How to begin in alpine tours

Question

I know it's probably too risky to make alpine tours alone, especially when you go over glaciers. I joined DAV to be insured while in the mountains and to be able to use the offerings like courses and guided tours. But they are quite expensive, I can't and don't want to do this every month.

I also read books about the topic but I guess book knowledge isn't enough, especially for higher risk mountain tours.

In my opinion the best would be to have a couple of more advanced friends who are able to teach or even know guides or groups and go with them for fun and to learn. Unfortunately I am not having this opportunity.

• What do you think is most important to learn and how should one learn?

My experience is quite low, e.g. I have no clue about knots and security. I think that I am quite well equipped already, although this might not be the most important to start with. From my point of view I am also quite fit.

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To summarize the question I could also ask:

• When you were a beginner, who were the persons you learnt from and how did you met them?
• What did they teach you and in which order?

Answer 1

In my opinion the best would be to have a couple of more advanced friends who are able to teach or even know guides or groups and go with them for fun and to learn. Unfortunately I am not having this opportunity (yet?).

How that, when you are already a member of the DAV? It is first and foremost an club of mountain enthusiasts, not a provider of insurance and paid courses. The Ortsgruppen and Interessengruppen are basically just people enjoying their hobby together, and open to all DAV members. They have regular (weekly to monthly) meet-ups and are usually happy to welcome newcomers. However, they will expect you to have at least basic knowledge about things like "knots and security" before they take you on a trip - so it might be a good idea to pay for a course first, maybe after going to a meet-up and asking for advice which one would be most appropriate.

There is also an online DAV community where your question might yield more specific answers than here.

To make this answer more general: Try to find clubs or informal meetings of fellow mountaineers where you can meet people to learn from. Apart from the internet, stores that carry mountaineering equipment are a good place to start; the employees are often involved in the local scene or at least know about it.

Answer 2

If you have the equipment already, I would go back to the book and practice using the equipment. In the US the standard text is Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills; there may be equivalents in other countries.

Basic techniques such as knots can be practiced in your home, and a bit of regular practice each day should soon make them second nature. With a tree or strong overhead beam you can also practice ascending and descending ropes using friction knots, and with a buddy (or a bag filled with weights) you can also experiment with setting up different hauling systems. (Don't run the rope directly over a branch; the friction will damage the tree. Run the rope through a pulley or carabiners instead.)

The idea is to have the core skills well-practiced, so that once you're out with a buddy you can focus on when and why to apply them, rather than trying to remember how to tie a particular knot. On a related note, it's also important to make very sure you have learned the techniques correctly. An "eh, it looks close enough" approach can result in subtle and undesirable variations.

A good subsequent step is to poke about the Internet and look at how things go wrong. For the US the American Alpine Club publishes Accidents in North American Mountaineering each year and I expect DAV has its own publications as well. This will help you anticipate and take steps to prevent such risks, rather than risking rediscovering them on your own.