Winter Alpine Ice

List Trips

Ice climbing using two ice tools develops your technique on steeper ground, your crampon technique, balance and coordination, as well as testing your upper body strength.

Climbing frozen waterfalls can be enjoyed in it's own right, or you can use it to give you confidence on more technical mountaineering routes, where proficiency on steep ground is required.

Read more about our Alpine Ice Courses »

Sort by... Trip name Region Difficulty Duration

Introduction

During the winter months, waterfalls in the European Alps freeze to provide varied and challenging ice climbs, from single pitch falls located minutes from the road, to hundreds of metres of twisting and undulating ice carving through high mountain valleys. Our IFMGA Guides are ice-climbing enthusiasts, who know the areas well and are tuned into the local conditions. Most of them have worked on Jagged Globe Alpine Ice courses since their inception.

Why Alpine Ice?

Icefall climbing is a fun activity in it's own right, or you can use it to help you prepare for technical mountaineering, demanding proficiency with two ice axes on steep ground. Whether you prefer a more relaxing rhythm and easier grades, or wish to be tested to the extreme, we guarantee you an action-packed and fun experience.

Whatever the level, we are looking at safety on ice, including

• Avalanche awareness
• Placing ice protection
• Organisation of belays
• Rope techniques
• Abseiling off ice anchors
• Steep ice techniques
• Leading (for those ready for it)

Places are limited to 8 per course, so please book early to secure your preferred dates.

Preparation and Equipment

Anyone can join us ice climbing, so long as you can abseil/rappel. You can learn this technique on a Rock Introduction course. Indoor climbing is a good way to prepare, as it improves upper body and grip strength. We provide top of the range ice climbing equipment, included in the course cost (Charlet Moser Quark axes and M10 crampons). You need a harness, helmet, warm gloves and a warm layering system as temperatures should be below zero!

Find out more about our Guides, Travel, Accommodation, Inclusions and Exclusions and Booking... read more »

Courses

Chamonix and Cogne - 5 days of icefalls in Chamonix and Cogne in Italy - arguably Europe's capital for ice climbing.
Slovenian Ice - 6 days ice climbing in Slovenia at venues around Kranjska Gora.

Calendar

• Sun 18 – Fri 23 Jan

  Alpine Ice - Chamonix and Cogne

  £2045 (from Chamonix)

  Early booking offer available

  All Levels

  ?

  Book Now » More info »
• Sun 25 Jan – Sun 1 Feb

  Slovenian Ice

  £2450 (from Ljubljana)

  Early booking offer available

  All Levels

  ?

  Book Now » More info »
• Sun 25 – Fri 30 Jan

  Alpine Ice - Chamonix and Cogne

  £2045 (from Chamonix)

  Early booking offer available

  All Levels

  ?

  Book Now » More info »

Details

Guides

Here are some of the personalities you may climb with:

Andy Owen BMG IFMGA
Andy Owen has been a regular member of our Alpine Courses instructor team since his days as an Aspirant Guide. He has an outgoing and cheerful personality and is a pleasure to be with in the hills. His experience extends far beyond the Alps, to South America where he has climbed Aconcagua several times, and the Himalaya, where he has led Jagged Globe expeditions, including Ama Dablam.

Richard Dupont IFMGA
Richard Dupont was born in Annecy but has lived in Luz (our base for the Gavarnie Ice courses) for the past 25 years. He speaks excellent English, knows the local climbing as well as anyone and is of course very familiar with the climbing conditions. In his back yard at Gavarnie, you could not wish for a more hospitable ice climbing guide. Additional English-speaking IFMGA guides from Luz and the local area will work with Richard on our Gavarnie Ice courses.

Tomaz Jakofcic IFMGA
An IFMGA Guide from Slovenia, Tomaz started climbing at age 15. Since then he has climbed over 900 alpine routes, with many world-class first ascents in the Greater Ranges. His CV reads like a dream list, and includes ascents in the Himalayas of the NE Ridge of Dhaulagiri (8,167m), alpine-style new routes on Gyachung Kang (7,952 m) and Siguang Ri (7,308m) and the first alpine style ascent of 'Eternal Flame' on the Trango Tower in the Karakoram. In recent years, Tomaz has focussed his personal climbing efforts in Patagonia "probably because they have excellent food and wine down there", with three summits of Fitz Roy, all via different routes, and new alpine-style routes on Almirante Nieto -Eol and the North Tower of Paine. In the Alps, Tomaz has climbed many of the modern hard classics, including the Croz Spur on the Grandes Jorasses, Divine Providence - reckoned to be the hardest route to the summit of Mont Blanc and the tenuous ice climb, Beyond Good and Evil on the Pelerins. Tomaz has become one of our most highly praised Guides and is now a key member of our Alpine Summer Courses team. He also leads expeditions for Jagged Globe and was a leader on our 2008 Manaslu expedition and in 2009 summited Mt Everest as a leader on the Jagged Globe expedition.

