Intro to Mountaineering Bow #1

Take Yourself to New Heights with our Beginner-Friendly Mountaineering Program

Intro to Mountaineering Bow #1

Take Yourself to New Heights with our Beginner-Friendly Mountaineering Program

Add Critical Safety Skills To Your Toolbox.

Stay In the Bustling Bow Hut.

Start Your Mountaineering Journey Right.

Is This Camp For You?

Entry Level

This camp is designed for those with little or no previous outdoor climbing or mountaineering experience and will help you get started and build your confidence. You should be familiar with the sport and have some experience climbing indoors, as well as must have a good level of fitness and be able to carry up to a 16 – 18kg (35 – 40lb) pack for several hours. This is not a course on climbing technique (although feel free to ask the guides for help) but rather a course on rope systems, safety and building confidence.
Registration Status:

Open

Details

Before registering, please review our Trip Waivers and Liability, and Cancellation Policies.

Camps are subject to minimum enrollment in order to run.

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Trip Description

We are excited to bring back our introduction to mountaineering program this summer! Whether they’re the first summits of your mountaineering career or the first summits of your season, come join us at one of our three amazing locations for four days of skills training and peak bagging. You’ll learn new mountaineering techniques and knowledge and get hands-on practice applying what you’ve learned right away. Each camp will take place in one of three strategically-located huts: Bow Hut, Asulkan Cabin, and Conrad Kain Hut. Each has their own selection of classic peaks ready to be bagged.

Guides

Guide Selection Pending

Guides for this trip are still being confirmed.

Our guiding ratio will be a maximum of 6:1 to give you plenty of one-to-one learning time with our excellent guides. The small groups also mean that you can split up based on objectives and pacing, and get the individualized attention needed to tackle more challenging alpine rock routes. The ACC hires guides certified by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). Visit the ACMG website to learn more about what they do!

Objectives

The objectives of this camp are two-fold: first, teach you the skills to embark on your own independent alpine career, second, get you up some cool summits! Skills covered include:
  • Roped glacier travel
  • Basic knots
  • Crevasse rescue (situation-appropriate)
  • Snow & ice travel
  • Use of a mountaineering axe and crampons
  • Navigation (introduction to reading topographic maps, bearings, trip planning, and electronic navigation devices)
Climbing objectives on this course are grade II alpine climbs. They are snow and ice mountaineering objectives, involve a relatively straightforward glacier, and may involve some short sections of scrambling (either roped or unroped) to get to the summit. If conditions are favourable you can expect to be on the summit of some of the following peaks:
  • Mt. Olive (3,126m) from Bow Hut
  • Mt. Rhondda (3,062m) from Bow Hut

Day-by-Day Adventure Itinerary

Evening 1
Meet online at 7:00 PM (MST) for an introduction zoom session. Zoom link will be sent out about 1 week in advance of the camp. This will be around 1-2 hours and allow your guide to go over gear with you, make sure everyone is on the same page, make sure everyone knows where to meet for the next day and to answer any questions.
Day 1 - 3
Meet at the trailhead for Bow hut (Bow Lake Parking area) and hike into the hut. Explore the peaks in the area with overnights back at the Hut, see what a sample day could look like below.
Day 4
Maybe sneak in a final peak before lunch and hike back to trailhead.
A sample day on the camp:
Mountaineering means getting up early! Take advantage of the easiest and safest snow travel conditions. Enjoy a continental-style breakfast (food always tastes better when our porters carry it in to the hut for you) to give you the energy you need to start the day. Rope up, and head up the toe of the Bow Glacier to the Wapta Icefield. From there, your destination (Mt. Olive) is only 3km away. Don’t be fooled by the distance, though: the 3km includes a walk over the icefield, 770m of elevation gain, and the crux: a short but steep snow section. To overcome all of these, you’ll put your new glacier travel and snow mountaineering skills to use. After you kick steps into the snow up the crux, self-belaying with your mountaineering axe, it’s a straightforward scree ascent to the top. Take in the view, relax, and enjoy your lunch. On the way back, your guide will coach as you test out your new navigation skills. Practice identifying features on a topographic map and taking bearings off of the surrounding peaks to identify your position. Back in the hut, you’ll have a chance to socialize with your fellow newly-minted mountaineers. In a short, hour-long evening instructional session, you learn how to create and follow a trip plan. The next day’s objective is introduced and discussed. Afterwards, everybody heads to the bunkroom to get some well-deserved rest.

