Day 1 - Meet your instructor at the designated meeting location at 5pm. We will practice rope ascension, then go over equipment, distribute group gear, and finish loading your packs before camping out for the night.
Day 2 - In the morning we will drive to the trailhead. The approach to basecamp is 3-5 miles and up to 4,000 feet of elevation gain. After setting up camp, you'll spend the afternoon refreshing your snow and glacier skills and getting a chance to rest up for what's to come with a hot meal and a good night's sleep.
Day 3 - After an early breakfast, we will pack up camp and move a bit higher onto the glacier. Today is a full day of skills practice, starting with what you already know and adding in anchor building and belay skills, different methods of crevasse rescue, and more advanced rope management techniques. After a long day of new information, you will be happy to go to bed early to get some rest for the student-led summit attempt!
Day 4 - Leave camp around 2am to start the summit attempt. Depending on the route/conditions/weather and a myriad of other factors, it can take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours to reach the summit. Enjoy the views and sense of accomplishment - you earned it! After a short celebration, be prepared to plunge step several thousand feet back to camp. We will try to take a different route in order to practice navigation through more glaciated terrain. Time and energy permitting, once back at camp we can work through more advanced crevasse rescue or other skills. Later, we will debrief the climb over a hot meal and you can crawl into your sleeping bag to reflect on this amazing day before drifting off to sleep.
Day 5 - On the last day you may be ready to pack up and get home early. You may also want a little more skills practice under the guidance of our instructors. We can do either! The plan for this day is flexible based on the needs of the group. It may also act as a back-up summit day in case of poor conditions earlier on. At the latest you can expect to be back at the trailhead around 6pm.
