Learn and practise. Gain confidence at full speed.
Weissmies – Valais
During these high-altitude mountaineering days, you’ll work with us to expand your existing knowledge and skills in high-altitude mountaineering, and we’ll put them into practice straight away on a variety of tours. The region around the Weissmies offers ideal training terrain, grippy granite for scrambling and fantastic glacier tours. Over the first two days, we’ll refresh your knowledge and build on it through practical exercises and shorter application tours. Afterwards, the programme includes a traverse of two easy 4,000-metre peaks. A perfect opportunity to apply what you’ve learnt in a real-life mountaineering scenario. We’ll set off from the Weissmies Hut, where ideal training terrain and superb granite await us. On the second day, we’ll undertake a fantastic training tour on the Jegihorn, followed by exciting practical tours such as the Lagginhorn, the Schwarzmies or the Lagginjoch. We’ll spend the last night at the Berghotel Hohsaas. There, we’ll enjoy a well-deserved shower before planning the next tour together or deciding to tackle another training ridge. The descent is made much easier by the cable cars from Hohsaas.
This high-altitude mountaineering coaching course is aimed at anyone who already has some experience of high-altitude mountaineering (e.g. through a basic course or their first independent expeditions) and wishes to further develop their knowledge in the areas of route planning, rope handling and practical tactics. We travel in small rope teams, which leaves plenty of scope for individual coaching and collaborative learning within the team. The focus is on training, not on ticking off 4,000-metre peaks.
We’ll meet in Saas Grund and get to know each other with a brief welcome. We’ll then tackle the first few metres of elevation by cable car. Once at the top, we’ll take some time to discuss your expectations and personal goals for the coming days and tailor the programme to suit the group as best as possible.
After the drive up to Hohsaas, we’ll get straight into the first training sessions in the ideal ice training area around the hut. Together, we’ll assess your current level of knowledge, refresh what you already know and bring your belaying techniques up to date.
Daily destinationIce training
Course content:
After dinner, we’ll get round to planning our route. Together, we’ll discuss the 3×3 model, the risk assessment and other basics for planning high-altitude tours safely and independently.
On the second day, we put what we’ve learnt into practice straight away in alpine terrain. On a varied practical tour on the beautiful Jegihorn, we consolidate what we learnt the previous day and gain further experience on rock and in easy high-altitude terrain. Step by step, we gain more confidence and prepare ourselves optimally for the upcoming days of touring.
Course contents
In the evening, we reflect on the day’s training together. We discuss our current level of training, clarify any outstanding questions and plan the upcoming tours. In doing so, we further consolidate our 3×3 model, the Risk check as well as independent route planning.
On the third day – depending on conditions and the group’s level of training – the planned training tour is on the programme. Possible options include the Schwarzmies traverse or the Lagginhorn. On this classic high-altitude tour, we’ll put what we’ve learnt into practice in real-world conditions and gain valuable experience in navigating the high mountains independently. Throughout the tour, you’ll receive direct feedback on your belaying technique and the decisions you make in the terrain.
In the evening, we head over to the Hohsaas and treat ourselves to a well-deserved shower.
Course contents
In the evening, we reflect on the day’s tour together. We discuss our experiences, identify individual strengths and areas for potential development, and plan the next tour based on the 3×3 model and the Risk Checks. This will help you to assess your own abilities realistically and plan your trips safely.
To round off our training days, the programme includes either another training ridge or a further training day. This allows us to learn and consolidate all the key points once again. The Lagginjoch offers a superb training and course area to get us back in shape for high-altitude tours, and thanks to Hohsaas’s excellent location, we’re already a bit closer to the starting point. This day also serves as a bit of a ‘wildcard’ – if the weather isn’t ideal, or if the group would prefer to head onto the glacier to practise using crampons and pulley systems again, that’s also an option.
To round things off, we’ll take some time to reflect together. We’ll discuss the progress made over the past few days, provide individual feedback and highlight the next steps and tour destinations that are best suited to your further development in high-altitude mountaineering.
After a joint final debrief, we bring our training days to a close. Armed with lots of new experiences, greater confidence and valuable insights for future high-altitude tours, we make a comfortable journey back down to Saas-Grund on the mountain railways.
Bergschaft tours and courses are conducted in German as standard. However, our mountain guides speak good English, as do many of the participants. If you speak English, you are of course very welcome. Depending on the tour, it may be worth asking us in advance whether the guide and the group are comfortable speaking English.
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