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Yamnuska Mountain Adventures

Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Ice Climbing, Backcountry Skiing

  • Avalanche
    • Avalanche Skills Training 1 – Canmore/Calgary
    • AST 1 (Classroom Webinar/Rockies Field Day)
    • Avalanche Skills Training 1 for Ice Climbers
    • Avalanche Skills Training 1 Refresher
    • Advanced Companion Rescue Course
    • Avalanche Skills Training 2 – Canadian Rockies
    • Avalanche Skills Training 2 – Rogers Pass
    • Avalanche Skills Training 2 – Purcell Lodge
  • Mountaineering
    • Beginner Programs
      • Scrambling Skills and Safety
      • Snow and Ice Long Weekend
      • Intro to Mountaineering
      • Women’s Intro to Mountaineering
      • Youth Mountaineering Course
      • Wapta Ice Hike
    • Intermediate and Advanced Programs
      • Yoho Peaks
      • Intro to Alpine Rock in the Bugaboos
      • Intro to Alpine Ice at the Columbia Icefields
      • Lake Louise Classics
      • Moraine Lake Alpine Classics
      • Rogers Pass Alpinist Camp
      • Bugaboos Granite
      • Tonquin Valley Alpine Climbing
    • Canadian Rockies 11,000ers
      • Mount Temple
      • Mount Willingdon
      • Mount Cline
      • Mt Woolley & Diadem
      • Mount Hector
      • Mount Athabasca
      • Mount Andromeda
      • Mt Joffre Expedition
      • Mount Victoria
      • Mt Edith Cavell
      • Mount Forbes
      • Mount Assiniboine
      • Mount Robson
    • Fast and Light Series
      • Castle Mountain
      • Mt Louis Kain Route
      • Bugaboo Spire – North East Ridge
      • Mt Sir Donald – Northwest Ridge
      • Mt Aberdeen
      • Mt Stanley
      • Mt Fay – West Ridge
      • Mt Temple – East Ridge
    • One-Day Crevasse Rescue for the Alpinist
    • Navigation 1 (Back to Basics with Map & Compass)
    • Navigation 2 (Digital Trip Planning & Electronic Navigation)
    • One Month Summer Mountaineering Program
    • Private Mountaineering and Guiding
      • Climb Mount Athabasca
      • Bugaboos Climbing Guides
      • Climb Mount Assiniboine
      • Climb Mount Robson
  • Skiing
    • Instructional Backcountry Skiing & Boarding
      • Intro to Backcountry Skiing & Splitboarding
      • Splitboarding Intro
      • Backcountry Freerider
      • Ultimate Steep & Deep Clinic
    • Guided Steep & Deep Programs
      • Rogers Pass Powder Skiing
      • Signature Series Splitboarding Camp with Justin Lamoureux
      • Kootenays Powder Adventure
      • Backcountry Powder Pass
    • Ski Mountaineering & Classic Traverses
      • Intro to Ski Mountaineering
      • Crevasse Rescue for Skiers & Splitboarders
      • The Wapta Traverse
      • Bow to Yoho Advanced Ski Week
      • Remote Ski Camp – Freshfields
      • Bugaboos to Rogers Pass Ski Traverse
    • 11’000ers Ski Programs
      • Mt Hector
      • The Lyells & Mons Ski Descents
      • Mt Columbia Ski Expedition
    • International Ski Trips
      • Troll Peninsula, Iceland Ski Safari
      • Rishiri Island Skiing in Japan
    • Navigation 1 (Back to Basics with Map & Compass)
    • Navigation 2 (Digital Trip Planning & Electronic Navigation)
    • One Month Backcountry Ski Program
    • Private Ski Guiding & Splitboarding
  • Rock Climbing
    • Rock Climbing Level 1 – Outdoor Rock Intro
    • Rock Climbing Level 2 – Learn to Lead
    • Rock Climbing Level 3 – Multi-Pitch Climbing Course
    • Rock Climbing Level 4 – Trad Rock Leader
    • Rock Climbing Level 5 – Rock Rescue
      • Foundational Rock Rescue
      • Advanced Rock Rescue
    • Signature Series Rock Leader with Sean Isaac
    • Hot Rock
    • Ghost Rock
    • El Potrero Chico Rock Road Trip
    • Beginner Experiential Rock Climbing
    • Multipitch & Instructional Rock Climbing
  • Ice Climbing
    • Ice Climbing Level 1 – Basic Ice
    • Ice Climbing Level 2 – Top Rope Management
    • Ice Climbing Level 1 & 2 – Ice Evolution
    • Ice Climbing Level 3 – Ice Leader
    • Ice Climbing Level 4 – Multi-Pitch Ice Leader
    • Steep Ice and Mixed Climbing Clinic
    • Drytooling Clinic
    • Rampart Creek Ice Camp
    • Ghost Ice Climbing Camp
    • ‘Hot’ Ice Climbing
    • Signature Series Ice Climbing with Sean Isaac
      • Early Season Ice Camp with Sean Isaac
      • Ice Leader Camp with Sean Isaac
      • Mixed Master Camp
      • Steep Ice Clinic with Sean Isaac
      • Mixed Climbing Clinic with Sean Isaac
      • Ice Lead Clinic with Sean Isaac
      • Multi-pitch Systems Clinic with Sean Isaac
    • Southern Ontario Ice Climbing
      • Southern Ontario – One-day Ice Climbing Essentials
      • Southern Ontario Ice Leader
    • Avalanche Skills for Ice Climbers
    • Beginner Experiential Ice Climbing
    • Private Multipitch & Instructional Ice Climbing
  • Mountain Semesters
    • 3-Month Mountain Skills Semester
    • 1-Month Summer Mountaineering Semester
    • 1-Month Ski & Splitboard Semester

