Summer Mountain Skills Course

The Summer Mountaineering Course covers all the skills required to confidently tackle your own mountain adventures. New Zealand’s Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana are renowned for high glaciation and relief and offer a variety of classic mountaineering routes. This makes it the perfect training ground for local and worldwide mountaineering objectives. Early season conditions favour the classic snow and ice ascents whilst mid to late season, the focus shifts to alpine rock scrambling and climbing.

Location

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.

Participants can join the course in Wānaka or meet in Mount Cook Village.

Course Syllabus

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:

Route planning and navigation
Glacier travel and crevasse rescue
Crampon and ice axe use
Trip planning, strategy, and tactics
Weather and avalanche awareness
Snow and ice climbing, protection, and anchors
Alpine rock climbing, protection, and anchors
Equipment selection

Check out our Downloads page course resources.

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.

Summer Mountaineering Skills Course Itinerary

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 Wānaka 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 Wānaka, arriving around 17:00.

Fitness and Difficulty Requirements

Wanaka Mountain Guides [] Mount Sefton at Dawn

Wānaka Mountain Guides - Summer Mountaineering Course

To get the most out of the course, participants should have good fitness and the ability to ascend and descend 1000m in a day.

To get the most out of the course, participants should be familiar with tying in and belaying. These skills can be picked up at the local climbing wall before the course. Some prior snowcraft experience is recommended but not essential.

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.

Equipment

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.

Equipment List

Pricing and Dates

Duration: 4-5 days

Maximum ratio: 1:4

2025/26 Dates:

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.

2025/26 Price:

Inclusions: GST, NZMGA certified guide, compliance costs, course resources, accommodation in the mountains or Kea Lodge during the course, all food, technical equipment, transport from Wānaka, 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

‘I just wanted to thank you for organising such an epic week. [Our guide] was fantastic. We learnt so much and felt challenged in a good way, whilst feeling extremely safe and reassured that we were learning best practice methods. He also made an effort to tailor the trip to our goals which made us feel really valued. Food was also a little concern for us as we don’t eat meat but the meals were super delicious and there was plenty of food! We’re off to the remarks this weekend (on easy terrain) to practise our new rope skills.’

— Issy, Summer Mountaineering Course

‘[Our guide] showed a high level of experience, knowledge, and professionalism in all areas of the course and were also able to convey their knowledge in a logical way that made it easy to progressively learn and practice all the skills. The skills were also taught at a rate that meant I was continually challenged to think about what I was learning and what to do next, but also in a way that made sense and gave us time to absorb all the information so everything came together at the end when we consolidated our learning on the final day on the mountain.’

—Katie, Summer Mountaineering Course

‘Heli ride in and out was awesome, crevasse rescue training, glaciology teaching and ice climbing was all brilliant. Bucket list stuff, can’t wait to do more. Good teaching, gave us enough freedom to learn experientially while always controlling the exposure to risk in a clear way.’

— Will, Summer Mountaineering Course

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