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Any suggestions for crevasse rescue training on the West coast 2012 that isn't terribly costly? I'd like to get on Rainier this coming Spring.....blah blah blah.... you get the picture.

Back yard practice works well. You need to know a system, don't have to be lowered into a crevasse to know it.
If you do however, I am sure shasta mountain guides provide it for 800$ or something like that...

I agree it is very doable on your own. However, I enjoyed my 6-day trip with American Alpine Institute on Mount Baker. Looks to be a bit more costly now than when I did it ($1190). Also, I wouldn't book a trip like that in PNW for the timeframe you are looking for... we had shitty weather the whole time. Paying that much you really don't want to deal with conditions.

If you head to Shasta for self-practice and need an addition to your group let me know...

mrchad9 wrote:I agree it is very doable on your own. However, I enjoyed my 6-day trip with American Alpine Institute on Mount Baker. Looks to be a bit more costly now than when I did it ($1190). Also, I wouldn't book a trip like that in PNW for the timeframe you are looking for... we had shitty weather the whole time. Paying that much you really don't want to deal with conditions.

If you head to Shasta for self-practice and need an addition to your group let me know...

I would really like to get some kind of experience before doing Rainier, but I suppose the best advice is "don't fall in." Should I just curl up with Freedom of the Hills and call it good? I have been IN a crevasse before in Patagonia and of course I just ice climbed my way out....duh. Shasta is an 11-hour drive but I'd be happy to play on it with you Mr Chad. Especially Hotlum or Bolam Glaciers!

I would go fully prepared, the crevasses on Rainier are no joke, as big as any I've seen in Alaska. Practice Prusiking up a fixed rope - a tree in the backyard works fine. Read up on Freedom of the Hills and practice placing and testing snow anchors in a variety of configurations and snow conditions. Practice building equalized, Z-haul systems. Any snowy area, even ski resorts work for this. Not a bad idea to practice roped travel including self arrest and placing anchors when under load to simulate a crecasse fall.

I am up for both those routes. Access can be long in winter and through spring, but I'll try anything. Bolam would likely be an easier approach that time of year, but it would be unlikely to find crevasses there open enough to do anything. Just give me a shout sometime if you are interested and plan to climb it.

Otherwise, just for practice, you can do it on any steep snowslope. No crevasses needed. Reading the book should be good enough for someone like you wrt learning how to walk on a rope team. Try to tie some prussiks, and then to practice and you can throw an old rope over a tree limb or over a cliff and try to prussik up. Just a few times is all it takes- and that will confirm they are the correct length.

Setting up crevasse rescue is more complicated, but you can work on that in your yard or in a park, no snow or crevasses needed except when you practice setting up the anchor. Playing around with some of that stuff is some of the things you could do with an extra day on Shasta, even if there weren't any actual crevasses nearby.

I've often noted the 10'+ high hard-packed vertical walls of plowed snow you see at Sno Parks, ski resorts, Lassen, Crane Flat in Yosemite, etc. and thought that it would be an ideal place to practice crevasse rescue. One guy could be at the bottom of the wall and be the victim, and one or more people up top could hold the fall, set up the snow anchor, build the z pulley, reinforce the lip of the "crevasse", haul, etc... Unlike many real crevasses the potential for the victim to get into trouble if the process is botched is limited. Of course, having noticed this I've never done it, and am very rusty in my crevasse rescue skills. If anyone in NoCal would like to set up a practice session some time this winter I'd be game. While at it, it wouldn't hurt to practice some avy rescue skills.

JHH60 wrote:I've often noted the 10'+ high hard-packed vertical walls of plowed snow you see at Sno Parks, ski resorts, Lassen, Crane Flat in Yosemite, etc. and thought that it would be an ideal place to practice crevasse rescue. One guy could be at the bottom of the wall and be the victim, and one or more people up top could hold the fall, set up the snow anchor, build the z pulley, reinforce the lip of the "crevasse", haul, etc... Unlike many real crevasses the potential for the victim to get into trouble if the process is botched is limited. Of course, having noticed this I've never done it, and am very rusty in my crevasse rescue skills. If anyone in NoCal would like to set up a practice session some time this winter I'd be game. While at it, it wouldn't hurt to practice some avy rescue skills.

Oh! That's a cool idea....BUT will there ever be enough snow to plow through to MAKE these walls?!
I'm good with avy skills, took a class in Feb during the worst snow storm in SoCal.

Deb wrote:

JHH60 wrote:I've often noted the 10'+ high hard-packed vertical walls of plowed snow you see at Sno Parks, ski resorts, Lassen, Crane Flat in Yosemite, etc. and thought that it would be an ideal place to practice crevasse rescue. One guy could be at the bottom of the wall and be the victim, and one or more people up top could hold the fall, set up the snow anchor, build the z pulley, reinforce the lip of the "crevasse", haul, etc... Unlike many real crevasses the potential for the victim to get into trouble if the process is botched is limited. Of course, having noticed this I've never done it, and am very rusty in my crevasse rescue skills. If anyone in NoCal would like to set up a practice session some time this winter I'd be game. While at it, it wouldn't hurt to practice some avy rescue skills.

Oh! That's a cool idea....BUT will there ever be enough snow to plow through to MAKE these walls?!
I'm good with avy skills, took a class in Feb during the worst snow storm in SoCal.

This is what we do at Mt. Baker ski area in the spring. Park right next to 15-20 ft. snow banks in the parking area. Practice setting anchors with pickets, z rescue hauling system, self rescue, etc. Also works good for teaching a newbie some skills before taking them up on a mountain. I've also seen folks on Rainier practice crvasse rescue before a summit attempt if they are taking an extra day like at Ingrahm Flats.