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Alpine Development Week

If you've been to the Alps and want to take your alpine climbing further then this is the trip for you. We aim to take you from being a competent snow climber (perhaps you've climbed Mont Blanc or done our Monte Rosa trek) and turn you into a mountaineer. We will be focussing on scrambling skills, rock skills, and possibly even ice-climbing skills if the conditions allow. Our aim is to make you a faster, more efficient and more technical alpine climber, in order to allow you to climb more serious alpine routes.

We spend the whole week operating on a ratio of 1:2, so there are a huge number of quality routes available. By the end of the week we hope to have got you up routes graded up to AD. Typical routes climbed on a development week would be:

Rock Climbing on the Jegihorn. Rock Climbs up to 14 pitches long.
Hohlaubgrat (PD) on the Allalinhorn (4027m).
South ridge (PD+)on the Wiesmies (4017m)
Feechopf traverse (PD+) to the Alphubel (4206m)
South ridge (AD) on the Lagginhorn (4010m)

We usually base ourselves in a hotel in the Saas Valley of Switzerland. This is the adjacent valley to Zermatt, and an excellent venue for high quality alpine climbing.

If you're wondering which days we climb on, the first and last day of a trip are the arrival/dispersal days. So if a trip was listed as 1-8 August, you would arrange your travel to get there 1st August. Climbing would begin 2nd August, and finish the evening of 7th August. You would leave on 8th August.



Dates, Prices & Availability
FromToPrice (Euros)Places AvailableBook
13 Jul 2024 20 Jul 2024 2999 3 Book a place
12 Jul 2025 19 Jul 2025 2999 4 Book a place
  • Duration:
    6 mountain days
  • Venue:
    Saastal, Switzerland
  • Ratios:
    The week is run on a strict ratio of 1:2 all week.
  • Experience Required:

    You should already have a week of experience in the Alps. Your trip may have been a Mont Blanc week, or perhaps Gran Paradiso/Monte Rosa.. You are competent on steep snowy ground but have limited climbing experience. If you have never been to the Alps, but have undertaken numerous days on crampons in Scotland or the Greater Ranges then this would still be a suitable week for you.
  • Information Sheet:

    Alpine Development Week - Information Folder