Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership Part 2 (AMTL 2) is the next step in AAI’s renowned four-part Alpine Mountaineering & Technical Leadership progression. For decades, this program has set the standard in North America for comprehensive alpine education, with graduates going on to climb, guide, and lead expeditions around the world. Each 12-day course builds on the last, and AMTL 2 takes you deeper into the skills and judgment needed to move with confidence in more complex alpine terrain.
This course is a great next step for climbers who have completed AMTL 1, a combination of Alpinism 1 and Alpinism 2, or who already have basic glacier travel experience and have followed on multi-pitch rock climbs. If you’re ready to learn how to lead on rock and alpine ice, this is the course for you.
AMTL 2 is where climbers step into the technical heart of the alpine. The program is loosely broken up into three sections, with the first section focusing on multi-pitch alpine rock climbing. You’ll refine movement on exposed terrain while building skills in anchor systems, belaying, rappelling, and the strategies required for long, complex routes.
The second section of the program transitions to multi-pitch alpine ice. Here, you’ll practice precise tool and crampon techniques, efficient protection placement, and advanced systems for climbing steep ice. Along the way, you’ll also gain self-rescue skills that are essential for handling unexpected challenges in the mountains.
Lastly, the course culminates with a student-led ascent of a more technical North Cascades classic, where you will have a chance to weave together everything you’ve learned into a real alpine objective.
Once a climber has competed AMTL 2, opportunities really start to open up in the mountains. You will have the ability to start going out on your own to build your strength, experience, and “mountain sense”. You’ll have the framework to practice on your own the skills you learned during the course, and when you’re ready, you’ll be able to start leading your own adventures.
Alpine Mountaineering and Technical Leadership Course ProgressioN
This flow chart shows how our series of AMTL courses flow, as well as how the curriculums of other course offerings fit into the overall progression. As you can see, while the AMTL progression is a series of longer, 12-day programs, there are a variety of ways that a climber can work through these skills. We recognize that climbers often have some kind of previous experience when the first come to us, but also often have gaps in their knowledge and skills. By offering these other programs, we can help you fill in those gaps so that you can more easily move into the main AMTL progression.
Curriculum
