"Basic Mountaineering Exploration Safety Skills"

Class Description:
This class is about informed backcountry adventures in the high country. This class is based on traditional Basic Mountaineering Training provided by major outdoor clubs in the North West.

Participants will learn more: 1. About the Basic Responsibilities of the wilderness traveler, traditional backcountry Leadership, the new Essential Systems and clothing, 3. About the identification and possible mitigation of Risks in outdoor high country adventures using traditional rope protection techniques, 3. About planning a reasonable adventure and finding your way with map, compass and optional GPS and 4. About light weight high country camping, food and water management.

Hands-on training includes working with:
1. The suggested light weight Ten Essential Systems, personal First Aid Kit and the suggested day pack;
2. Appropriate footwear: shoes or boots, poles;
3. Clothing: sox, Capalene underwear, climbing pants, GorTex gaiters, wicking insulation layers, fleece tops, soft shells and hard shells in several combinations, various hats and gloves;
4. Bivy and three season tent options, goose down and synthetic sleeping bag options and insulating pads in the high country backpack;
5. Water management and cooking including required food, stoves, pots, spoons, plates and cups, filters and water bottles;
6. Planning a reasonable trip to suggested local points using map, compass and optional GPS, and route finding in the winter;
7. Making the required setup changes to GPS factory defaults, simplifying the marking/saving/creating and finding of landmarks/waypoints in UTM position coordinates; setting up the inexpensive hand held baseplate compass to eliminate the dangerous local 17 degree magnetic declination error. We will practice all these skills with local maps in the classroom;
8. Climbing steep hard snow spring slopes and in part mitigating fourth class Risk with minimum gear, demonstrations and discussion;

Robert Speik, your instructor,
Is an experienced backcountry leader/instructor and editor of student and leader handbooks. For six years, he taught popular Mountaineering, Alpine Rambling, Backpacking and Wilderness Navigation classes and field seminars at Central Oregon Community College Adult Extention. Bob is the author of the popular world wide website www.TraditionalMountaineering.org .

Group dynamics -
The class includes time for Participants to plan an adventure with new classmates and others. We will be working together with the actual gear recommended in the class.

This basic to advanced training -
Can be completed in one interesting morning. Cost per participant is $35.00, a donation benefiting the nonprofit website www.TraditionalMountaineering.org. Handouts will include a printed summary of the class information.

Reserve your places! We may have a wait list!
We can accommodate five participants or so for this morning adventure. Call Bob at 541-385-0445 or send an email inquiry to info@TraditionalMountaineering.org.

Flyer_BMTC_0607.doc