March 4, 2020 By Sylvia Watson Leave a Comment

Mountain Skills Semester – A students reflection on 3-months

The Mountain Skills Semester is Yamnuska’s 3-month flagship program that has been around for over 40 years.  Countless students have come away from this program ready to begin their journey into guiding while others want to simply come away feeling competent and ready to tackle the mountains for themselves.

The reasons people take this gap year mountain training program and their backgrounds prior to entering the semester are very diverse but the common end result is a life-changing experience. Many of our students tell us the sense of accomplishment they feel at the end of the semester is unlike anything they have ever experienced. The confidence that comes with this accomplishment lasts well beyond the three month semester and permeates into every aspect of day to day life after the mountain climbing training program.

Recently, Ben, who attended the Fall 2019 Semester shared his experience and reflections with us.  Thanks, Ben!

On a bright September morning, I nervously peered into the classroom at the Yamnuska offices to see who I would be spending the next 3 months with. We were a pretty diverse group: 7 men and 4 women from around the world – Australia, Switzerland, Mexico, the Netherlands, and around Canada. Some had established careers, while others were figuring out new directions. About half of the students wanted to become mountain guides or work in the outdoor industry; others were simply seeking new experiences. From these introductions I was relieved to find that while some people were expert skiers or experienced climbers, everyone had areas to develop and was keen to learn. Over the next three months together we would share tents and food, struggles, and countless laughs. There are, really, too many memories and lessons to share, so I’ll just give my overall impressions:

  • This ain’t no beach vacation – the semester was both physically and mentally demanding. We covered a ton of material and proceeded at a very high pace. After an 8-hour day of climbing and learning about safety systems, we would come back to camp, cook, organize gear, and then students would practice rope rescue. Falling asleep was never difficult after days like that.  That said, the programming is good about accommodating different skill, motivation, and comfort levels: there was usually opportunity for optional rest, and the guides are always monitoring the group’s energy.
  • Skills were built upon and reinforced as the semester progressed, giving us lots of opportunities to develop understanding of techniques and theory. For example, we learned how to build rope anchors in Skaha and applied this countless times later in the semester, on rocks and trees, glaciers, waterfall ice, and snow. When travelling by foot or on skis, we got faster at transitions as we learned how to organize our packs and layers of clothing. In the fall semester, it seemed that each subsequent section got a little more challenging as the weather got colder and we relied on our previous experiences to deal with it.
  • All of our guides were extremely knowledgeable and keen to share their wisdom. They all had hilarious, entertaining, and cautionary stories of their vast experiences in the mountains. Each guide has their own style in teaching and travelling in the mountains and learning from them was by far the most valuable part of the semester.
  • The program takes place in the shoulder season, so weather conditions are rarely ideal. The guides and co-ordinators do a fantastic job of managing this and adjusting plans. For instance, it snowed throughout our alpine climbing section, but the guides still managed to find objectives for us to develop our short-roping skills. Instead of doing our AST 2 in Rogers Pass where temperatures were supposed to hit -30 C, we ended up doing a 5-day Bow-to-Yoho traverse on the Wapta Icefields. This adaptability was inspiring – if you’re keen to get outside and do something, there are usually opportunities that may not be obvious at first.
  • There is a lot of ‘type 2’ fun during the semester – that is, circumstances that are very challenging at the time but ultimately rewarding and memorable. Seemingly endless climbs up boilerplate snow on a glacier can feel miserable, but the views and sense of accomplishment are totally worth it.
  • Students get to know each other very (very) well over the semester. No showers, dehydrated food, and sharing small enclosed spaces breed a certain familiarity. By the end of the 3 months the group definitely felt like family, and I look forward to sharing more adventures with them in the future.

As a generally frugal person, I struggled with justifying the cost of the semester for several weeks. Now though I think that the signing up is one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I have so many unforgettable experiences to show for it. What’s more is that I feel I have the skills and confidence now to pursue further adventures on my own. Thanks Yam!

 

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