Mountaineers

[matt_warfield]

And regarding Si, ask your insructor if they can do it in less than an hour from TH to the base of the wall. Fitness and not garb reigns. I did a speed hike of Mt. Pugh with my shirt off and in shorts and it was 38 deg. at the top. To each their own.

[CaleHoopes]

Honestly, I think when it comes to mountaineering there are so many things involved that you can't just devolve it down to conditioning and fitness. To be a valuable player on a team one needs technical skills and soft skills in addition to fitness. This is especially true as a leader. Also, Si in less than an hour is pretty impressive - but I've never done that myself and had a lot of success in the mountains. I think I once did it in 1:45 with a 55lb pack on the old trail. I think you can climb mountains with fitness that doesn't require running. However, 3 hours with a 20 lb pack and Rainier on the calendar in a month or less? It might be a tough climb.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

And regarding Si, ask your insructor if they can do it in less than an hour from TH to the base of the wall. Fitness and not garb reigns. I did a speed hike of Mt. Pugh with my shirt off and in shorts and it was 38 deg. at the top. To each their own.

 

[tvashtarkatena]

And regarding Si, ask your insructor if they can do it in less than an hour from TH to the base of the wall. Fitness and not garb reigns. I did a speed hike of Mt. Pugh with my shirt off and in shorts and it was 38 deg. at the top. To each their own.

 

A puffy would certainly have been redundant.

 

Good instruction comes in all kinds of forms and packages. There are a lot of slow old fogues who have a thing or two to teach, particularly regarding the value of humility and the ability to understand that such a broad sport values a wide variety of skills and attributes, not just your VO2 Max.

 

The best way to learn the most as a student is to STFU, listen, then ask questions relating to the material being presented, not test whether or not your instructor is worthy of your hyper-valuable time. Those who can't grok this are better of avoiding classes altogether: that way the rest of the students don't have to waste their time watching you cock fight with the prof.

[selkirk]

To continue the theme from a parallel thread, one trip with an experienced guide or equivalent will be more valuable than many trips bumbling about with people that think the "ten essentials" are more important than the three essentials of knowledge, judgment, and fitness.

 

Spoken like someone who believes the gossip. 8D

 

If you have some climbing background Basic is a bit slow and redundant, but if you're really starting from scratch it's a good starting point. Certainly keep an open mind.

Also a good way to link up with lots of folks of similar ability.

 

Many, many, many folks start with the Mountaineers get the training they are after and then go off and do their own thing.

[CaleHoopes]

So true: "The best way to learn the most as a student is to STFU, listen, then ask questions relating to the material being presented, not test whether or not your instructor is worthy of your hyper-valuable time."

 

I totally believe this - I never approach a student as his question is stupid or anything... also I never approach an instructor as if he owes me anything. I want to glean as much knowledge as possible. If I learned something a different way, I really usually want to know why the instructors way might be better/worse/etc. That way later on I can make a judgment on what is subjective and what is more absolute.

[tvashtarkatena]

It's called being considerate of both the instructor (who, if a Mountie, is volunteering their time) and of your fellow students.

 

 

[ChuckC]

To me the biggest problem with the basic climbing class is that it trashes your ski season. I did some work with guides and took the equivalency evaluation. Done. More importantly, I got a lot of skiing in.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

To me the biggest problem with the basic climbing class is that it trashes your ski season.

 

Inbounds or BC? 'Cos the class only involves 3 Saturdays prior to most resorts being done for the season (April 15 or so).

 

[christophbenells]

I've never understood why the ten essentials never included shoes.

 

 

you gotta have a backpack to put all your stuff in too.

[JRJ]

Speaking as a soon to be graduating Mountie Basic, I made the decision to do the Basic climbing cirriculum after a couple of great sessions with AMGA/IFMGA guides. I knew the Mounties approach was going to be a bit pedantic, but wanted the "fill-ins" that are hard to get in a couple of days, so the Mounties fit the bill for me. The cirriculum is "modernizing," so while we still carry an obscene amount of crevasse rescue gear, at least this year I didn't have to buy a bunch of oval beaners ;-)

 

I also found out as ChuckC points out that "it screwed up my ski season," cost me 5 days in the the BC in my winter prime time. What I didn't count on, but have certainly benefitted from, are the friendships that have resulted from the experience.

 

YMMV, worked for me. Not sure whether I'll do Intermediate yet, but if the long range ENSO WX forecasts hold, it might be a nice distraction from waiting for the snow to come.

[matt_warfield]

 

 

I don't want everybody to get the wrong idea. I appreciate different strokes for different folks, but I will reiterate that the focus of the Mounties is on low end rock, snow, and moderate alpine. Good for them and you if that's what you like.

 

For those aspiring for more, climbing with someone who climbs 5.13 or V12 or M whatever is inspiring and probably will not happen through the Mounties.

 

And occasionally or let's just say often something will happen that overwhelms your training or experience.

 

It depends on your goal. Your teachers and mentors and partners should be selected accordingly.

 

And I will reiterate that fitness, knowledge, and judgment will trump the 10 essentials most of the time.

Edited October 7, 2012 by matt_warfield

[Johnsmith625]

I think you will hear many things, positive and negative.

You could do worse than the mountaineers. You could also do better.

All depends on how much you put into it for either option.