For as long as we have been climbing mountains, we've tried to explain it to those who don't. "Because it's there," goes the classic phrase coined by George Mallory. But simple, hackneyed phrases just don't quite do it. Nor does any explanation, really. You have to go there to understand.

From the vast expanses of Alaska's snow and ice, to the jagged peaks of Patagonia, to the worn granite and retreating glaciers of Wyoming's Wind River Range, NOLS has introduced thousands of budding mountaineers to the wonders of mountain climbing.

Tradition

A NOLS mountaineering course is a traditional experience. Our mountaineering instructors are highly trained and skilled. When they aren't teaching, they are in remote corners of the earth climbing mountains on their own. The techniques they use on these expeditions are the same ones they teach to you on a NOLS mountaineering course. And these are the same proven techniques that have been used for years, a tradition that extends back three decades.

Training

While the emergence of sport climbing and climbing gyms has contributed much to the sport of climbing, you don't scale the big peaks safely without a good solid base of traditional climbing methods. You'll get them at NOLS. And these are skills you can transfer back to sport climbing, ice climbing, or peak ascents.

Technique

A NOLS mountaineering course isn't a guided affair with the singular goal of putting the client on the summit. You'll learn how it is done and benefit from a time-tested teaching progression. It's okay if the tallest thing you've ever climbed is a flight of stairs. You don't need to be an expert. You'll start with the basics: tying the knots, learning the systems, caring for the equipment, then move on to more advanced topics such as protection placement, anchor building, and climbing movement. Intermixed with these technical skills will be discussions and classes on wildlife, mountaineering ethics, cooking, map reading, expedition behavior, group dynamics and much, much more. Emphasis will be on the NOLS core curriculum.

You don't need to be a super jock to excel in mountain climbing. Sure, you'll be challenged, but that's part of the fun. And you'll learn the judgment to know when to say "when;" indeed one of the best things you can learn in a high alpine environment is when not to climb.

Excerpts from the book, NOLS Wilderness Mountaineering, are available on-line.