We are back from the 2nd stage of the Mountain Academy, which took place from August 23 through the 30th.

From the left to the right : Ines, alpinewear buyer and Reiner, general manager of Sport Schuster, the whole Mountain Academy team and Ueli Steck

Robert Jasper presenting his last expedition

The 2nd stage began with a full day in Sport Schuster, our partner in Munich. At Sport Schuster, Mountain Hardwear athletes Ueli Steck and Robert Jasper presented films from their latest projects. Ueli discussed his recent Eiger speed record and Robert spoke on his recent expedition to Baffin Island. Sport Schuster held a climbing contest (the store is more than 5 stories tall, and includes a 15-meter climbing wall). After the contest, we presented the candidates from the Mountain Academy. All the candidates who participated in this program were interviewed by Ueli Steck...a really rewarding experience for these young people!

The winner of the climbing contest receiving his prize from Robert Jasper

After this exhausting but very successful day (the store was crowded from the beginning until the end of the day), we arrived in Lofer, Austria to set up our base camp...in the rain. Luckily, the sun was there the day after and stayed with us all week.

Continue reading "Stage 2" »

We are finally back from the 1st stage of the Mountain Academy! And what a stage! We had to face winter conditions. Real ones.

The base camp has been established at Col du Flambeaux (Italy - Valle d'Aosta), at 3500m elevation. 380kg of material and equipment, needed for the 22 persons, have been carried there, through the cable car of Pointe Hellbronner. Due to strong wind (80km/h), it has not been possible to use helicopter to drop the material. So, all of us have experienced a short but intense Sherpa training! We had to face challenging weather conditions, the ones you can expect more in early Feb than late April. We could not do all the activities and the program we wanted to, but weather talks...

Most of the pictures taken by David Ravanel have been taken during the "quiet" day. We had to be very careful with the conditions as well as saftey (lots of fresh snow, wind, avalanches...). The collaboration between the mountain rescue team from Valle Aosta and the French guides have been constructive and decisive (but sometimes not that easy...). The French helicopter from the French rescue team has offered a "free" fly to Jerome Blanc Gras (French mountain guide, head of the coordination for the Mountain ACademy program), due to a twisted knee. We are still crossing our fingers and expect that the ligaments are not broken (more to know in the coming days).

The group of the young selected candidates is awesome! They are very friendly, motivated and more than happy with this 1st stage. We have the right persons! A big, huge thanks to Tim Emmet and Kurt Asner who joined us during this 1st Academy! They fully played their role of mentor, explained techniques, told stories, gave advices, provided experiences and with a very positive sense of humour! And the candidates were amazed to climb and ascend with these guys!

SEE MORE PHOTOS!

Continue reading "Stage 1 Complete" »

Mountain Hardwear and all the Mountain ACademy partners would like to thank the 109 enthusiasts who apply for the program.
The final choice, to select the 8 winners was far from being easy! The quality and the quantity of the candidatures made the selection phase heavy and tough.
We hope to have other opportunites to meet them.
Thanks again

we are (more than) happy to announce that
- Patricia Schanne, from Austria
- Sana Zulic, from Serbia,
- Matthias Rambaud, from France
- Benjamin Bickel, from Austria
- Tito Arioso, from Italy
- Ferran Martinez, from Spain
- Jiri Novak, from Czech Republic
- Corne Brouwer, from Netherlands
are the final selected candidates to take part of this 1st Mountain ACademy.
We want to congratulate them, the choice has not been easy.
We also wish them a warm welcome into this 1st Mountain ACademy.
The 1st stage will start by the 21st of April, in Val Ferret, in Italy.
Stay tuned!

We are now at 20 days before the closing of the application period. We can say that this 1st Mountain ACademy is, already, a real success.
We have now received more few dozen applications coming from various european countries.
The jury is very impatient to debate regarding the final selection!
Nothing is done yet so, but in 20 days it will be too late to participate!
We strongly recommend you to not wait the very last moment...

Outstanding News...
GORE, the so well known manufacturer of waterproof but breathable fabrics (and windstopper) has decided to join the group of The Mountain ACademy partners. With all these relevant supports, The Mountain ACademy can't expect better outdoor godfathers!

The Mountain ACademy organization has been interviewed in the December edition of Vertical Magazine. A good opportunity to precise a bit the spirit and the "quest" of the Mountain ACademy.
Here are the View image">french and the View image">english one.

We have received tons of questions regarding abilities required to be part of The Mountain ACademy.
Even if we assume that climbing, mountaineering abilities will be selective, our intention is not to focus on top class athlete.
If the question is, is the Mountain ACademy for beginners is open to BEGINNERS, we can say NO.
If the question is, is the Mountain ACademy for MIDDLE, EXPERIENCED, ENTHUSIAST, experienced, enthusiast climbers, alpinist..., the answer is definitively YES!
If the question is, is it made for ADVANCED, EXPERT ones, the answer is YES too.
Our idea is much more about creating a GROUP of MIXED talents, personnalities and sensibilities. So DO NOT CENSURE YOURSELF, with the feeling that it is too high class, elite, performance for you. We want to create a combination, a recipe of multiple ingredients, you HAVE YOUR PLACE, or you can try to find your place.
one more time OPEN TO ALL is our motto, take advantage of it.

Interview of Jerome Blanc Gras, teacher, athlete, mountain guide and The Mountain ACademy coordinator about the ACademy...
http://www.tvmountain.com/fr/sujet.asp?id_sujet=327

CamptoCamp, french and english versions
Osez Découvrir
Mountain2B
Explo Planet Mountain
Kairn, french version english
Bergsteigen
Firn
amongst others...