ACC Section Camp - Instructional week July 23-29, 2017

ACC Section Camp – Instructional week July 23-29, 2017

September 4, 2017 Nathalie Drotar

I believe all participants would agree with me that the course was absolutely outstanding and a big success in all aspects!

We had optimal weather conditions and kindly enjoyed the camp being already built for us with no obligation to put it down on our departure. Fairy Meadows location gave us an opportunity to explore two big mountain groups within a day trips with or without alpine start. As the weather was favorable we had full-on every day program, no breaks.

Under Brent Peter’s mentorship we prepared and lead big mountain trips in complex alpine terrain, reviewed how to move in alpine terrain as well as on a glacier, refreshed our crevasse rescue skills, practiced route finding, terrain recognition, learned how to implement local weather conditions to our trip planning and practiced navigation skills. We climbed on rock with a valuable feedback on our trad leading skills, scrambled difficult terrains, climbed big mountains and traveled on different glaciers. Brent helped us to concur big objectives showing us how to deal with very difficult terrain and how to properly implement group dynamics.

Daily briefings provided us with a good personal feedback on our skills and helped us to recognize what we need to work on and what aspects of trip leadership are crucial. The fact that Brent mentored us throughout the week but not guided every each of our steps was very valuable. He gave us an opportunity to practice the core skills on our own and thought us how to critically evaluate our performance. As a result majority of us grew into fully mature and confident amateur trip leaders or at least highly competent seconds.

But most importantly, we had tons of fun and met great people at a gorgeous place!

I think we all agree the program should continue in the future, greetings to all!

Inka Slaba