Aspiring Guides aim is to delight and empower you with the skills we have developed in our own climbing experience/careers so that your climbing future is enjoyable and safe. 

Steep Alpine Ice

Do you spend 11 months of the year sitting behind the office desk fantasizing about 300m long ribbons of squeaky white alpine ice?

This course is an opportunity to develop an all encompassing approach to the sharper end of mountaineering which has been tried and tested by the best of NZ’s steep alpine ice climbers, the likes of Nick Cradock, Phil Penney, Murray Ball, Marty Beare– to name a few.

This eight day advanced course is designed to make safe proficient leaders of course participants on - especially upon, steep ice and mixed terrain. The course is based from Pioneer Hut because of the close proximity of some of NZ’s best steep alpine ice and mixed routes. The emphasis of this course is on expanding and re-developing the following essential skills:

		leading and placing protection on steep ice and mixed terrain
		self-rescue techniques
		efficient belay and rope management techniques
		route selection & navigation skills including GPS
		backcountry avalanche skills for the climber
		crevasse rescue and glacier travel techniques
		rappelled descents of steep ice
		snow, ice and rock anchor systems principles
		emergency shelters and planned bivouacs
		comprehensive mountain movement techniques

Click here to see photos of these courses

*The course price includes; qualified guide/instructor, permit fees, air access, all trip related meals and energy foods, hut fees, technical equipment, instruction manual. Additional costs are for technical rental equipment. There is an additional cost to fly out of approx. NZ$150-$250 per person.

Should only one person book for this course, the course will at the client's option be shortened to a 4 day Private Instruction 1:1 and will include a flight in and all the same inclusions as the 8 day 1:3 course.