Actually "knowledge, judgement, and fitness" are given much more emphasis in the Mountaineers climbing courses than the "10 essentials".
I almost got kicked out of the navigation field trip during one of those November monsoons that goes on for 5 or 6 days because I didn't bring sunscreen.
edit: it was still a pretty good class for the money, though
yeah, but that's more general than a "climbing course" and the demographics and experience of the people teaching that are different than say those teaching "winter and mixed climbing"
Fair enough.
Two memorable moments from my basic class are when an instructor on the Mt. Si "conditioning" trip reprimanded an older gentleman she ran into randomly on the Mt. Si trail for wearing jeans. "COTTON KILLS, SIR!"
followed by the time they tried to make me wear my helmet in the parking lot as we grouped up for the first day of rock 2.
I remember it being pretty cheap. Like, $250? And MOFA *definitely* wasn't taught by EMTs, although that may be a new thing? I didn't enjoy the experience, but it was a great deal for the money and it's a great way to learn a lot in a short time, especially if you're not into the "self-learning" thing -- as long as you get out an go on non-mountie trips ASAP.
My $0.02