Summer Mountain Skills Course
Mountain skills courses can be based in the Aoraki / Mount Cook, or Westland National Parks. The exact venue will be decided at the start of the trip depending on the weather. Possible venues include Plateau Hut, Tasman Saddle or Kelman Huts at the head of the Haupapa / Tasman Glacier, Barron Saddle Hut and the Mueller Glacier, Pioneer or Centennial Huts on the western Fox and Franz Neves. These venues offer flexibility to target the optimum weather and conditions.
Check out our Downloads page for course resources to prepare.
Technical equipment is provided. View the equipment list for details on the other equipment required for the course.
For more information and advice on buying your own gear, check out our Gear and Clothing Advice for Summer Mountaineering.
Limited time or budget? Check out our Mountaineering Courses for our shorter local mountain instruction on the Remarkables Mountaineering Course, Technical Ropes Skills Courses, Rock Climbing Courses, and Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue Courses.
If you have already done a mountaineering course previously, check out range of specialist courses to take the next step in your pathway or put it all into practice on our Advanced Alpine Mountaineering Course.
These intensive courses are designed for aspiring mountaineers looking to learn skills in ropework, ice axe and crampon use, alpine climbing, and trip planning. This will give you the confidence to tackle your own mountaineering objectives in New Zealand’s big glaciated terrain and on our high peaks.
Topics covered on Summer Mountaineering Courses include the alpine skills of:
The itinerary is flexible to work around weather and conditions and below is just a sample of what may happen on a course. If there is a delay getting into the mountains or the trip has to exit early, the course will base at NZAC Unwin Lodge in Mount Cook village or our Kea Lodge base in Wanaka and utilise local rock climbing and other accessible venues to continue with the instruction.
Day 1: Meeting at our base in Wanaka at 8:30, you meet your guide and go through gear checks and the plan for the trip. It is a 2.5 hour drive to Mount Cook Airport to fly into the mountains. Get settled in the hut and venture out on the glacier for a few hours to explore the area and get familiar with glacier travel systems.
Day 2 – 4: Continue to explore the area, covering the topics of the syllabus with opportunities to practice climbing and rescue skills on nearby peaks and in nearby crevasses.
Day 5: Travel down the Haupapa / Tasman glacier to explore side valleys before flying out back to Mount Cook village. If the conditions are good, it may be possible to leave the hut the day before and spend the last night biviing out on the glacier. We return to Wanaka, arriving around 17:00.
Can't make these dates? Get in touch to express interest for other dates and we can try and team you up with others.
Private courses for individuals or groups can be arranged at any time. This allows you to choose the dates, and duration, and tailor the course content to your specific requirements.
Includes: GST, NZMGA certified guide, compliance costs, course resources, accommodation in the mountains or Kea Lodge during the course, all food, technical equipment, transport from Wanaka, and helicopter flight into and out of the mountains.
The meeting point for courses is our base in Albert Town, Wanaka. If you require accommodation the night before or after the course, it is possible to book extra nights at our comfortable Kea Lodge.
‘[Our guide] did an outstanding job of creating building blocks of learning – e.g. around crevasse rescue – so each of us was able to assimilate the learning involved at a rate that was appropriate for each of us. He also very skilfully managed and created situations where we could test ourselves at a level at which we were comfortable, without specifically calling this out. He is exceptional as a guide and brings a number of qualities to guiding which are very difficult to teach and which make him stand out to me.'
— Ruth, Summer Mountaineering Course