Neil Brodie IFMGA
Based in Cluses (halfway between Chamonix and Geneva), Neil qualified as an IFMGA Guide in 1999 and has been involved with Jagged Globe courses since 2000. A fanatical and talented ice climber, a recent interview throws some light on his most memorable outings in the mountains and on ice:

What significant first ascents have you made on ice, if any? Every ice route is a first ascent at the start of the season. And they always feel significant!
Favourite ice routes? Lyre Directe (Cirque du Fer à Cheval), Hagg'ice (Les Aravis). Will they ever form again? Do I care?
Favourite mixed route? The one I did above my house with Tom Briggs (Marketing Director of Jagged Globe in his spare time and total wasted talent on ice). It has since been bolted up and turned into a mixed, sport route that you can comfortably get in before picking the kids up from school. I wasn't going to do it again anyway. [Photo of this route here - Ed ]
Favourite big routes? Anything that gets me alternately tired and scared (both at the same time is less fun) in good company. Highlights include the North Face of the Eiger with Jon, Supercanaletta on Fitzroy with Marc, Colton/MacIntyre on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses with Jean-François, Dru Couloir with Jean-Jaques, Peuterey Intégrale on Mont Blanc with Neil and Rick, Supercouloir Intégral with Pascal, Mescalito on El Capitan with Tim, various things in Bolivia with Patrick, Rory and Steve, traverse of Mont Blanc de Cheilon with Keith and Steve (OK, so I was tired and scared at the same time on that one).
Skiing highlights? Anything with knee-deep powder, a decent slope and a bit of banter.
Gnarly descents? Hitting the deck from the top of Three Pebble Slab at Froggatt, aged 18 [A famous E1 5a in the Peak District - Ed]
Famous couloir descents? Whymper on the Aiguille Verte, Y-couloir on the Aiguille d'Argentière, NE slope on the Courtes, and numerous unfamous ones...

Accommodation

Chamonix and Cogne
We are based at two excellent family run hotels, La Chaumière Mountain Lodge in Chamonix and La Barme in charming Valnontey. La Barme has a sauna to help you unwind before dinner!

La Grave (L'Oisans, France)
We are based at Eric and Pauline's lovely Chambre de Hôte Les Petites Sources. This family run gîte is a delight to return to after a hard day's climbing, when the log stove welcomes us back and Pauline's excellent meals set us up for the next day's adventures. For those with any strength left, there is always the climbing wall in the attic to hone skills yet further. For the rest, there are plenty of cafés and bars in the nearby town centre.

Pyrenean Ice - Gavarnie (Luz St Sauveur)
Our base for the Pyrenean Ice - Gavarnie courses is the delightful mountain village of Luz St Sauveur. Luz is a sunny little town with a 12th Century church and many beautiful buildings in the old part of town, where we stay. Our first choice of accommodation is the Hotel les Templiers on the Place de la Comporte. This charming little hotel is owned and managed by Sian and Laurant Grandsimon. We may also accommodate course participants at Les Remparts, just off the square. All courses are organised on a half-board basis and will eat at the Hotel les Templiers' excellent restaurant. It is a 25-minute drive to where we walk into the cirque from the small village of Gavarnie itself.

Slovenian Ice
We are based in Kranjska Gora. This is a small traditional inn, serving home-made slovene dishes in a cosy, traditional atmosphere.

Travel

Chamonix and Cogne
Start and finish in Chamonix, France. The easiest method of reaching Chamonix is to fly to Geneva and use a shared transfer service to take you to your hotel in Chamonix. The transfer can be booked through your on-line account.

La Grave (L'Oisans, France)
Bourg d'Oisans is the gateway to Les Ecrins National Park in the Western Alps. It is the main town in the area and just one hour from Grenoble. The most straightforward and cost-effective method of reaching Bourg from the UK is to fly to Lyon airport and use the efficient coach service via Grenoble.

Pyrenean Ice - Gavarnie (Luz St Sauveur)
The village of Luz is 30 minutes from Lourdes, 1.5 hours from Pau and 2 hours from Toulouse and Biarritz. Easyjet fly to Toulouse from London Gatwick. Lourdes has good train links direct from Paris or from Toulouse. We can arrange a transfer from Lourdes to Luz - please contact us for details.

Slovenian Ice
Easyjet fly from London Stansted to Ljubljana. You can then travel by public transport to Kranjska Gora, or we can organise a transfer.

Visit our Links Page for travel websites.

Equipment

We include the loan of ice axes and crampons in the course cost, if booked in advance.

On-line booking

You can book any of our courses securely on-line by selecting your preferred dates and paying a deposit by credit/debit card. We will send you a confirmation of booking and comprehensive Joining Instructions, which includes travel information and a detailed equipment list... Book now »