New to the forum so this is my first post.

I'm interested in climbing mountains like Mt. Adams, Mt. Baker, M. Hood, Mt. Shuskan, St.Helens, and non-technical summits, maybe even a few in Alaska one day

I'd like to be able to have the skills to lead a small group of friends (totally for fun, not commercially) with similar experience level. For whatever reason the notion of exposed rock climbing is unnerving to me while i've always imagined ascending something like denali. ..only smaller and much less crowded


Those are all popular peaks I know and I mention then because I'd like to do mountains like those but possibly with fewer people and a more pristine setting.

Do you have any suggestions on what training or program I should pursue? I found a few from what looks like a respected outfit:


http://www.alpineinstitute.com/catalog/ ... aineering/

http://www.alpineinstitute.com/catalog/ ... p,-part-1/

I've done my share of backpacking and easy mountain climbing (as in class 1\2) as well as snowboarding so I'm not entirely jumping off the couch here.

I'm not a thrill seeker...(engineer by trade) so being cautious is my nature nor am I a spring chicken being er, into my fourth decade. I enjoy hiking and would like to have access to climbs and scenery that is outside of my current skill level safely and still having fun.


Thank you

AAI courses are solid. Either of those would be great, if you can afford more training all the better.

Thank you for the reply!

If either of these are sufficient to be prepared and make these climbs with a friend then I would try the 6 day course.

Taking a 6 day course with a friend who you'd like as a climbing partner is a good idea. You'll be honest with experience levels, and from that you can slowly build up a healthy resume of experiences.

with what your goals are, you may want to include other mountains more internationally, like in Equador, trekking peaks in Nepal, Europe, Africa...., There are plenty of mountains in the world that are ungodly beautiful, technical in the sense, you need glacier travel, and self-arrest skills, but non-technical in the sense that you aren't on vertical ice or rock.

enjoy