Alpine climbing

Part of a series on
Climbing
Alpinist crossing the Hinterstoisser traverse on the Eiger north face, 1938 Heckmair Route (ED2, V−, A0, 60° snow).[1]
Lists
Climbers Piolet d'Or winners IFSC victories Equipment Knots Historical events Grade milestones Eight-thousanders Terminology
Types of rock climbing
Aid Big wall Multi-pitch Bouldering Highball Competition Speed Free Sport Traditional Solo Free solo Deep-water solo Rope solo Top roping
Types of mountaineering
Alpine Mixed Via ferrata Himalayan Alpine style Expedition style Ice Dry-tooling Scrambling Hillwalking
Other types
Buildering Canyoning Crane Grass Commercial Parkour Pole Rock hopping Rooftopping Roof hacking Slide Tree
Key actions
Abseiling Belaying Leading Redpointing Jumaring Self rescuing Simul climbing Traversing Techniques
Key terms
Anchor First ascent FFA FFFA Grade Route Beta Guide Pitch
v t e

Alpine climbing (German: Alpinklettern) is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes (e.g. multi-pitch or big wall) in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment (e.g. no porters), and do all of the climbing (e.g. no sherpas or reserve teams).

Alpinists face a wide range of serious risks in addition to the specific risks of rock, ice, and mixed climbing. This includes the risks of rockfalls (common with rock faces in alpine environments), avalanches (especially in couloirs), seracs and crevasses, violent storms hitting climbers on exposed mountain faces, altitude effects (dehydration, edema, frostbite), complex navigation and route finding, long abseils, and the difficulty of rescue and/or retreat due to the remote setting. Due to the scale of the routes, alpine climbers need to be able to move together for speed (e.g. simul climbing or as rope teams), which is another source of specific risk.

The first "golden age" of modern alpine climbing was the first free ascents–in summer, in winter, and as solo–of the great north faces of the Alps by pioneers such as Walter Bonatti, Riccardo Cassin and Gaston Rebuffat. The subsequent era, which is still ongoing, is focused on the equivalent ascents and enchainments, of the ice and snow-covered faces and ridges of major Himalayan peaks (e.g. the eight-thousanders, Latok, The Ogre) and Patagonian peaks (e.g. Cerro Torre Group, Fitz Roy Group) in "alpine style" by pioneers such as Hermann Buhl, Reinhold Messner and Doug Scott, and latterly by alpinists such as Ueli Steck, Mick Fowler, Paul Ramsden, and Marko Prezelj. The annual Piolets d'Or are awarded for the best achievements in alpine climbing.