The Alpine Club of Canada
The Alpine Club of Canada
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Advanced Winter Crevasse Rescue

Learn the Skills Needed to Travel Across Glaciers Safely and Independently

If you’re planning on venturing onto a glacier this winter, it is vital that you practice or refresh your crevasse rescue skills. And who better do it with than Canada’s national mountaineering organization?

If you are looking at taking your crevasse rescue to the next level this is the course for you! Maybe you travel in a group of 2 on the glacier, or want to build systems that give you the mechanical advantage to pull anything you need out of a crevasse. This is the course for you!

Our Winter 2024 offerings are led by our highly experienced Lead Winter Guide, Doug Latimer. Doug is currently authoring an e-book on the subject (to be included in your course fee if completed in time) and will teach all of the skills necessary to maximize safety skiing across glaciated terrain and deal with a crevasse fall scenario.

The course will start with an evening session the Thursday before your field day where you will go over gear, take a look at systems to understand how they work and review basic knots. The Saturday will be the field day where you will dive into hands on learning at a climbing crag, like Rundle Rock. Here you will set up different systems and practice in a more forgiving environment. On the final field day, the group will have the opportunity to ski to a glacial environment to practice the systems and apply the skills learned in a realistic setting.

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BOOKING INFORMATION

Dates:

Evening Online Session:

November 16th

Field Days:

November 18TH-19TH 2023

Price: $400+ TAX

REGISTER NOW
GEAR LIST
TRIP WAIVERS AND LIABILITY
CANCELLATION POLICY
Before registering, please review our Waivers and Liability page.

MORE INFORMATION

Please try to register online before calling. If you are having issues please try to have your emergency contact information and course questionnaire filled out before calling.

EMAIL US

OR Call: (403)-678-3200 ext 213

Rockfall and icefall
  • Rockfall and icefall can be caused by natural forces, or by people travelling through the terrain (Climbing/Scrambling/Hiking)
    What are the risks
  • Impact from a falling rock or ice can result in injury or death and can also damage equipment such as ropes.
    Hazard Mitigation
  • Our ACMG certified guides have experience and training to manage this risk
  • Your guide will ask you to put on a helmet when in the mountains

Avalanche
  • Avalanches can occur in the terrain you will be entering. Caused by natural forces, or by people travelling through the terrain
    What are the risks
  • Anyone caught in a avalanche is at risk of personal injury, death, and or property damage or loss
    Hazard Mitigation
  • Our ACMG certified guides have experience and training to manage this risk
  • Daily risk assessment processes
  • Guest training if avalanches are a risk on your trip

Terrain
  • Cornices
  • Crevasses
  • Trees, tree wells, and tree stumps
  • Creeks
  • Rocks and Boulders
  • Variable and difficult walking terrain
  • Impact or collision with other persons or objects
  • Encounters with domestic or wild animals
  • Contact with poisonous flora or fauna
  • Loss of balance or control
  • Slips, trips, and falls
    Hazard Mitigation
  • Our ACMG certified guides have experience and training to manage this risk
  • Radios and/or other communication devices

Falls and belaying
  • Mountaineering and ice climbing present the risk of falling from the wall causing the climber to collide with the wall or ground
  • There is also the risk of a belay failure, which can contribute to a ground fall
    Hazard Mitigation
  • Your guide will review best belay practices with you or will control the belay

Communication, rescue, and medical treatment
  • 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 or transportation out of the field,
  • Alpine weather conditions can be extreme and change rapidly without warning making travel by helicopter, snowmobile, snowcat, dangerous
  • If an injury occurs in challenging terrain movement to an evacuation point may be slow
    Hazard Mitigation
  • Your guide is trained in both backcountry first-aid and rescue techniques
  • Emergency response plans
  • Satellite communication tools

Other
  • Slips trips and falls indoor or outdoor
  • Infectious disease contracted via direct or indirect contact, including but not limited to influenza or Covid-19
  • Equipment failure
  • Negligence of other persons, including other guests
  • Negligence of the guide Including failure to to take reasonable steps to safeguard or protect you from or warn you of risk, dangers, hazards, oh participating in ACC activities
    Hazard Mitigation
  • Your guide is trained in both backcountry first-aid and rescue techniques
  • Satellite communication tools

Skills you’ll learn on this course include

  • Two person rescue scenario
  • Three person on a short rope rescue scenario
  • Complex pulley Systems 
  • Minimizing friction in rescue systems 
  • Rope extensions
  • Combining simple and complex pully systems

Day 1 (Online evening session)

  • You will get instructions 2 weeks ahead to join our online platform. Evening sessions will start at 6 pm MST and run until 9pm MST.
  • The evening session will go over gear, knots and diagrams of the systems you will be creating
  • Your guide will also discuss the use of commercially-available crevasse rescue equipment (pulleys and ready-made systems) and provide opportunity to practice with these.
  • If you have any questions about gear you currently own this is a great time to ask about it.

Day 2

  • Participants will meet at the trailhead at 9 am MST.
  • Practice the theory established in the online evening session 

Day 3

  • The meeting time and location will depend on conditions and the guide’s discretion. One location the group may visit is the toe of the Victoria Glacier near Lake Louise.
  • Here, you will practice the systems and skills learned from the previous sessions in a realistic, glacier environment. 
  • The group will return to the parking area by 4 PM (MST) to allow for everyone enough time to make it home safety.

Intermediate 

Participants need to have a solid foundation in snow anchors and the standard drop loop rescue system used in the basic crevasse rescue course. Glacier travel is not covered in advanced crevasse rescue as it is assumed participants have this experience.

 
 

Food

Food is not provided as part of the course. Please bring along a packed lunch and some snacks for your field days.

Accommodation

As this course is offered out of the ACC Clubhouse in Canmore, we invite all out-of-town participants to stay with us. Located on a high bench overlooking the Three Sisters, Ha Ling and Mount Rundle, the ACC Clubhouse hostel is the perfect place to relax while completing your Crevasse Rescue Course. You can reserve a room for the night between your classroom day and field day upon reservation. Or if you need to stay longer, call our reservations team on 403 678 3200 ext. 300. 

For full details on the Canmore Clubhouse accommodation click here.

Guiding

Our on-staff ACC guide, Doug Latimer, oversees our crevasse rescue program. Doug has almost 20 years of experience in teaching instructional courses and is currently writing his own e-book on crevasse rescue which we hope to include with the course as soon as it is available. We are extremely excited to have him on board for another season after rave reviews in his past years working with us.

We want to provide the best possible learning experience and give you maximum opportunity to ask questions. So, for our field days, we bring in an extra guide/instructor where necessary to keep participant-to-guide ratios below a maximum of 6:1.  

The ACC hires guides certified by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG). Visit the ACMG website to learn more about what they do!

 

 

 

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.

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

TRAVEL INSURANCE

INCLUDED WITH YOUR CAMP FEE

  • 2 days of professional guiding at max 6:1 ratios by certified ACMG guides
  • 1 evening online session
  • All Group Gear

PARTICIPANTS MUST PROVIDE

  • Transportation to and from the field location on Day 2 and 3
  • Accommodation
  • Meals and Lunches
  • Personal gear (see gear list)

ORGANIZING FANTASTIC ACC ADVENTURES FOR OVER 100 YEARS

  • Local Knowledge – based out of Canmore, AB, we know the Rockies region and the best local caterers, guides and porters
  • Dedicated resources – full-time office staff, ACMG guides and group equipment on-hand to ensure your trip runs smoothly
  • Not-for-profit – any money we make on camps and courses is reinvested into providing services for our members and the mountain community