Personal Guiding & Custom Courses

If you have objectives in mind which are outside the scope of our course programme, or you cannot make the week a particular course is running, we can help you achieve your goals through Personal Guiding. ISM offers this service throughout the summer season in 5 or 6-day blocks (and for any length block outside this period). Personal Guiding opens up a huge range of objectives, and to give you an idea of the type of assignment we undertake a selection is listed below.

We offer Personal Guiding at 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 ratios, and the rates charged for these services are for GUIDING ONLY. For summer 2008 the rate for 1:1 guiding is £280/day, or if you specify a particular ISM guide the rate is £290/day. Clients have to cover the expenses for their trip with local currency (although nowadays most huts, valley accommodation and cable cars may be paid for by credit card). Expenses vary greatly according to the itinerary you wish to follow, but we will give you as good an estimate as we can when you enquire.

Custom Courses can be organised any time in the summer season both for individuals and for any sized climbing team. Typically they follow itineraries which vary from those offered within our course programme, or they may be one of our regular itineraries arranged for a private group. We can arrange a Custom Course in any part of the Alps, and just as on our courses, we work out an all-inclusive price for you.

We are happy to discuss any plan you have in mind - please contact Eira at the ISM office (+44 (0)1766 890441 ism@alpin-ism.com

Some Custom Course and Personal Guiding assignments of recent summers:

Outlying 4000'ers. Because of their isolation, The Barre des Ecrins (4101m) and Piz Bernina (4049m) are not always easy to incorporate into an alpine holiday. We climb them both in a trip lasting 5.5 days (either as 1:1 Personal Guiding or a 2:1 Custom Course) traversing the delectable Piz Palu for good measure. You just have to get to Leysin then we make the tour using our guide's private car.

We would normally start travelling after lunch on Sunday, arriving in the Ecrins early evening. On Monday we walk to a high hut, refreshing alpine skills on the glacier. Tuesday is a big day climbing the Barre des Ecrins and descending all the way to Ailfroide. On Wednesday we drive to Diavolezza in Italy and go up to the 'luxury hut' below Piz Palu. The traverse of Piz Palu along its beautiful snow crest is our objective for Thursday, then on Friday we start early to make our ascent of Piz Bernin, descend the Fortezza, then drive back to leysin in time for a beer!

Alpine 4000'ers - the full set! Some of our clients are attempting to climb all the sixty or so 4000m peaks in the Alps. We are helping them to achieve this goal over several years, climbing as many new summits as we can with each visit. The quest is not only immensely satisfying, giving you an in-depth knowledge of almost every corner of the Western Alps, it is tremendous fun as well!

Alpine 'Grand Courses' week. Some of the really big alpine routes in the AD-TD grade range are best attempted on a 1:1 guiding ratio. These include great alpine ridges like the Zmutt ridge on the Matterhorn, the Schaligrat on the Weisshorn, the Taschhorn-Dom traverse, the traverse of the Grand Jorasses, the Ferpecle Ridge on the Dent Blanche, and the 'Younggrat' on the Breithorn; also technical faces like the South Face of the Obergabelhorn. A fit and experienced alpinist could tackle two of these routes in a 6-day guiding block.

Bregaglia - Alpine Rock Paradise. Piz Badile is the best-known summit in this incredibly beautiful range of granite peaks situated on the Swiss-Italian border. It features some of the most inspiring rock routes in the Alps, on wonderful granite, such as the North Ridge of the Piz Badile (V-) and the NW Pillar of Piz Cengalo (V). We can arrange a weeks climbing here for one, two or three people.

Climbing in the Dolomites - an introduction. Every serious climber should at some time experience this enchanting range of limestone towers in Northern Italy. With faces up 1500m high, the Dolomites rank with the most impressive rock formations in the world and provide a vast number of high quality climbs.

Within a trip of six and a half days Leysin-to-Leysin we can give you a fantastic introduction to this wonderful area, climbing in four of the most celebrated areas - the Vajolet Towers, the Cinque Torri, Tofana di Roses and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. On our way back to Switzerland we break our journey with a climb at Machaby in the Aosta Valley. We can do this tour with a 1:1 or 2:1 guiding ratio.

The Dolomites - Via Ferratas. Via Ferratas are routes constructed with ladders, cables and metal hand and footholds which enable the average all-round mountain walker to experience situations normally reserved for the extreme technical climber. The Dolomites were the birthplace of Via Ferratas and they possess some of the longest and most famous. We can arrange a tour of the best Dolomite Via Ferratas for any keen group of up to 4 people. No climbing experience is required, however you need to be able to cope with exposure!. 6.5 days recommended.

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