Interested in mountaineering, where to start looking?

[Giddy_up]

realise what you are getting into, on my alpine club course, we were told point blank, if you persist with alpine mountaineering you will eventually know someone personally who dies in the sport, if its not you that dies.
200 fatalities in mt cook national park.
80 dead on mt taranaki..

They are pretty sobering numbers wayno, the risks are real and as shown, costly.

[wayno]

something like one in five alpinists end up with chronic health problems as a result of injuries sustained in the sport.

[nitro]

realise what you are getting into, on my alpine club course, we were told point blank, if you persist with alpine mountaineering you will eventually know someone personally who dies in the sport, if its not you that dies.
200 fatalities in mt cook national park.
80 dead on mt taranaki..

Kind of puts things into perspective wayno. Especially for people who think it is going to be a walk in the park and come unprepared.

[wayno]

you need to be able to maintain mental focus for long hours and have good physical endurance.
most climbers have accidents coming down the mountain, descending can be tricky, you're tired, you may have relaxed after knocking off the top. even the best climbers can have accidents, sometimes in places no one would expect to have an accident, when they have relaxed and arent applying their mental faculties to the climb as much.
then theres the risk of avalanche, even skilled climbers can get the avalanche risk wrong.

[radson]

I am kind of curious about that 'stat' that most accidents happen on descent. It is bandied around a lot but have never seen anything quantitative. Checking out accidents in North American mountaineering, the accidents seem fairly equal on ascent and descent.

[wayno]

high altitude mountains might skew the result when climbers are often exhausted from the extreme altitude and struggling for coordination and strength....

[radson]

oh wayno, i am not saying you are wrong. Its just that everyone says most accidents happen on descent and personally I would like to see the statistics from where this assertion is based. I am thinking that the stats are more equally proportionate as exposure time is generally greater on the ascent that descent. Thus mountaineers are more subject to avalanche, rock fall etc on ascent as they are on descent. On the other hand its hard to fall upwards on ascent and yes generally climbers are less fatigued on the ascent. So yeah, I am just curious as to the actual stats.

[davidf]

I think what the original question needs better definition. Do you want to go high altitude bushwalking in the snow, climb remote technical rock or ice, explore greater ranges etc. All are starting points which can lead to the others but mountaineering is a very broad term.

[Lophophaps]

something like one in five alpinists end up with chronic health problems as a result of injuries sustained in the sport.

Wow! I didn't know that. Can you please advise where the figure came from? Thanks. I came really close to a long fall onto rocks on Copeland Pass when a snow slope avalanched. I know five people who have died in big mountains in NZ and the Himalayas. From memory, one was on Pudding Rock - he didn't clip into the cable. Oops.

[radson]

I think what the original question needs better definition. Do you want to go high altitude bushwalking in the snow, climb remote technical rock or ice, explore greater ranges etc. All are starting points which can lead to the others but mountaineering is a very broad term.

For an Australian, I dont think mountaineering is that broad a term . There is a fairly well established apprenticeship where Aussies cross the ditch to start climbing and then 'progress' to higher and/or more technical mountains depending on what appeals to them.

[davidf]

I didn't. Bushwalking led to climbimbing rocks at lindfieled then around the world and then I ended up in Kyrgyzstan.

Re the above post about injuries, I wonder how many are due to liver malfunction?

[north-north-west]

something like one in five alpinists end up with chronic health problems as a result of injuries sustained in the sport.

I once went to a party evenly divided between SCUBA divers and skydivers. You could pick the parachutists because they all winced and groaned when they stood up and/or limped.
Apparently everyone involved in that sport at a certain level has ongoing problems from injuries.

[wayno]

something like one in five alpinists end up with chronic health problems as a result of injuries sustained in the sport.

I once went to a party evenly divided between SCUBA divers and skydivers. You could pick the parachutists because they all winced and groaned when they stood up and/or limped.
Apparently everyone involved in that sport at a certain level has ongoing problems from injuries.

sounds like a Harrier party....

[davidf]

I think what the original question needs better definition. Do you want to go high altitude bushwalking in the snow, climb remote technical rock or ice, explore greater ranges etc. All are starting points which can lead to the others but mountaineering is a very broad term.

For an Australian, I dont think mountaineering is that broad a term . There is a fairly well established apprenticeship where Aussies cross the ditch to start climbing and then 'progress' to higher and/or more technical mountains depending on what appeals to them.

I'd like to think for an aussie getting into moutaineering, any sort of technichal alpinism and are fast tracking having a scope of goal and expectation is important. You want to climb everest get a gym membership with a variety of stairmasters and do a jumar course, climb alpine ice do an ice course, climb alpine rock hit the blueys and do 2 big routes a day, wanna save your *&%$#! do an avalanchche and crevasse course in nz or pick up a mentor.

If you want a guided trip up a pretty peak the orgs mention above are the way to go. If you want to climb the golden piller of spantk you just need the learning that no course will teach.

Run out of time but have more in future to offer and I do not think anyone has given BAD advice

[wayno]

heres alan arnette who wrote the artilce about how not to get killed by your guide giving a lecture on his recent clumb of manaslu,, the sound only starts around 12 minutes, goes a bit funny , but improves again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm9f5BAHNfo

[nitro]

I think what the original question needs better definition. Do you want to go high altitude bushwalking in the snow, climb remote technical rock or ice, explore greater ranges etc. All are starting points which can lead to the others but mountaineering is a very broad term.

For an Australian, I dont think mountaineering is that broad a term . There is a fairly well established apprenticeship where Aussies cross the ditch to start climbing and then 'progress' to higher and/or more technical mountains depending on what appeals to them.

That is pretty much what my goal is radson. As skills and experience progress, I would hope to move up to varying mountain environments depending on such skills achieved. I think the more knowledge and experience I can get at a wide variety of techniques, the better prepared I will be.