Ice Climbing Instruction Day (West Coast)

Before heading to the ice you will be equipped with specialized mountaineering boots, crampons, ice axes and technical gear. Guides who instruct on these days receive special training to ensure that they teach skills in the correct order so that you advance quickly. You will be impressed by the quick progress that you can make. The maximum instructor to pupil ratio is 1:4 ensuring that you receive close personal attention. There are many steep walls to challenge you and you will quickly master basic cramponing and ice axe techniques. The adrenaline will start to flow as you challenge yourself with longer and steeper pitches. Using ice tools and the front points of your crampons, you climb vertical and, at times, overhanging ice walls and pinnacles. The airy moves required seem quite terrifying initially but there is no danger, as at all times you are secured by a top rope attached to your harness.