Archive:Introduction to mountaineering 2013
Dates
June 8th, 2013
- Instructor's Meeting Time/Location TBD
Mandatory dry school for all participants on June 4 at 6:30 Location Buch A203
General Information
What is Introduction to Mountaineering?
Introduction to Mountaineering (ItM) is a 1-day course intended to teach safe and efficient means of travelling over glaciers, and is designed for beginners to snow and glacier travel. It is expected that you have previous backpacking and camping experience. This course is designed for people who have yet to take Glacier School. However, if you have taken Glacier School and want a refresher, the dry school will be a great opportunity for that. Please refrain from signing up for the trip itself until we've exhausted the possibility of bringing people who haven't taken G1.
Expectations
The point of ItM is to give students enough basic skills that they are not a total liability as a member of a 3 (or more) person glacier rope team, such that more experienced members may feel comfortable trusting their life to them on a rope. For more detailed information check out the info booklet.
The prerequisites for being a student at ItM are minimal: Students must have overnight backpacking experience, a good attitude, and good general fitness. Some rope skills (such as belaying, common climbing knots, etc) are desirable but not absolutely necessary. In order to cram it all into one weekend we will be on the move all day regardless of the weather - please be prepared for that.
Sign up early as group size will be limited to ensure low student/instructor ratio and minimal environmental impact
Instructors for ItM are club members who volunteer their time, and are not professional guides, nor are they certified by any recognized school or association. If you don't feel comfortable taking responsibility for your own life in the context of an informal course facilitated by these VOC instructors, you should take a mountaineering course offered by a professional guiding service.
How much does it cost?
The instructors at ItM are all volunteers, but there are still minor expenses that need to be covered. You will need to pay your driver gas money, which can vary depending on how many people you are in the car and what kind of car it is (See the Driver reimbursement guidelines. If you need to borrow gear from the clubroom a deposit is needed, but this will be returned to you again when you return the gear. Please bring CASH for all expenses (preferably small change). Prusik cords will be available for purchase at the dry school, gas money are paid to your driver on the trip and gear deposit needs to be paid when you pick up your gear either during gear hours or at dryschool.
At the dryschool:
$6 for two prussik cords, unless you already have them. (please specify if you are bringing your own on the signup)
On the trip:
$5-8 typical gas money, negotiated with your driver.
Whenever you pick up your gear
$0-200 deposit for borrowing club gear, depending how much you need, refundable when the gear is returned.
If the club runs out of gear you may need to rent from MEC or elsewhere.
Who do I ask questions to?
Omid Javadi is running this trip. If, after reading the ItM wiki and handout, you can't find an answer to your question you could email him about it - but better yet post on the Intro to Mountaineering message board thread - going nowhere at the moment, then everybody who has the same question can also read it. There's also some useful general information about the club, membership, and how the club works on the Faq, which is worth a read if you're unfamiliar.
You might also want to look at the Glacier School 2011 message board thread as the same questions tend to get repeated year after year.
What Do I Need?
Clothes
- 1 set of non-cotton clothes (the one on your back)
- water proof (or water resistant) pants and jacket (even if the weather is supposed to be good - being dragged through the snow is wet)
- gloves
- boots
- sun hat
- gaiters
Miscellaneous
- Sunscreen
- Headlamp
- lip balm
- sunglasses
- camera
- Toilet Paper
- Toothbrush
- Bearspray (optional - with such a large, probably noisy, group I'd be highly surprised if any self-respecting bear would go anywhere near us)
Gear
- ice axe
- crampons (which fit boots! Bring your boots and crampons to dryschool if you need help)
- climbing harness
- helmet
- prussiks (you can buy these at the dry school)
- 2 locking carabiners (best if one big and one small) and 2 non-locking (or more locking)
- you can bring more junk, if you like. Sometimes it's the most fun to learn with your own gear
- trekking poles, if you like, make hiking easier and are worth the weight
Food
- Lunch and snacks
- Water (ability to carry 2L, unless you know otherwise).
- Water purifier drops (if you're into that)
Pack
And a pack to put it all in.
The VOC has some of the technical gear and will lend it out to students for a minor deposit. See gear list for details. You can borrow gear from the VOC any day during gear hours or after dry school. If there’s not enough VOC rental gear to go around, some borrowing, or renting from MEC will have to fill the voids. Please reserve rental gear early to ensure the gear you need will be available for the weekend.
Locations
Location for ItM is likely going to be at Cypress Resort or Hollyburn Mountain.
Directions
Will update later.
Dry School (Mandatory!)
The dry school is mandatory, so if you don't show up to the dry school, you will lose you spot on the trip and someone on the waitlist will get the chance to learn about glaciers instead of you.