New Hamphire Mountaineering School

I'm planning a trip up to Mt. Washington in March to take a mountaineering course with some friends. We are looking for a 3 day course that includes overnights. None of us has climbed in winter before, but we have a lot of experience hiking. We found several companies that offer similar courses to what we want.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what the best schools are for what we want to do. We have looked at EMS Climbing School, International Mountain Climbing School, and Chauvin Guides.

Thanks for the help.

All excellent choices. I've heard great things about IME. My brother has ice climbed with some of them years ago. These folks are hard core. You may also want to look into some of the winter workshops offered by the AMC. The NH Chapter offers Backpacking II: Offered for Workshop #TWO ONLY February 20-22, 2004 that might work for you.

Bartlett Backcountry Adventures

Last year we did a 3 day winter mountaineering course on Mt Washington with Bartlett Backcountry Adventures (Steve Nichipor). He worked out a program with us to meet our needs and was an excellant teacher! His prices were very reasonable as well. Steve has much experience and we could see a big difference in his approach from the EMS schools "led" by twenty-somethings who were more interested in showing off for the clients than teaching them. Steve is a well known and respected guide in the Whites.

Definitely worth looking into.

My vote goes to IMCS (international climbing school). I took their 3 day basic mountaineering course and learned a lot from it. All the guides are hardcore climbers and know what they are doing.

I've heard good things about all 3 schools. I can personally vouch for Charlie Townsend at EMS who gave me my first ice climbing lessons some years ago. A good guy and excellent instructor. Some friends also had good experiences w/ Joe Lentini at EMS.