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Yo, anyone know of a good course to take? Preferably one that isn't a shit ton of $$$. I was looking on RMI's website and they offer an all day course for $190. Basically I want some good, intensive training on the basics that I can practice on my own later. Any insight would be helpful!

$190 gets you 2 days from Kurt and the folks at SMI (http://www.sierramountaineering.com/snow_anchors.html), but gotta find at least one other peep...

Jbay's Crevasse Rescue Course is dirt cheap. You may get what you pay for though, as I've been told the technique of "throw them in the deep end and let them swim out" isn't as efficient when it comes to more vertical type adventures.



I'm interested in some Ice Climbing personally, so if you come across anything like that in your search, let me know.

I'd at least look into doing it with people who actually do a lot of ski mountaineering, like M. Volken (PGS, North Bend, WA) or H. Schwartz (SMG, Bishop, CA). The RMI, IMG, etc courses will be fine, but geared towards slow, heavy summer mountaineering vs fast & light cutting-edge splitbooting

Jbay, you probably know this, but good roadside ice cragging in June Lake and in Lee Vining Canyon in winter. Good seracing on lower coleman on mt baker and lower nisqually on rainier in late summer...edit...or just go to ourey...

If you have the time. Consider taking Mountaineering 1 and 2 courses at University of Alaska, Juneua, AK. The Mendenhall Glacier and the Juneua Ice field is a excellent place to learn mountaineering skills without the epic-high altitude conditions.

I received top rate instruction for a great price, which included crevasse rescue. Please note, I took these courses a long time ago.

Ride and camp on the Alaska Marine Highway (the ferry) to get to Juneau, AK and save money.

UPGRAYEDD, they actually have crevasse rescue classes geared toward skiers? I was wondering about SMG but I'm leaning toward training on real glaciers so I'm not sure where they could give these classes especially in summer in the Sierra. Shasta guides has a 5 day course but way too long and involves summiting and all that crap. Lol at summiting w/out a board. That's crazy talk! What's PGS stand for? I"ll look into this Volken guy. I don't think I'd mind learning the heavy mountaineering way though. Lol I remember riding my split through crevasse fields in Chamonix 10 years ago with half assed gear and no idea how to use it correctly.

That AK class would be awesome but not gonna happen. I'm saving my money to go up there to shred

I bet there's some good classes in Canuckistan. Can anyone from Rodgers Pass speak on this? My mom lives close so that'd be convenient.

I took a basic course through a local mountaineering club awhile back....it was geared towards general mountaineering and was a good starter, but pretty basic. If I was getting serioius, I would take a course with Volken and Pro Guiding Service. Lots of northwest skiers have good things to say about them and they are legit.

http://www.proguiding.com/

I find removing g-strings from groupies sufficient enough for prusik practice.

Brooks, you really don't need an actual glacier to practice crevasse rescue. It's the same concept as any high angle rescue scenario, the big difference being instead of anchoring with structures, rocks, trees, etc., you need to get creative with burying skis, packs, pickets, or whatever is handy at the time. Using ropes and pulleys is the same, though. I did my course as part of AK Helis guide course, if you are going to heli ski around Haines it's highly recommended that you just do the guide course, not much more than the price of flying for the same amount of days, and you'll learn a lot. In any case, hit me up during the winter when the snow sucks for riding and I'd be down to go over some things, I could use the practice myself.

Damn, RMI's day classes are sold out. Looking into Volken...

Yeah Paul, that guide class sounds legit. I want to get something done this summer though.

There's also Shasta Mountain Guides. Looks like most of the creasse-related courses are several days, though they do have custom trips too.

http://shastaguides.com/seminars/
http://shastaguides.com/custom-trips/

Upgrayedd:

I did know that, but I need a partner. Maybe we should meet up this winter in the loop? Have you seen me railing about June Mt. closure on the Mammoth forums LOL @ me!

BBD:

LOL @ You!

Jimw/BGN: They'll be happy to hook you up with a custom course, and one year they did it for me in their snowboard mountaineering course for the same price as a group course. We didn't do any crevasse rescue though, just self arrest practice with an ice ax, roping up, short roping, etc... I think crevasse rescue is a course all it's own in their curriculum.

I can only imagine the gnarly stuff Brooks is going to get into once he gains these skillz.