Awarding Body

Mountain Training

Scheme

British Mountain Guide

Course

Alpine Training

Type

Training

Award Description

This international award trains and assesses candidates in the skills required to guide climbing (including the coaching of lead climbing) skiing and mountaineering on rock, snow & ice, and in alpine terrain. It is administered by the BMG to the standards set by the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA). The Guide’s carnet is an extensively used professional award.

BMG Alpine Training Course

28th May to 4th June 2022

Convenor:  Andy Teasdale

Staff: Andy Teasdale, Jon Bracey.

Meeting Place.

28th May 2022Chamonix exact location TBC

The course is to be held primarily in Switzerland and France, using regularly guided areas in the Val d’Herens, Val d’Anniviers, Saastal and around the Mont Blanc massif. However, conditions or weather may dictate that a different venue is required at short notice and we may need to be prepared to travel to another suitable training venue.  We do not have a plan to base ourselves in any specific valley or town, although we will recommend a place to stay for the first night or two, while we work out a plan that works with the weather and conditions. This years course will involve 7 days of training over an 8 day period. We will have a one day break after 3 or 4 days, ideally. This is to allow for a rest, information processing and self managed practise, or possibly a change of venue without losing any training time. Seven days training is quite intense and we are keen to maximise your learning, practise and confidence. This course by no means turns you into a fully fledged Aspirant Guide, but it equips you with necessary knowledge and techniques to start your season safely and confidently. Working closely with your supervising Guides your techniques will develop and be refined through the season and subsequent seasons. All going well, by the end of the season you should have a good handle on your guiding techniques, judgement and choice of routes.

Course Programme.

Day 1 Via Ferrata training. TBC.

Day 2 Guiding techniques on a rock ridge.Eg traverse of the perrons

Day 3 Ecole de glace training and glacier travel. Ideally followed by a night in a hut

Day 4  Guiding techniques on mixed routes, further glacier travel and crevasse rescue.

Day 5  Guiding techniques on mixed routes and ridges.

Day 6  Guiding techniques on mixed routes and ridges.

Day 7 Further guiding techniques as appropriate. Review of the week, ideas and feedback.

The rest day will fit in where appropriate, after day 3,4 or 5 ideally.

Day 1 will be a valley based day, run by one or two trainers. We will stay in the valley at the end of day 1 and 2.  The campsite in Evolene has worked well in the past for the first two nights of the course, but people have also commuted from Chamonix, or dossed in vans somewhere quiet. The remainder of the week will probably be mobile staying in huts or cheap valley accommodation. Camping is an option. The likely rest day will hopefully be known before the course starts, based on the weather forecast at the time, but plan on committing 8 days to the course.

The programme is likely to change at short notice so that we can make the most of our location, the weather and the mountain conditions.

I am hoping to fit in a long hut trip during the week, so as to maximise our alpine days. This will possibly include two or three nights away from the valley. Please come prepared for this. Bring a sleeping bag liner, overnight hut kit, food, headtorch, money for lifts and huts etc. It will be wise to have some bivi kit available incase we chose to do routes that don’t involve staying in huts, or can be done from bivi huts. Hut use will likely involve winter rooms this year, due to the timing of the course. We may need to get supplies for this at short notice.

Via ferrata kit is needed for the first day. If you have your own bring it along, otherwise we can hire it in advance.

Please refer to the alpine summer syllabus notes in the BMG Training Handbook, for further details. Pages 21-22.

Pre Course Preparation

Please arrive well acclimatised for the week.

Please contact me if you have any issues or questions regarding equipment you may need. Please bring your BMG logbooks to the course, they need to be signed after completion of the week.

For this year in particular, please make sure that you are careful with personal health and social mixing before the course, so as to remove the risk of contracting and bringing the Coronavirus to the course. 

Attached Documentation

BMG course review form

Aspirant Guidelines

Aspirant log book days

Internal Course Transport

Use own cars.

Cost

The full cost is £1750.00, (which excludes valley accommodation, huts, food, transportation and uplift) to be paid by 2 weeks before the course start date, which is 14^th May 2022.

Booking

Please find details of the course on the CMS and make a payment through that system before the full payment deadline.

You must have relevant medical and rescue insurance.

It is strongly advised to arrange accident/cancellation insurance.

Start

27/05/2022 19:00

End

04/06/2022

Total Days

7

Maximum Bookings

3

Bookings

3

Venue

chamonix

Town

chamonix

County

Haute Savoie

Country

France

Latitude

45.92370

Longitude

6.86940

Name

British Mountain Guides

Phone

00441286830569, 00447879818345

Email