Ascents International. All offer courses in the Washington Cascades which is the only real choice for the contiguous US.

@Sunny Buns

Thank for that info!I'm actually almost done with FOTH and Into This Air is next on my book shelf. I'll definitely take a look at the other suggestions as well. They seem like good resources, especially Accidents in North American Mountaineering (hod not heard of that one before).

@ExcitableBoy

Have you taken part in any of their courses? I think I've seen a few of them before and most seem to cover the same topics (most difference I've seen is in instructor/student ratio and cost).

This book is fun to read and is well written and informative. It was recommended to me as a refresher by another SPer.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Glacier_Mountaineering.html?id=lGeadHgrMBQC

I can second EB's recommendation of American Alpine Institute and of Chris Simmons. I've done a couple of courses with AAI and they are very professional. I did some private water ice climbing instruction from Chris when he was in California and he's a good guide/instructor.

If you're traveling all the way to the Northwest to take a course (which, as EB notes, is the best place in the continental US to do it), then you might as well add in some alpine ice climbing instruction. I did a six day Alpine Ice class with AAI on Mt. Baker and you spend several days on crevasse rescue, glacier travel, and alpine ice climbing techniques, with a summit attempt on the North Ridge thrown in as a graduation exercise. It's a really good hands-on class in a beautiful location.

JHH60 wrote:This book is fun to read and is well written and informative. It was recommended to me as a refresher by another SPer.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Glacier_Mountaineering.html?id=lGeadHgrMBQC

Ditto. Awesome illustrations, fun to read. FOTH is a good reference book but covers way beyond glacier travel (I have no desire to do any big wall climbing .

Even with a class, still find a way to practice as much as you can at home. You don't need snow to setup a z-pulley while a buddy pulls on the rope to simulate dangling in a crevasse . A year ago I could have rigged a rescue blindfolded. I could probably clunk thru it now, but nothing I'd trust to save one of my partners. That's why I say even with a class, you'll need something to train with to get the muscle memory going before each trip.

brrrdog wrote:

JHH60 wrote:This book is fun to read and is well written and informative. It was recommended to me as a refresher by another SPer.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Glacier_Mountaineering.html?id=lGeadHgrMBQC

Ditto. Awesome illustrations, fun to read. FOTH is a good reference book but covers way beyond glacier travel (I have no desire to do any big wall climbing .

Even with a class, still find a way to practice as much as you can at home. You don't need snow to setup a z-pulley while a buddy pulls on the rope to simulate dangling in a crevasse . A year ago I could have rigged a rescue blindfolded. I could probably clunk thru it now, but nothing I'd trust to save one of my partners. That's why I say even with a class, you'll need something to train with to get the muscle memory going before each trip.

That's actually what I do in my living room! Every time I see a new pulley system or a new way to tie stuff, I grab some ropes and rig up my living room (wife doesn't appreciate it at time ). I might have to postpone the class to a later date, unless I find something similar in CA (maybe around Whitney or Shasta) but I've been constantly reading different books, forums, and SAR reports.

There's a list of climbing schools in the US and Canada right here on SummitPost.

http://www.summitpost.org/climbing-schools-us-canada/285489