Alpine 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.

), alpine climbers (or "alpinists") typically try routes that are well within their technical rock, ice, or mixed climbing capabilities.

[2][3] Due to the greater complexity and risks of alpine climbing, alpinists need to be much more familiar with and confident in each team member's abilities and skill level.

[4] Alpine climbing involves exercising judgment and decision-making to adapt to the constantly changing alpine weather and route conditions (e.g. changing snow and ice levels), and where good initial progress can quickly turn into a fight for the team's very survival (e.g. as extensively chronicled during the famous 1936 Eiger climbing disaster).

[20] The most widely used "overall" grades are the acronyms of the UIAA Scale of Overall Difficulty, also known as the International French Adjectival System (IFAS).

Alpinist crossing the Hinterstoisser traverse on the Eiger north face, 1938 Heckmair Route (ED2, V−, A0, 60° snow). [ 1 ]
Moving together on Kuffner Ridge ( D, UIAA V, French 4c ), Mont Maudit .
Ueli Steck making a rapid 'alpine style' one-day ascent of North Couloir Direct ( VI, Al 6+, M8 ) a major alpine climbing route on Les Drus [ 6 ]
Czech alpinists Marek Holeček and Tomáš Petreček [ cs ] in full gear about to start their unsuccessful 2015 alpine-style ascent of the southwest face of Gasherbrum I
Alpinist crossing a large snow field underneath a dangerous hanging serac , Grand Pilier d'Angle .
The deadly White Spider ice field on the north face of the Eiger into which avalanches and rockfalls are funneled; alpine climbers move through it as quickly as possible.
Cosmiques Ridge (AD, French 4c UIAA V, 300-metre), Aiguille du Midi .
Chéré Couloir (D+, Ice WI4, Mix M3, 400-metre), Triangle du Tacul .