WK: You mentioned the classification of routes as 5.8. Can you explain the classification system?
CN: The system goes from Class 1 to 6. 1 is where you're walking up a gradual slope; Class 5 is when you get into a vertical setting where you are actually using ropes to climb—it basically means that if you took a fall, death or injury would result. Rock climbing mostly deals with the Class 5 system, and that's where it breaks down into more technical ratings.
Once you get into class 6 it means you can't physically climb up, but you have to use pieces of equipment in the rock or ice to pull on to make upward progress; this is also known as aid climbing.
WK: What specific skills are important for a climber to master to progress to higher elevations with glaciated peaks?
CN: Most of the folks I guide, I try to get them into a mountaineering skills course first. In this type of course they are going to learn crampon work because most people haven't walked in crampons and that's really important; a fall on any slope could have serious repercussions. There are various techniques to walking in crampons—walking with them using the points under foot or using the front points.
Of course, using an ice axe and knowing how to self-arrest is important. Another important skill to learn is how to belay. Belaying is a way to protect climbers by keeping the rope tight, insuring that if they fall into a crevasse or if a bridge breaks the climber is secure. Knowing how to properly belay gives you control to prevent a climber from getting hurt or even pulling an entire team down.
Learning how to travel as part of a rope team is an essential skill when learning to be a mountaineer. That can be tricky and there are a lot of skills involved. These skills are necessary when climbers are on glaciated terrain, which you find in mountainous areas that receive more annual precipitation than can be shed in a given season.
From the standpoint of a guide, a team can only go as fast as [its] slowest person. You want to make sure you can travel efficiently as a rope team and find the balance between moving quick enough from point A to point B in an expedited fashion and, at higher altitude, making sure you don't push the climbers so fast that they might come down with high altitude sickness or pulmonary or cerebral edema. Monitoring their pace as a rope team is very important.
WK: It sounds like glacier travel and being part of a rope team are really key elements that separate high peak mountaineering from lower elevation climbing. Is that right?
Nance: When you start mountaineering, you will start at lower elevations such as the peaks in the Pacific Northwest or in Mexico. Then you move on to more remote and technical mountains like Denali or Vinson that require a higher skill set and prior expedition training. Most of these peaks require glacier travel and, for example, on Denali, the entire route is glaciated.
On glaciated terrain, you have to always be prepared for anyone to go into a crevasse at any time. Part of your skills for being on a rope team is not just belaying each other or being belayed, but if someone does go into a crevasse, the team needs to be able to arrest the fall. [Also], the person in the crevasse needs to be able to get out on their own. This requires a certain degree of technical skill, so they need to learn how to use friction hitches such as the prusik to ascend the rope, and knowledge of hauling systems and mechanical advantage in the event the climber in the crevasse is unable to climb out.
This is all part of an introductory mountaineering course for someone who is interested in climbing at higher elevations on glaciated terrain. I suggest that climbers go to courses such as those given by Alaska Mountaineering School or Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.