I Spent some time over the weekend, and again today, researching places to go to get trained at mountaineering. I’ve found a few interesting places that over training and guided expeditions, some quite affordable.
I plan to start small, and work my way up. My goal is to make my first trip out before winter ends, there’s a place in New Hampshire that offers a three day course/expedition that covers all the basics and essentials and culminates in a climb up Mt. Washington. At just over 6,000 feet, it’s a mild enough climb that I should be able to easily handle it physically (especially if I re-dedicate myself to exercising regularly.) Even better, at only $250 it’s quite affordable. And Hew Hampshire is not an unreasonable driving distance, so no worries about airfare.
If that goes well, and I enjoy it and want to continue pursuing this, I’ll shoot for something more substantial (and expensive) later in the year. There’s a five day trek in the Sierra Nevada area over the summer that looks intriguing, and culminates in a 13,000+ foot summit attempt.
Of course, I’ve got a lot of gear to buy in the meantime. So I guess I should start in on that if I really intend to be serious about this. *shrug*