Coming up for Mountain Guide, Gary Dickson is a 7 day Alpine climbing skills course , based in the Mt Cook alpine climbing region, Southern Alps, New Zealand.

IFMGA mountain guide Gaz has just arrived back from Mt Cook region where he has spent seven days teaching alpine climbing skills to 6 students with fellow IFMGA mountain guide Dave McKinley.

IFMGA Mountain Guide Gary is just back from the Mt Cook, Tasman Saddle area having just completed a 7 day Alpine Guides private instruction course for two clients who wanted to learn/hone their skills for further alpine climbing in the NZ southern alps.  The weather was pretty windy, making for spectacular weather clouds( which were fantastic examples to see and learn from) and the neve is well filled in making for easy glacier travel/access/egress for upcoming mountaineering trips.

lenticular cloud formation observed on the recent alpine climbing instruction course

Leading out on the Tasman Glacier , private instruction climbing course

Climbers in the Darwin Icefall, Tasman Glacier, Mt Cook

Finally I have got myself into the 21st century one might say…I have an iphone, and hence alpine pics taken with it on our most recent  trip.

Here some pics from  Pioneer hut, Head of the Fox Glacier –  a week with Tomasz and Lida from Shanghai. A great course up there alpine climbing and learning skills like ice climbing on a  perfect icewall up near the 2nd pioneer hut site.

Pioneer hut, a perfect place for and alpine climbing/instruction course in NZ

Fantastic ice formations @ governors col, main divide of the NZ southern alps

End of March/start of April had Mountain Guide Gary Dickson and Kasia and Tim from Australia head into the mountains  for a 6 day Alpine climbing instruction course .Based out of Plateau hut , covering, knots, hitches, roping up for glacier travel, belays, cramponing and ice climbing, anchors, mountain  weather, avalanche, etc…….

learning to belay on the 6 day alpine climbing course

ice climbing – Mt Cook in the background

Happy belayer

February saw IFMGA Mountain Guide Gary  and Tomasz and Lida from Shanghai head into Tasman Saddle for a 7 day alpine climbing instruction course

Fresh snow during the alpine climbing instruction  course.

View of Mt Cook from Tasman saddle hut

Freshly coated Tasman Saddle hut

Decemebr 2017 had Mountain Guide Gary Dickson head up to the Mount Cook Climbing region to instruct an Alpine climbing course.

Learn the skills of glacier travel and glaciation on an alpine instruction course With Mountain Guide Gary Dickson

Observe and interpret mountain weather on an Alpine skills course