Alpine climbing

Alpine climbing (German: Alpinklettern) is a type of mountaineering that uses 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 Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly equipped teams who carry their 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.
Alpine climbing involves small unsupported teams tackling large multi-pitch (or big wall) routes that can involve various combinations of rock climbing, ice climbing, and mixed climbing, in alpine-type mountain environments. Alpine routes are often long and require a full day of climbing or even several days. Because of the length of the routes, and the danger of alpine environments (e.g. rockfall, avalanche, altitude, weather, etc.), alpine climbers (or "alpinists") typically try routes that are well within their technical rock, ice, or mixed climbing capabilities.
While parts of an alpine route will involve a lead climber tackling difficult rock, ice, or mixed sections while being belayed by a stationary second climber below, parts will involve both climbers moving simultaneously together as a rope team, particularly on large snow slopes or easier rock sections. Simultaneous climbing (or simul climbing) is riskier but is necessary to ensure that the climbers can move quickly through what is often a very dangerous and exposed environment (e.g. rockfall on open ice fields), and complete the routes in a reasonable time.
Alpine climbing can involve aid climbing, particularly if high up on a route, aid is needed to make progress and avoid a dangerous retreat. It can also involve multiple and complex abseils, either on the descent or in a retreat from a route. Classic alpine climbing routes often take at least a full day of climbing which necessitates the early "alpine start" (and helps to avoid the afternoon rockfalls), and may force a bivouac. It often involves traveling on glaciers and bergschrunds to get to and from the route (and in the dark for "alpine starts").
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. 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).
The derived term "alpine style" alludes to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small fast-moving teams – or even solo – who carry all of their own equipment (e.g. no porters), and do all of the climbing (e.g. no sherpas or reserve teams laying down fixed ropes). "Alpine-style" is the opposite of expedition style (which is sometimes pejoratively called "siege style"), and is often considered a "purer" form of climbing.
"Alpine style" also means being "lightly equipped"; this can include no supplementary oxygen, no major tenting or overnight equipment, and limited food and fuel supplies. It also means having no fixed ropes on the route (an important safety feature of expedition-style mountaineering).
While these attributes enable alpine climbers to move quickly and take advantage of good conditions and "weather windows", it also makes alpine climbing far more dangerous. In situations where the habitually unstable high-altitude weather turns, alpine climbers will not have the provisions to "sit out" the storm, and will not have the fixed ropes in place to retreat safely and quickly; such forced retreats in poor conditions are dangerous.
While alpine climbers are "lightly equipped" due to the fact that they must carry all of their equipment while climbing, the range of climbing equipment needed can be considerable due to the diverse range of climbing techniques required on major alpine routes, and the harsh conditions encountered.
Alpinists face a number of additional risks to the risks of rock climbing, ice climbing, and mixed climbing, making it one of the most dangerous forms of climbing. In 2019, Francis Sanzaro writing in the New York Times said of modern alpinism: "The routes are becoming more technically demanding, in more remote areas, and the method of "light and fast" — minimal gear, no fixed ropes, doing the route in a single push — is now regarded as the best style. These trends, and others, have made the sport of alpine climbing very, very dangerous". In 2021, the New York Times called the Piolets d'Or, alpine climbing's most important award, "A Climbing Award That May Be a Winner’s Last", due to the number of fatalities of past winners.
Additional risks faced by alpinists to the risks of rock climbing, ice climbing, and mixed climbing, are:
Due to the complexity of routes in alpine climbing, the "overall" grade denotes the general level of seriousness of the route to which is added additional specific grade(s) for any rock climbing (usually the French, American, or UIAA grades for free climbing, and the A-grade for aid climbing), ice climbing (the WI-grade), and mixed climbing (the M-grade) involved. In addition, alpine grades will quote the inclination of the main snow slopes encountered (e.g. 50–60 degrees), as these are often not graded ice climbs, but contribute significantly to the overall risk.
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). The UIAA warns against aligning their acronyms with equivalent rock and ice climbing grades, as the objective dangers can vary dramatically on routes with similar rock and ice climbing grades. For example, the famous 1,800-metre Eiger North Face 1938 Heckmair Route is graded ED2 even though the rock climbing is graded UIAA V− and the ice climbing is only at 60 degrees (i.e. both typically a D grade), due to the exceptional length and danger of the route. In spite of this, attempts have been made to ascribe a "typical" range of rock and ice climbing grades for to each acronym:
Note: A "+" (pronounced Sup for supérieur) or a "−" (pronounced Inf for inférieur) is placed after the acronym to indicate if a climb is at the lower or upper end of that grade (e.g., a climb slightly harder than "PD+" might be "AD−"). The term ABO for abominable is explicitly not recognized by the UIAA.
The following are the most notable milestones in alpine climbing (and latterly, alpine-style climbing as applied worldwide):
A number of notable climbing films have been made about alpine climbing (and alpine climbing routes), including: