Alpine Rock Climbing Course
The Alpine Rock Climbing Course provides experienced climbers the opportunity to sharpen existing skills and learn new ones in a challenging and remote glaciated environment.
The focus is on preparing students to climb and commit to more challenging, technical routes in the Alaska Range. The course breaks camp and moves to new locations to explore and climb in a variety of terrain.
You will come away with an experience on how to pursue alpine rock climbing in a remote glaciated environment.
Schedule
June 19 – 26, 2026
What's Included
- Professional alpine rock climbing instructor
- Roundtrip glacier flight
- All food during your course
- All group camping equipment such as tents and stoves and shovels
- All group climbing equipment such as ropes and anchors
- All emergency first aid, communication, and repair equipment
This 8-Day itinerary is packed with activities. Your instructors teach wilderness, leadership, and technical climbing skills in a progression that develops competent and self-reliant climbers. By course end, you will have learned to identify and manage hazards and have increased your technical knowledge in all aspects of alpine climbing in a glaciated environment.
Day 1, 8:00am:
Meet at AMS for course orientation and overview of the day. Check equipment and issue gear. Pack lunches. Calculate weights. This is a busy day, so please be on time. 12:00 pm: Lunch provided at AMS. Lasagna and salad. 1:00 pm: Practice fixed line ascension at AMS. 3:30 pm: Load van. 3-minute drive to the airport. Organize loads for fixed-wing flights. 4:00 pm: Fly onto the glacier. Reorganize loads for glacier travel, travel a short distance and establish camp: probe and wand the perimeter, build walls, make sleeping platforms, set up group kitchen, establish the bathroom. 5:30 pm: Make group dinner on the glacier. Classes: Site selection, tent spacing, shovel and snow saw use, wall building, tent pitching, hygiene and sanitation, group kitchen basics, stove use and care, cooking basics, bomb proofing the camp, and staying warm at night. Evening discussion: Goals and Expectations, Expedition Behavior, Leadership.
Day 2: Climbing skills review.
Self-arrest. Crevasse rescue. Roped glacier travel. Scouting tour.
Day 3: Move Day.
Camp is broken down and moved to a rock climbing location. Practice movement skills on rock, protection placement, lead climbing techniques, top roping, and rappelling. Evening discussion: Grading and Difficulty Ratings, Climbing Style and Ethics.
Day 4: Climbing Day.
Classes on belaying off anchor plaquette style, belay transitions, and single and double rope lead climbing techniques. Evening discussion: Fall Factors and Material Strength.
Day 5: Rescue Day.
Practice freeing the brake hand, escaping the belay, reaching a fallen climber, passing a knot, short roping, and improvised litters. Evening discussion: Planning for Climbing Day.
Day 6: Climbing Day
Day 7: Climbing Day
Day 8: Pack up camp.
Student-led rope teams head back to the airstrip. Fly back to Talkeetna. Clean up and de-issue gear, write evaluations, and finish logistics. Group dinner at a local restaurant
Experience level:
This is an intermediate-level course. Applicants should have two years of roped climbing experience and be comfortable following up to 5.8 rock climbing difficulty. Applicants should be comfortable tent camping, climbing in exposed remote locations, be familiar with belaying, building anchors, and rappelling. If you do not have these skills, you can join our 12 day Mountaineering Course to prepare and build your core mountain skills.
Fitness:
You need to be fit and lead an active lifestyle. You will need the stamina for all-day adventures: 8-10 hours out of camp, breaking trail and climbing. When we move camp, be prepared to carry a 50 lb. backpack while pulling a 50 lb. sled.
I love that while AMS can boast expert guides, it is not a “guide service,” but truly lives up to its name as a mountaineering school, genuinely committed to what we can learn in the mountains about climbing and about ourselves. — Jana Loeb
You guys were all great. Your company really has a family feel to it… you really put the competition to shame. My last climb was with another (highly regarded) company, and trust me, there is no comparison. Hands down you guys were superior. Keep doing what you are doing. When I climb Denali in a year, you guys will get my call… I have you on speed dial.
— Tony RoblesAll of the AMS guides and staff were amazing! Our guides were fun, positive, patient, and had a passion for teaching and mountaineering. The staff was easy to reach by phone and always quick to email, and they were fun and extremely friendly. In summary, I highly recommend a course through AMS! Specifically, I recommend the 12-day course for the most opportunity to see the varying conditions of the glacier.
—Joe Romeo
