Confidently Travel On Any Glacier
Learn the speediest, easiest way to get yourself, and your partner, out of a crevasse with minimal gear. Like a seatbelt, we hope to never use these skills, but sometimes the caca hits the fan. This course draws on years of expedition experience, training through the American Mountain Guide Association, and expert mountain guides to create this uniquely progressive online course.
This course also covers rappelling/reascending into the crevasse if you need to tend to the person that fell in. Planning to be on skis? We cover that as well. All these skills build towards making you a competent asset the next time you rope up for a glacier based adventure. Of course, this course does not replace in-person practice, but it does cost less, and is extremely convenient to watch it multiple times.
Additionally, you can ask question Mark Smiley directly. It is a personalized and safe learning environment, where the one goal is get you ready for any crevasse fall scenario.
"Having the ability to re-watch videos, reach out to Mark with questions, as well as access new content that gets released makes this course so worth it in every way. It's like if you were to go out and buy a banana today, and the grocery store started mailing you another one every few months or so, free of charge.. and who doesn't like bonus fruit! Mark's teaching style is easy to follow, engaging, with nice and concise videos that efficiently communicate the topic. I would recommend these courses to anyone who already has somewhat of a background in whatever it is they're practicing (crevasse rescue, backcountry skiing, rock climbing, etc). Now, it is still up to you to have the motivation and discipline to actually go out and practice the skills after watching the videos, but the online classroom is certainly a strong compliment to hands on learning!"
-Reid Wagner | Seattle, WA
Your Instructor
Mark Smiley's passion for adventure has taken him around the world on more than 30 expeditions to places like China, Peru, Ecuador, Africa, Chile, Argentina, Across Europe, Canada, and Alaska.
He and his wife, Janelle, are the only people that have attempted to climb all 50 Classic Climbs of North America (48 successfully). Additionally, he was part of a team to set a world record skiing across the entire Alps Mountain Range (1100 miles and 292,000 vertical feet) in a mere 36 days.
His teaching style is fun, mellow and easy to understand. As an IFMGA Certified Mountain Guide, Mark is among the world's elite guides to reach this status. More important than this certification, is his candid style of conveying to you the best techniques that will help you the most. Through this course you will tap into his expertise and knowledge for real-world learning.
Instagram feed @smileysproject
Frequently Asked Questions
During my time guiding for Rainier Mountaineering Inc (RMI) in WA, I taught crevasse rescue to many people. Clients paid $295 for a class of 8 people. We spent two hour hiking to and from the training location. This left only a few hours of actual training, where they needed to be a quick study as there is no rewind button, and there were always a huge range in skills of the clients. Catering the pace of the day to individuals needs was not a viable option. This course solves that problem. Learn at your pace, forever access to the content, ask me questions, and get future updates for free. I sure wish I had this resource when I was learning this stuff.
Having a clear understanding of these hauling systems will boost your confidence when you set out on your next glacier adventure.
-Mark Smiley