This day-long crevasse rescue course is a prerequisite for any glaciated climb or ski descent. If you're traveling on a glacier, you need to know what to do if someone in your team ends up in a crevasse.
In this program we'll discuss:
- Gear for Crevasse Rescue
- Essential knots and hitches
- Rigging your rope and team for glacier travel
- Mechanical advantage systems including
- Simple Systems
- Compound Systems
- Complex Systems
- Pragmatic solutions including Brute Haul and Dropped C systems
- Rope Ascension
We'll demonstrate and coach solving various rescue problems, with the objective of being able to perform effective and efficient crevasse rescue. Our experienced guide team manages the learning outcomes as you build these critical big mountain skills.
Prerequisites:
Crevasse rescue involves multiple layers of rope skills and having a basic understanding of mountaineering knots and hitches prior to the course is key to getting the most you can from this program. Courses like Rope Skills for Skiers and Riders provide a solid foundation of the component skills that we need to build compound and complex crevasse rescue systems.
We will cover the basic knots and hitches that we need to build mechanical advantage systems, but without a foundation of skills beforehand the systems will seem more complex and be harder to learn than they are. Deficiency in knots may affect your learning outcomes, rendering the program less effective as it could be with a better foundation.
Dates
Contact Us Here to Schedule Custom Dates for Crevasse Rescue!
Available Dates
Prices
Refer to Overview
Itinerary
Coming Soon!Equipment
Crevasse Rescue Gear Guide
Gear Guide / Packing List
Backcountry Touring Gear
- Alpine Touring Skis or Splitboard - Light to Midweight Setup with “Tech Bindings”
- Alpine Touring Boots or Splitboard Compatible Boots; Scarpa F1
- Climbing Skins - Mohair Mix is Best; Black Diamond GlideLite Mohair Mix
- Ski Crampons - Specific to your Skis/Board
- Ski Strap - Voile Ski Strap or Similar
Avalanche Gear
- Avalanche Beacon - Digital Avalanche Transceiver; Black Diamond Guide Recon BT
- Avalanche Shovel - Collapsible, Aluminum Shovel; Backcountry Access BT2 Shovel
- Avalanche Probe - Quickdraw Style Probe; Backcountry Access Stealth 300
Technical Gear
- Climbing/Ski Helmet - Dual Rated Helmet; Petzl Sirocco or Black Diamond Vision
- Climbing Harness - Light Alpine Harness; Petzl Altitude, Mammut Zephyr Altitude
- Six Locking Carabiners - Petzl Attache, etc
- Four Non-Locking Carabiners - Black Diamond Hotwire
- Double Length and/or Quad Length Sling - Sewn Runner; Black Diamond 10mm Dynex Runner
- Cordelette - Maxim 6mm Accessory Cord - 20-30ft.
- Hollowblock or prusik materials - Sterling 6.8mm Hollowblock Loop or Beal Prusik Cord 5.5mm
- Auto Blocking Belay Device - BD ATC Guide, Petzl Reverso
- Micro Traxion (Optional) - Petzl
- Crampons, Steel - Steel Crampons Compatible with Your Boots; Petzl Vasak OR
- Crampons, Aluminum - Lightweight Aluminum Crampons, Compatible with Your Boots
- Lightweight Ice Axe - An ultralight Axe for Steep Terrain; Petzl Ride, BD Raven Ultra
- Ski Poles - Lightweight, Adjustable Poles with Baskets; BD Expedition 3 Poles
Head and Neck Layers
- Sun Hat - A Baseball Hat; Blackbird Mountain Guides Logo Hat
- Sunglasses - Dark Lens Glasses with Side Coverage; Julbo Shield
- Goggles - Ski Goggles with a Storm Lens; Julbo Aerospace Reactive
- Warm Hat - Lightweight Warm Hat that Fits Under Your Helmet
- Neck Gaiters - Light to Midweight Neck Gaiters; Buff or your favorite Face Masks
Upper Body and Hand Layers
- Long Sleeve Base Layer - Lightweight, Synthetic/Wool; Patagonia SunHoody
- 2 Insulating Top Layers - Light to Midweight Insulation Layers; Patagonia R1 & Nano Air
- Puffy - Midweight Down or Synthetic with Hood; Patagonia Fitzroy or similar
- Hardshell Jacket, Hooded - Waterproof, Gore-Tex, NOT insulated; Arc’Teryx Alpha FL
- Light Gloves - Light to Mid Weight for Warm Temps; Flylow John Henry Gloves, BD Tour
- Midweight Gloves - Mid to Heavy Weight for Cold Conditions; BD Legend
- Sports Bra - Wool/Synthetic
Lower Body and Foot Layers
- Socks - Midweight Wool/Synthetic; Darn Tough Via Ferrata
- Underwear - Wool/Synthetic
- Long Underwear - Wool/Synthetic “Long Johns”; Patagonia Capilene Air
- Softshell Ski Pants - Breathable, Weather Resistant Pants; OR Trailbreaker II
- Vented Hardshell Ski Pants - Waterproof Pants for Extreme Weather; Flylow Compound
Food and Water
- Water Bottles - 2L Capacity; 2x Nalgene 1L Bottle or 1 Nalgene plus Soft Bottle
- Soft Water Bottle 1.5L - Flexible Water Bladder; Hydrapak Flux 1.5L
- Snacks - Snacks for a full day of activity.
Other Essentials
- Sun Screen (SPF 30 minimum)
- Lip Balm (with SPF)
- Hand Sanitizer
Optional
- First Aid/blister Kit
- Chemical Hand Warmers
- Hydration System - Flexible Water Bladder with Hose; Hydrapak, Camelback, Platypus
Group Gear
Blackbird Mountain Guides will supply all of the group gear for the trip, including:
- Technical Gear: Ropes, Micro Traxion, Slings, etc
- Snow Pickets (if required)
- Rock Protection (if required)
- Guide’s First Aid Kits
- Wag Bags (Solid Human Waste Disposal Bags)