Meeting at 6pm in your hotel close to L’Argentiere la Besee where your guide will check your gear and brief you for the week. You will have a nice dinner and a good nights rest.

Your guide will pick you up at 8.00 for your first day of ice climbing. You will go to Fressinieres or Aiguilles to learn the basics. How to use your axes and crampons, repelling and belaying. On this first day we will work a lot on technique.

After a hearty breakfast your guide will pick you up for a second day of practice. You will go to Cervieres where the ice is a bit steeper and you will also try to use your ice tools on the rock, mixed climbing (rock and ice) is great fun! Learn to use screws, make V threads and the basic rope technics we use on multi pitch climbs. You will also have basic avalanche rescue training as this is one of the major risks  in ice climbing.

Time to go multi-pitch! You will climb your first full sized ice climb. Celliac is a great place for this. If you feel like it you can even try to lead a pitch. We will work on the dangers inherent to ice climbing: how to assess if a climb is safe. This is one of the most important parts of becoming a true ice climber.

More ice. By this time you will have become an (n)ice addict. Les Orres has some long and major classics waiting for you. Keep building up your technical skills and work on how to make the right decisions, never easy in the mountains.

Early start today (6:00) as we will do a big climb and hit the road to go back to the airport. Fournel or Fressinieres, which host some of the biggest and baddest ice climbs in the world will be you climbing ground. Today you will swing your axes with all the skills you’ve built up during the week. This is the last day of the course, you will be free to leave or stay longer if you prefer.

Please keep in mind that the program is adaptable to ice and snow conditions, your guide will be there to choose the best and safest places for you to climb.