Denali Skills
Workshop
AMS HQ in Talkeetna
1 day
2-8 students : 2 instructors
$450 (price per person with 2-8 students)
AMS also offers two-day skill intensive workshops for climbers currently enrolled in an AMS expedition. For the Denali expedition, the workshop reviews glacier travel techniques and crevasse rescue safety systems specific to climbing in the Alaska Range. There are a lot of different ways to rig for glacier travel and several different ways to ascend out of a crevasse. This workshop is an excellent review of rigging for glacier travel and ascending out of a crevasse, great for all expedition members and strongly recommended for anyone who is just feeling rusty or who has never climbed in the Alaska Range before.
Because the Alaska Range is our specialty, we at AMS have developed techniques specifically for this terrain, often adapting them from season to season based on past, and growing, Alaska Range experience. The Denali skills-intensive starts with checking, issuing, and packing and rigging climbing gear and packs. In the AMS climbing gym we model techniques of crevasse rescue. After practicing fixed line ascension, we spread out onto the lawn to review anchoring, belaying, and roping up for glacier travel. We simulate belaying each other out of a perimeter camp and traveling on a glacier in proper formation. Rescue scenarios involving the middle and end person falling into a crevasse will be conducted using 3- and 4-person rope teams.
The Denali Skills Workshops are scheduled to take place the day before each of our Denali Expeditions, and custom workshops can be arranged for other climbs or expeditions.
Workshop
AMS HQ in Talkeetna
1 day
2-8 students : 2 instructors
$450 (price per person with 2-8 students)
Schedule
Custom dates: March – June
Contact us about custom options for your Denali Skills Workshop.
What's Included
- professional instruction
- group climbing equipment
Workshop
AMS HQ in Talkeetna
1 day
2-8 students : 2 instructors
$450 (price per person with 2-8 students)
After checking, issuing, and packing climbing gear, we move across the street to AMS’s climbing gym where we simulate climbing out of a crevasse. After fixed-line ascension, we review anchoring, belaying, and roping up for glacier travel. We then simulate belaying each other out of a perimeter camp and traveling on a glacier in proper formation. Finally, we conduct rescue scenarios using 3- and 4-person rope teams. This workshop can significantly reduce the amount of time spent reviewing skills in base camp at the beginning of the expedition.
This workshop features are:
- Personal and group equipment review
- Glacier mountaineering ground school: knots, rope work, belaying
- Raising systems and fixed-line ascension
- Crevasse rescue scenarios
- Roping up for glacier travel, the AMS way
- Glacier camping concerns
Features
- Personal and group equipment review
- Glacier mountaineering ground school: knots, rope work, belaying.
- Raising systems and fixed-line ascension
- Crevasse rescue scenarios
- Roping up for glacier travel, the AMS way
- Glacier camping concerns
Workshop
AMS HQ in Talkeetna
1 day
2-8 students : 2 instructors
$450 (price per person with 2-8 students)
The Denali Skills workshops are available to those currently enrolled in an AMS expedition. You can help prepare for the workshop by reading Glacier Mountaineering: The Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue by Mike Clelland and Andy Tyson, published by Climbing Magazine. This is available at bookstores or by calling AMS. Much of the information in the book is from the AMS glacier travel and crevasse rescue protocol.
Workshop
AMS HQ in Talkeetna
1 day
2-8 students : 2 instructors
$450 (price per person with 2-8 students)
The climbers who take this skills workshop in Talkeetna before climbing onto the glacier are dialed in. While we teach these skills in the field, when our climbers take this workshop as a pre-review, it really makes a difference.—AMS guide, Larry Holmgren
Excellent service from the first call I made to the end of the course. Great instructors: patient, knowledgeable and personable.—Carl Donohue
