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Chamonix · Mountaineering · Ski touring · Alpine climbing
A crevasse rescue course teaches you to recognise crevasse hazard on a glacier, hold a partner's fall, transfer the load to an anchor and haul them out. In Chamonix these run as one-day courses in both winter and summer, with an IFMGA guide, usually on the Vallée Blanche.
A crevasse rescue course teaches you to avoid crevasse falls, and to get someone out when avoidance fails. Courses typically run as a single day with an IFMGA guide. While every guide teaches it slightly differently, the sequence covered is much the same.
Prevention. Reading a glacier for where crevasses run relative to the direction of flow, recognising a sagging snow bridge, and choosing a line. Guides put real weight on this, because most incidents come down to route choice.
Rope team travel. Tying in, spacing, keeping the rope taut without dragging your partner, knots in the rope on a two-person team, and the differences between travelling on foot and on ski.
Holding the fall. Arresting with a loaded rope, and what your first few seconds actually look like when the weight comes on.
Anchors. Ski anchors (in winter), snow bollards, deadman placements and ice screws where there is bare ice. Building them, backing them up, and loading one to see whether you would trust it.
Load transfer and escape. Getting the weight off your body and onto the anchor, then escaping the system. This is the step most people find hardest and the one worth the most practice.
Hauling. Preparing the lip so the rope does not cut into the snow, building a 3:1, and converting to a 6:1 when it will not move. Progress-capture devices — Micro Traxion, Tibloc, autoblocs — and how each behaves under load.
Self-rescue. Prusiking out under your own power, which is what you will need if you go in with a single partner above you.
Most courses finish with a full scenario run in real time. Not every course will go into an actual crevasse - it depends on the state of the glacier and the guide.
Winter courses generally run either in Grands Montets, or the Vallée Blanche (accessed from either Aiguille du Midi or Skyway Monte Bianco).
Summer courses often use the Vallée Blanche or the Mer de Glace via the Montenvers railway. The Mer de Glace has the advantage of bare ice in summer, which allows ice screw practice a snow-covered glacier cannot.
Across the tunnel (easily accessible with public transport), the Italian side gives glacier access at 3,400 m year round, which is why Courmayeur-based courses can run year round.
Courses run in both seasons. Winter courses are aimed at ski tourers and splitboarders and include rescue on skis; summer courses run on foot and generally give more time on bare ice.
Relevant dates proposed by guides. Each option may vary slightly, so it's worth checking the details and talking to the guide first.
10 Oct 2026
140 EUR
Bjartur Ólafsson
1 day
One-day Glacier Skills Training, packaged by Oak This is a practical one-day course designed to introduce and build the essential skills you need to…
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1 Feb 2027
90 EUR
Francesco Perrone
1 day
A one-day crevasse rescue course for ski tourers and freeriders who travel on glaciers, run on the glaciated terrain above Punta Helbronner in the Mon…
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Alexandra
Crevasse Rescue course
The guide was super competent and the course was very useful for me. Thank you!
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A crevasse rescue course is not needed if you ski the Vallée Blanche with a guide, who carries the rope and manages the glacier hazard. If you intend to ski it independently, crevasse rescue training is essential — the route crosses crevassed terrain the whole way.
A one-day crevasse rescue course teaches the whole sequence. Whether it sticks depends on rehearsal afterwards. Crevasse rescue is a skill to practise regularly.
In crevasse rescue, a 3:1 gives three times mechanical advantage and is the standard first attempt. If the casualty will not move — a deep lip, a heavy pack, an injured partner — adding a second pulley converts it to 6:1, at the cost of speed and rope.
Yes. Crevasse rescue courses in Chamonix assume no previous experience and teach knots from the beginning. Familiarity with rope handling helps but is not required. You do need to be fit enough for a day on a glacier at altitude.
From around €180 per person for a day in Chamonix. The equivalent course from the Italian side at Courmayeur starts lower, using the Skyway to reach the Géant glacier.
Crevasse rescue courses in Chamonix run in both winter and summer. Winter suits ski tourers and includes rescue on skis; summer runs on foot and often gives access to bare ice for screw placements.
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