UKC

Hi,

I am living in The Netherlands and will have a one week Alpine starting course in Austria beginning August. We will be learning traditional alpine climbing, like traversing glaciers, crevasse rescue, etc. all the while ascending to some >3000 m peaks.

My question is: How can I best prepare for this while living in The Netherlands? We don't have any mountains here. Last year, I prepared by jogging a lot, such that I could possibly run a half-marathon in 2 hours (personally hate running), but when on the actual mountain with some backpack I found that that almost seemed to have no training effect whatsoever.

This year, I wanted to do things differently. So, besides jogging (30-60 min, 2x a week), I added some HIIT training like 20 min Kettlebell exercises (1x a week), Joga (3x a week, 10-40 mins), I started bouldering (1-2 x a week) and even rope climbing (1x a week). So I am doing a ton of varied sports in the hopes of improvement.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Treck

In reply to Treck:

Find a tower block with stairs. Climb up and down them. Repeat.

In reply to captain paranoia:


This but with a pack and your big boots on.

In reply to captain paranoia:


I would add that also try and use your hips to carry the backpack - not your shoulders. Push your arse out and use your thighs to do the lifting. It's going to do your knees no favours if you practice bad backpack technique (I've seen bad backpack technique from every group or individual I've lead - it seems to be the default, the way you learned to carry your school backpack).

In reply to SenzuBean:

And if you love your knees, climb up with bottles of water in your backpack. Empty (some of) them before going back down. Or take the lift.

I get loads of funny looks when I do hill reps in posh hotel (up the stairs, down the lift, repeat)

In reply to Treck:

Not sure where you live in The Netherlands, but when I was stuck in Oberhausen for a year (for work) I used to do laps walking up the outside of the 110m high (if memory serves) Gasometer as occasional exercise. It's just over the border, about an hour or so from Eindhoven (for example).

In reply to Willi Crater:

They hadn't heard about terrorist threats then, eh...?

In reply to captain paranoia:


It's not actually full of gas. Last time I was there it was full of an erotica exhibition. Which was an improvement on the time before that when it was full of the listings of the results of all the football matches played by local clubs in the Nordrhein-Westfalen area of Germany from the last hundred years or so. Still, it was a relief to find out that Dortmund under elevens had beaten the Essen under elevens 2-1in 1959.

In reply to Treck:

Did anyone else see the thread title and think the Netherlands was an odd place to go for an alpinism course?

In reply to Treck:

I'm really surprised running didn't help. My experience (such as it is) is that alpinism and Scottish winter is 90% aerobic fitness and stamina and that running is absolutely the best way for somebody away from the mountains to build those.

That said, a mix of running, weights and climbing sounds a good plan.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Yes...

Thanks for all the answers. I have added walking the stairs the 22 stories in the building I work in to my routine, doing it once a week now, but only when no one else's around (about to head off now). Last time, I walked it 5.5 times in 40 minutes -- according to my FitBit, that equaled 124 average stories in total.

Regarding the missing stamina last year, yes, I was surprised, too. Never before had I had the feeling of my legs giving up on me -- last summer, I was just almost utterly unable to push myself up with my legs anymore. So painful to see the hut only 100 height meters close, and yet so far away. So it seemed that I was really missing leg strength, too. Maybe I never had my legs give up on me before because I used to be a weight lifter and squatted 120kg (265 pounds), but haven't come around doing that in the last two years. Or maybe it was because I had pretty bad infection with fever the week before and the first day of the hike was also the last one on Antibiotics ...

I'll report how it goes this time.

In reply to Treck:
I live in the Netherlands too and don't train except for my daily bike commute and some casual gym climbing / bouldering. To give you an indication: When I go for a run I do 3 km in >20 minutes and feel knackered afterwards. In the Alps, I start with a week of shorter walks and climbs to get acclimatized to the mountain environment and let my legs get used to steep walking. This has thus far done the trick for me on steep 2+ hour approaches with climbing and bivy gear on my back. It has more to do with listening to your body, easing in to it, controlling your pace and taking a rest/recovery day every now and then.

Also:
Use trekking poles(!)
Remember to eat and drink at regular intervals and rehydrate well before leaving the hut
Slow your pace to a level that allows you to take fewer rests
Wear the minimal amount of clothing layers to reduce sweating and overheating
Have your rope-work and route-finding dialed and get fast due to efficiency instead of superhuman stamina.
Cut your pack weight to the bare minimum (very effective but requires some experience)
When staying in a mountain hut during your course: drink Radler beer instead of regular beer to aid recovery.

In reply to Ramblin dave:


If the course is in the Netherlands there's a useful instructional video that will help: youtube.com/watch?v=DaoYSiNDnI0&