So what happens when you have decided you want to take trekking to the next level and do some form of mountaineering?  You start realizing you need certain technical skills as well as the technical equipment.  In this section, MIR will introduce techniques which are frequently used on mountains climbed using technical equipment.  However, please note that mountain environments are varied and there are usually a number of ways to climb, what is provided in this section is merely a guideline, you are free to make adaptations at your own discretion and base on your own personal risk appetite.  MIR bears no responsibility for risk involved in mountaineering.

So let’s breakdown the process of climbing a mountain in different sections and stages to make things clearer as well as show what kind of technical training MIR can provide.  We can divide the knowledge required for any attempt at the mountain into 2 broad categories, climbing knowledge and survival knowledge.  Climbing knowledge will cover the approach, the ascent and the descent.  The approach is pretty straight forward; basically trekking to the base of the mountain you wish to climb.  The ascent will include crampon techniques, anchors, glacier travel, climbing (be it ice, traditional, sport, mixed or dry tooling), multi-pitch as well as fixed rope techniques.  The descent will either be just a plod down, glissade, ski or rappel.  Survival knowledge will be the 4 basic requirements of humans, food, shelter, water and clothing.

Now, living in Singapore, we haven exactly got the ideal conditions to go about training and equipping everyone with all of the climbing and survival knowledge but that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare ourselves technically for the mountain.  Where ever possible, MIR will do its best to equip members with knowledge which does not involve demonstration on mountain environments, such as rope work, some ascending/descending techniques as well as techniques used in glacier travel.

Therefore to prepare each new batch of participants for the mountain, each batch will be required to attend the following technical training programs.

• SNCS Level 1 Sports Climbing
• At least 3 technical training sessions conducted by the seniors from previous batches covering the following skills.
  • Ascending techniques using Prussiks and Jumar ascendor
  • Multi-pitch climbing and setting up for rappelling
  • Crevasse rescue and roping up for glacier travel.