Alpine Scrambling Course

Alpine Scrambling fills the gap between trail hiking and roped climbing. In the Alpine Scrambling course you will learn essential techniques of off-trail wilderness travel needed for reaching snow and rock summits. Alpine scrambling may at times involve unroped movement on and across low or moderately-exposed snow and rock terrain, but does not include roped climbing.

This course is ideal for people who are very comfortable hiking on trails and want something to expand their comfort zone and skills, but are not interested in or ready to enter the world of technical, roped climbing. The Cascades and Olympics are home to a huge number of stunning peaks that have a scramble route. Many of our graduates love scrambling on its own while others use it as a stepping stone to roped alpine climbing. You will find volunteer instructors of both types in this course.

Not sure if Scrambling is for you? Here are some pictures showing the types of places we go: https://photos.app.goo.gl/slX2LfBEHqB0T7FO2

REGISTRATION TIMELINE

• Student Registration Opens: Dec 1
• Cancellation: Refund less $10 before Feb 15
  • No Refund after Feb 15

The Scramble course consists of 3 in town workshops and 4 single day field trips. The workshops introduce skills, which are then refined out in the field.

• WORKSHOPS

  • #1 Course Introduction and Gear: Overview of what scrambling is, setting course expectations, and a gear show and tell.
  • #2 Snow Travel: Snow travel safety (avalanche) presentation, ice axe introduction, ice axe arrest practice.
  • #3 Rock Travel: Movement on a variety of rock surfaces, protected downclimb (emergency descent  method).

• FIELD TRIPS

  • #1 Conditioner Hike: Introduction to skills and a strenuous hike to gauge conditioning level.
  • #2 Snow Travel: Moving through snow, walking in balance, ice axe self belay,  ice axe arrest practice, winter navigation.
  • #3 Rock Travel: Moving on rock, protected down climb practice.
  • #4 Experience Field Trip: Putting it all together and final evaluation. Demonstrate all skills learned in the course on a trip including both snow and rock travel to a summit.

• ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

  • Complete the Off-Trail Wilderness Navigation course  by June 1!
    • This is a separate course with its own fees and scheduling.
  • Complete an Avalanche Awareness seminar
  • Complete the online Low Impact Recreation quiz.
  • Complete a full day/8 hour  Stewardship event(s). The Mountaineers is a volunteer organization and we strive to create a community that gives back to our shared world.
  • Complete 3 successful club scrambles; 1 rock, 1 snow, 1 other (different from course field trips)
  • Complete the Wilderness First Aid course 
    • This is a separate course with its own fees and scheduling.
    • You may also take an equivalent 16 hour Wilderness First Aid course outside of the Mountaineers, but you must work with the Mountaineers to get the equivalency and the badge on your profile. Details here.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

The Mountaineers strives to serve everyone, regardless of ability to pay. We are committed to providing access to outdoor recreation, education and conservation opportunities for all members and youth in the communities we serve. More information on financial assistance is available here: https://www.mountaineers.org/membership/scholarship-financial-assistance

REQUIRED EQUIPMENT

In addition to the course fees, scrambling requires a substantial amount of gear. In addition to general outdoor gear (outdoor clothing, rain gear, backpack, 10 essentials, etc.) there are a few pieces of technical gear required. These pieces and rough prices buying new...

• Mountaineering boots at $300-$500.
  
• Ice Axe at $70-$100.
  
• Climbing helmet at $60-$100.
• Crampons at $120-$200.
  • We recommend you borrow or rent these for the course. They are required a the snow workshop, snow field trip, and Experience Field Trip.  We have  a limited number of crampons available for you to borrow.

The majority of the first workshop is dedicated to gear, we encourage you to wait until after the gear workshop to make purchases. Much of this gear can be bought used if you know what to look for.

OTHER COURSES

There are several options for learning Scrambling with the Seattle Branch. The standard course is this one, which runs Feb - June. There are two sessions of the  Compressed Course, each with up to 20 students.  The Compressed Course covers the same material but in less time including a long weekend in May.  Finally, there are several Pod-based Courses, in which a "pod" of 8 students learns with the same small group of instructors.  The pods may differ in terms of eligibility or  emphasis.

The ratio of students to instructors is about the same with all of these options.  Be sure to choose a class that fits with your schedule.  The regular class has at least two and usually three separate dates for each workshop and field trip, whereas there is only one option for each in the other classes.

The Everett, Tacoma, Foothills (Eastside), and Olympia branches also have Scrambling programs. Each branch runs their scrambling course differently  and course activities are not always interchangeable with other branches.

EQUIVALENCY

If you already have the skills covered in this course and want to get involved, check out Scrambling Equivalency.