Glacier School
Glacier School is an instructional trip for learning the basics of general mountaineering. The trip takes place over a weekend in early september.
2005
What is Glacier School? Glacier School is a 2-day (weekend) course intended to teach safe and efficient means of travelling over glaciers. Instruction is designed for beginners to snow and glacier travel.
Who can take the course? Since we will be focussing on teaching glacier skills, it is expected that all students have some experience in backpacking and camping. If you’ve never touched snow or ice before but are into trying something new, this course is for you.
When is it? The course itself will be on the weekend of the 17th and 18th of September. We will leave Vancouver very early on Saturday morning and return in the late evening on Sunday. There will also be a MANDATORY DRY SCHOOL.
Where will it be held? Mt. Baker (Easton Glacier). 3+ hour drive SE of Vancouver.
Just about everything except the instruction is your own responsibility, so that includes gear, insurances, passports, and rides. There will be a mandatory dry school on Sept 14th to sort out these issues and more.
Expectations
Students should expect to learn the following skills:
- Knots for mountaineering
- Travelling over snow and ice with crampons
- Self Arrest
- Snow and ice anchors
- Crevasse resuce
- Belaying techniques for mountaineering
The prerequisites for being a student at glacier school are minimal. Students must have overnight backpacking experience. Some rope skills (such as belaying, common climbing knots, etc) are desireable but not absolutely necessary.
Instructors for glacier school are club members who volunteer their time, and are not professional guides. If you don't feel comfortable taking responsibility for your own life in the context of an informal course advised by VOC instructors, you should take a mountaineering course offered by a professional guiding service.
Gear List
Individual Gear
The following is a list of equipment that every student must have.
Glacier travel
- ice axe (general mountaineering type)
- helmet
- harness (best if leg loops are fully adjustable)
- 3 locking carabiners
- Belay device (optional)
- prussik cords - one each of 5mm x 1.5m and 5mm x 2.5m are suggested
- crampons
- hiking or mountaineering boots appropriate for use on snow and with crampons
- sunglasses
- gaiters
- clothing to deal with cold, wind, rain and snow, including sliding bodily on wet snow
Note: If you need the mountaineering equipment, remember that the VOC Gearroom is limited in its gear. Get the MEC's mountaineering gear rental package if you are able to obtain VOC gear. Visit www.mec.ca and search for "rental." Please plan ahead.
Do not leave town without having fit and practiced securing EACH crampon on its respective boot. For a strap-on crampon, the fit should be close enough that the crampon hangs onto the boot even before you have done up the straps.
Overnight
- Sleeping bag
- Sleeping pad
- personal toiletries
- a group with tent, stove, pots, etc
- headlamp
Team Gear
Each team will need the following equipment. Your instructor can probably supply most of this stuff
- climbing rope 8.5mm+
- snow pickets
- anchor slings
- ice screws
- pulley
History
11th-12th September 2004
Glacier School was held at the Anniversary Glacier near Joffre Lakes. In inclement weather coniditions, most people stayed in Keith's Hut. There are only a handful of decent camping spots nearby the hut. This would have been a problem had the weather not been so bad that there were no members of the public wanting to use the hut. Despite dry conditions on the glacier, there were good snow patches below the SE face of Joffre.
September 2003
Glacier school was held at the Easton Glacier on Mount Baker
September 2002
Galcier school was held at the Coleman Glacier on Mount Baker for the third consecutive year. We were fined by the US National Forest rangers for having a group larger than 12 people.
September 2001
Held at Coleman Glacier.
September 2000
Held at Coleman Glacier.
September 1999
Held at the Anniversary Glacier. We camped at the glacial lake formed by the terminal morain, out of sight of Keith's Hut. Since the winter had seen record breaking snowfall, the glacier was still in "spring" conditions. I am not sure how good of a venue this would have been otherwise (where to self arrest when all you have is ice?).