Food, Accommodation and Rentals

Food

Once at the trailhead, all of the logistics are taken care of to allow you to focus on the climbing. Porters carry your group’s food into the hut to keep packs light on the ascent. You can expect nutritious continental-style breakfasts, packed lunches and 4 course dinners with soup, appetizer, meat-based entrees (with vegetarian option) and a scrumptious dessert.

Accommodation

The Bow Hut is fantastically scenic, perfectly situated and is an excellent base for exploring further onto the Wapta Icefields in winter or summer. It is the easiest and most natural route onto the Wapta and gives access to the Peyto Hut to the north, and the Balfour and Scott Duncan huts to the south. The peaks of the Wapta are an attraction for summer mountaineering as well and many climbers have learned or honed their glacier travel and crevasse rescue skills within sight of the hut. The hut itself is bright, spacious and fantastically scenic. It is the largest, best equipped and most accessible of the four huts on the Wapta with a wood burning stove! On each of the hut pages, you will find information on access, including driving directions, parking, and route descriptions.

Rentals

If you don't have everything on the gear list and aren't ready to invest in your own, there are many awesome local businesses that rent out all of the equipment you will need. Be sure to reserve your rentals ahead of time to make sure everything you need is available for you when you need it.

  • Coming from the Bow Valley? Check out GearUp in Canmore. ACC members get 10% off all gear rentals!
  • Coming from Calgary? We recommend renting your gear from MEC, the University of Calgary Outdoors Center, or the Norseman.
  • Coming from the Revelstoke? Give Revelstoke Powder Rentals a try.

Included

  • 3 days of professional guiding at max 6:1 ratios by certified ACMG alpine guides
  • 3 nights accommodation at the Bow and Peyto Hut
  • All Group Gear
  • Food for the trip (2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners, and snacks!)

Not Included

  • Transportation to and from the trailhead
  • Personal gear (see gear list)

Location

Adventure Hazards

Terrain

What are the Risks?

Cornices and crevasses. Trees, tree wells, and tree stumps. Cliffs, creeks,  rocks and boulders. Holes and depressions below the snow surface. Variable and difficult snow conditions. Snowcat roads and road ranks. Fences and other man-made structures. Impact or collision with other persons, vehicles or objects. Encounters with domestic or wild animals. Loss of balance or control. Becoming lost or separated from the group. Slips, trips, and falls. 

Hazard Mitigation

Mitigated by Trained and experienced Guide.

The use of Radios. 

General Hazards

What are the Risks?

Slips trips and falls indoor or outdoor. Equipment failure. Infectious disease contracted through viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi which may be transmitted through direct or indirect contact. Negligence of other persons, including other guests. Negligent first aid. Negligence of the guide Including failure to take reasonable steps to safeguard or protect you from, or warn you of risk, dangers, hazards, on participating in ACC activities

Hazard Mitigation

Developed safety plans and procedures with decades of experience managing risk. 

Rockfall and Icefall

What are the Risks?

Rockfall and icefall can be caused by natural forces or by people travelling through the terrain (e.g. climbing/scrambling/hiking) 

Hazard Mitigation

Mitigated with certified and experienced guides, Helmets 

Falls and Belaying

What are the Risks?

Mountaineering and ice climbing present the risk of falling from the wall causing the climber to collide with the wall or ground which can lead to injury or death. The risk of a belay failure is also present which can contribute to a ground fall.

Hazard Mitigation

Reviewing best practices with the guide.

Equipment checks

Communication and Rescue

What are the Risks?

Communication can be difficult and in the event of an accident, rescue and treatment may not be available. Adverse weather may also delay the arrival of treatment and transport out of the field. If an Injury occurs in challenging terrain movement to an evacuation point may be slow.

Hazard Mitigation

First Aid / Rescue Training.

Satellite Communications

We sell Tugo® Travel Insurance suitable for both ACC Adventures and personal trips

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