If you are interested in taking the course for the current season, please contact the Instructor of Record by leaving your contact information in the form below for a comment (which will not be published, but will be reviewed).
The course is always subject on account of insufficient snowpack and/or potentially dangerous weather. In the case of cancellation, the course will be rescheduled for the following year.
We will meet 9:30 Saturday morning at the Mt Greylock Ski Club so as to take advantage of the weekend lift-served operations for some practice skiing with our overnight packs. (Note that the ski lodge is more akin to a backcountry hut, as it lacks running water and electricity.)
Your pack should be ready to go for a three-day/two-night backpacking trip, complete with food and initial water (to be supplemented by naturally available sources, with appropriate treatment and/or snow melting). We will begin the course with a show & tell of the instructors’ packs, followed by a detailed inspection of each student’s pack. We will then spend an hour or so riding the Mt Greylock rope tows so as to work on our skiing skills while carrying our full overnight packs. Students who are not sufficiently prepared must leave the course at this point and will receive an Incomplete grade.
We will then leave for the Mount Greylock State Reservation. Almost all of our travel will be with our full overnight packs, as our second overnight camp will be in a different location from the first overnight, thereby gaining additional practice in unpacking and repacking our gear, as well as setting up camp. Along the way, we will practice -- by actually doing them, not just talking about them inside -- all of our skills from MTR1, but in a more challenging winter setting. We will also introduce GPS navigation, 6:1 mechanical advantage systems, and ice axe and crampon use.
We will return to the Ski Club lodge Monday afternoon for a final course debriefing.
Finally, note that dogs are prohibited. Also, attendance at the course is restricted to enrolled students. Friends, family, etc., are certainly welcome to join in the many recreational opportunities available to the public at the Mount Greylock State Reservation, but they should not plan on listening in, observing, tagging along, etc. during course activities.
