At the second Alpine Arc'ademy on the Aguille du Midi in Chamonix from June 13 to 16, 2013, participants from all over the world were once again able to discover the beautiful mountain world around the Mont Blanc Massif with crampons and ice axes. The basic idea behind this year's Alpine Arc'ademy, which was organized by Canadian mountain sports equipment manufacturer Arc'teryx and supported by many other brands, was to introduce participants to the fascinating world of mountains, alpinism and mountaineering. The second Arc'teryx Alpine Arc'ademy at the Aguille du Midi in Chamonix turned out to be a successful summit meeting of mountaineering enthusiasts from all over the world.
The basic idea behind the Arc'teryx Alpine Arc'ademy
The aim of the Alpine Arc'ademy, which was once again organized this year by the main sponsor from Vancouver in collaboration with Petzl, Scarpa, Gore-Tex, Suunto, Hilleberg and Trek'n Eat, was to improve the alpine know-how of the mountaineering enthusiasts by means of instructive workshops. The various courses focused on the personal development of technical mountaineering skills and topics such as alpine safety and mountain rescue, ice climbing, alpine climbing, bivouacking at high altitudes, moving around in high alpine glacier terrain and mountain sports photography.Under the professional guidance of mountain guides from the local mountain guide school Compagnie du Mont-Blanc, as well as in the company of Arc'teryx athletes, the participants experienced unforgettable tours and mountain adventures among like-minded people in the fascinating mountain world of the Aguille du Midi.
The highlights of the Arc'teryx Alpine Arc'ademy
A very special highlight of the Alpine Arc'ademy this year was the "Overnight Bivy" bivouac workshop on the Col du Midi with Arc'teryx athletes Ines Papert, Luka Lindic, Conny Zamernik and Jacob Slot as well as mountain guide Gian Luck. At an altitude of almost 4000 m, the participants were able to spend an exciting night under the French starry sky, safe and protected in the new tents from Swedish tent maker Hilleberg and well catered for with delicious mountain meals from Trek'n Eat. The Gore-Tex sewing and repair station at the valley station of the Aguille du Midi in Chamonix was also very popular. At the Gore-Tex stand, participants and visitors were able to have broken Gore-Tex clothing repaired and take part in a short sewing course to make their own personal Gore-Tex bag as a souvenir. During an informative seminar night, the participants learned everything worth knowing about the appropriate care of mountain sports equipment, navigation and orientation in the mountains in various presentations by Petzl, Suunto and Arc'teryx, among others. Injury prevention in mountaineering and climbing, altitude medicine and individually adapted altitude training were further topics of the seminar night. At the Alpine Movie Night on Saturday evening in the valley station of the gondola, world-class athletes Nina Caprez, Will Gadd, Mathieu Maynadier, Franck Dalmat, Sam Beaugey and Harald Philipp thrilled the audience with their exciting visual documentaries.
It can be said that the Arc'teryx Alpine Arc'ademy has developed into an internationally recognized "university" for alpinism thanks to the success of the last two years. That is why the Alpine Arc'ademy, the summit meeting of a special kind, will be held in Chamonix again in 2014.
For more information, visit: www.alpinearcademy.com
