This will be a tad wordy as I was intent on learning as much as possible rather than taking photos, but I still got a couple of good shot of The Shit Weasel doing his usual happy epic stuff.

Before you do Snowcraft Level two you really need to do a good Snowcraft level one course. Marty recently wrote a very enthusiastic post about level one with the Alpine Club.

I love how carried away he gets, but I’ll point out that you don’t need to rush out and purchase any gear. I’d even suggest not spending your gold on any gear until after you have done the course. This way you’ll have a better understanding about what equipment you actually need, along with what is suitable for the trips you intend to do.

The NZ Apline Club will hire out all the gear you need at exceptionally good rates if you become a member. Typically $5.00 per item per week, or everything for $25.00.

Not all Level One courses are equal

The course is so much more then just learning to kick steps, walk with crampons and basic use of an ice axe.

To add to Marty’s post, we also spent time discussing weather and avalanche hazards/conditions.

Monitoring the local conditions a week before any mountain trip has become second nature, the more you time spend doing this the more aware you become of what risks are and how to manage them.

Whilst it’s really important to know how to use a transceiver and practice doing avalanche search rescues, it’s something which you never really want to have to face in a real life situation. It’s really important that the group makes good decisions, has good plans, along with knowing when to turn back or postpone a trip.

The NZ Alpine Club Level one is simply top notch. They had one instructor for every two pupils, there is a huge amount of knowledge to be learnt and my little pea brain simply tried to take in as much of that as it could.

Finally… Level Two

Level two builds upon what you learnt you level one and adds some rope and climbing skills.

Theory Night

We meet in Bivouac Outdoor where we get to meet each other, do introductions, run through what we need for the weekend and practice tying knots.

One of the group puts his hand up and asks “What is an Anchor?”

I try not to laugh, even though it’s not really funny! Why would anyone sign up to a Snowcraft course without doing some basic homework? Surely you’d have done some reading and watched some videos to know what you were signing up for?

OK, I probably take things to an extreme by tying some rope to my kitchen cupboard door to practiced tying knots with my thick gloves on. Actually that’s not even half of it, I got some knots mastered using only one hand and having my eyes shut which really isn’t needed.

I don’t expect anyone to be that committed or obsessed, but not knowing what an anchor is plain and simple muppetry!

A dangerous approach

We had an interesting trip up to Mount Ruapehu as we had a car crash just before we got to Levin. Thankfully no one got hurt, but it’s well worth pointing out that the journey to the mountains (or returning) is often far more dangerous then being up there.

I’ll spare the most of details, but we managed to get another car sorted so not all was lost. We rolled in just after midnight so only missed the Friday night briefing.

My little rant…

Saturday morning and I find myself in the same group as Anchor Man!

My heart sank, he’s one of two members in my group who have done the WTMC (Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club) Snowcraft Level one course.

It turns out that they have not covered half of the basics which the rest of us learnt on the Alpine Club level one course. They have no avalanche awareness let alone used a transceiver before.

I have to introduce them to avalanche.net.nz/ and explain heaps of the level one stuff that they really should already know. It’s a very slow morning and I’ll make no secret about how frustrated I was. My goal was to gain as much as I could out of the weekend, yet being with these clowns was like driving a car with the handbrake on…

I’m slowly dying inside as all the other groups head outside to practice new skills whilst I’m stuck inside sucking eggs.

I’m aware that it’s not the fault of our instructors who I have nothing but praise for.

I’ve since found out that the Alpine club will not be accepting anyone from the WTMC level one course next year. Problem solved 🙂

Anchors

I quickly became aware how versatile an ice axe is. Level one only teaches you to use it to walk safely on the snow. What you learn in level two is that you can use your axe to cut groves into the snow to create an anchor. There are many types of anchors you can make depending on what the snow pack is like and what equipment you have.

I’m not going to explain how it all works as you really need to do the course to understand and put it into practice.

Climbing

We also got to play with some technical ice axes. Climbing with two axes allows you to tackle much steeper terrain and my inner monkey loved it.

Next I intend to improve my climbing skills. Maybe a post for the future…

If any of you are keen on doing Alpine trips next year then I recommend joining the Alpine Club. They are a super friendly bunch of folk an are very smart about how they run trips.

Feel welcome to pick my brains if you have any questions.