Sunday Skill-builders: Glacier travel and crevasse rescue

Activity Notes

• Sunday Skill-builders: Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue
• Date: Sunday June 23
• Registration opens: May 23
• Note morning session: 9:00 am sharp - 12:00 noon
• Note location: South end of Normandale Park, NE Portland. 5550 NE Hassalo St. Portland. Intersection, NE 55th and NE Hassalo.
• Mazamas members $35, non-members $45
• Recommended experience: Familiarity with basic climbing knots and friction hitches. (Minimum experience level of Mazamas BCEP class is highly recommended.)

The Sunday Skill Builders happen on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, usually from 6 to 9 PM. The second Sunday is usually for more beginner/intermediate topics, and the fourth Sunday usually covers more intermediate/advanced techniques. Registration opens one month before the class. Most topics are taught twice a year.

Students are generally accepted first-come first-served. Please apply ASAP after the opening of registration to have the best chance of getting in the class.

If you need to cancel, please be courteous and do so early to give those on the waitlist a chance to get into the class. Don't be a no-show.

Do your climbing goals include Northwest volcanoes such as Rainier, Baker, and many routes on Hood?  You better have your crevasse rescue skills dialed. This will be a dry land (no snow) practice of the basics. (Additional practice on real snow is highly recommended.) 

We’ll cover:

• Recommended rescue gear (basic and fancy)
• Mechanical advantage systems for crevasse rescue
• Snow anchors for crevasse rescue
• Rope rigging for three and four person teams
• Team rescue scenarios, based on modern techniques

If mechanical advantage systems are new to you, please have a look at the mechanical advantage portion of my website, Alpinesavvy, or consider taking the Sunday Skillbuilder offered several times a year on this topic.

Gear needed: harness, 2-3 locking carabiners, 2-3 snapgate carabiners, a few slings/runners, short friction hitch/prusik loop. If you have any fancier gear like pulleys, a Petzl Traxion or rope clamps like a Petzl Tibloc, please bring those also. If you don’t have this gear, no problem, we can share.

Highly recommended reading before class is the outstanding (and hilarious) cartoon book “Glacier Mountaineering: An Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue”, by Andy Tyson and Mike Clelland. There are a few different editions. Get whatever one you can, they are all equally good. 

Please read these web links before class. Having a basic understanding of these will make our class time much more effective, hint hint. They are all from my website, alpinesavvy.com.

• My crevasse rescue gear
• ​You don't need those dedicated prusik loops
• Grivel Clepsydra S - the best carabiner for glacier travel?
• Rigging your rope for glacier travel
• Modern crevasse rescue techniques
• Crevasse rescue: "drop loop C" tips

See ya!

John Godino and Andy Nuttbrock, class coordinators