Previous Mountaineering Training
If you are signing up to an an Ian Taylor Trekking trip, we want you, your team mates and our staff to be as safe as possible. We require everyone comes to our International trips with basic mountaineering training. This training needs to be specific and our courses are designed for beginners and advanced climbers preparing for altitude climbs around the world. Each weekend is designed with you in mind, tailoring the weekend with specific training requirements. See below for further information.
Be Prepared for Your Chosen Adventure
We believe Winter skills training is critical for your safety and the safety of everyone around you. We want our teams to be professional, safe and successful. So we demand that you understand the basic skills needed for your chosen adventure. We also want you to understand the physicality of operating in a high stress, low oxygen environment. That is why we run these courses in Colorado.
What Will You be Learning
These courses will focus on safety. Here are the skills you will be focusing on while in Colorado. You can then take them home and work on those skills in your local climbing wall or outdoor rocking climbing area.
1). Basic climbing knots
2). Moving as a roped team
3). Rappelling using a figure of 8
4). Ascending with Jumars
5). Transitions over anchors
6). Belaying
7). Moving over rock
8). Top roping
Putting Your Skills into Action
We also want to put all the above skills into practice so on the second day of this mountaineering course you will be Multi pitch climbing and this will be managed on a 2:1 client to guide ratio.You will review all climbing knots, belaying and rappelling. It is really important to get to grips with moving between fixed lines using safety lines and rappelling using a figure of 8.
What You Need to Bring With you
You can rent harness, climbing shoes, helmet, belay/rappel device and Jumar. We encouraged you to bring your own equipment. You will need to bring two liters of water, food/snacks, midsize (30/35 liter or so) backpack, sneakers/lightweight hiking boots, clothes for weather from hot to cold, sunscreen, sunglasses. We will provide a detailed kit list on signing up.
We will work with you making sure you are fully prepared for your next adventure and you will be given information and further training and preparation you will need to make. Our goal is to help you becoming more confident and self sufficient in your mountaineering ability. Learn about rope work, using an Ice axe, scrambling, knots, Jumar, rappelling on a figure of 8, moving on snow, mountaineering techniques and physical preparation.