Whether you’re an experienced mountaineer, a hardened climber, or about to embark on your first expedition, nothing is more critical than anticipating, understanding, and preparing for the adversities and accomplishments that await you and your team.
In
Mountaineering: Training and Preparation, Carlton Cooke, Dave Bunting, and John O’Hara, along with the members of the British Army Everest West Ridge Expedition team and sport and exercise scientists from Leeds Metropolitan University, share their insights, experiences, and expertise on these aspects of mountaineering:
- Selecting the right team for each expedition
- Physical conditioning and training programs to ensure success
- Nutritional strategies for your training and expeditions
- Team safety, climbing precautions, and first aid
- Preparing for and surviving in extreme conditions
From the technical aspects of a climb to the leadership and teamwork skills so essential to success, this comprehensive guide covers all of the essentials for a safe and successful expedition.
Mountaineering: Training and Preparation is must-read for every mountaineer. Read it before your next expedition.
Part I Planning and Team Selection
Chapter 1 Logistics and Planning
Chapter 2 Team Selection
Chapter 3 Preparation
Chapter 4 Equipment
Chapter 5 First Aid, Travel, and Acclimatisation
Part II Conditioning and Nutrition for Expeditions
Chapter 6 Fitness and Training
Chapter 7 Endurance Training
Chapter 8 Strength and Power Training
Chapter 9 Nutrition for Training
Chapter 10 Nutrition for Expeditions
Part III Expedition Leadership and Psychology
Chapter 11 Psychological Skills in the Outdoors
Chapter 12 Resilience
Chapter 13 Leadership
Carlton Cooke is the director of university research, Carnegie
professor of sport and exercise science, and head of the Carnegie
Research Centre for Performance Sport at LeedsMetropolitanUniversity.
Carlton has presented and published extensively on aspects of sport
performance, physical activity, exercise, and health, principally in the
areas of exercise physiology and biomechanics. He has worked with a
range of partners in high-performance sport in facilitating, developing,
and delivering support and research in sport science. He worked with a
team of sport and exercise scientists from LeedsMetropolitan University
in support of the British Army expedition to Everest West Ridge in 2006.
The university continues to support preparations for army expeditions
and other expeditions in the outdoors as well as commit to optimizing
the role of the outdoors in higher education through the Carnegie Great
Outdoors. Carlton has participated and competed in various outdoor
sports and activities and continues to enjoy the outdoors both
professionally and recreationally.
Dave Bunting is director of training and cofounder of My Peak
Potential, an experiential learning and development centre in the
Bavarian Alps of Southern Germany. He served 24 years in the British
Army, predominantly within the Army Physical Training Corps, where he
became a specialist in mountain leadership training. He has instructed
in mountain training centres in Wales, Norway, Canada, and Bavaria. In
Bavaria, he undertook the arduous year-long German Army Mountain Guide’s
(Heeresbergfuhrer) course, becoming one of only a few British soldiers
to have gained this prestigious qualification. Dave has a passion for
mountaineering and has been involved in the organisation and execution
of numerous expeditions, including 10 to the Himalayas. In 2006 Bunting
led an elite selection of climbers from the British Army on a
groundbreaking expedition in an attempt to become the first British team
to climb the formidable West Ridge of Mount Everest. As expedition
leader, Dave headed up the planning, team selection and preparation, and
he was a strong member of the climbing team. This highly publicised
expedition earned Dave an MBE and was filmed for the televised
documentary Everest: Man vs. Mountain.
Dr. John O’Hara is a senior lecturer in sport performance
physiology within the Carnegie faculty of sport and education at Leeds
Metropolitan University. His PhD was on carbohydrate ingestion and
endurance performance. He is a sport and exercise scientist accredited
with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences. His
research interests are focused on carbohydrate metabolism, hydration
status, limiting factors for sport performance and the preparation of
athletes for extreme sporting challenges. As a hill walker, mountain
biker and climber, he has a keen interest in the outdoors. John has been
on two Himalayan expeditions: Yala Peak (5500 m) and a climb to camp 1
on the lower slopes of Mount Everest (6100 m) with the Everest West
Ridge 2006 team. He has also summited Mount Killimanjaro (5895 m).
Through his cumulative experiences in academia and in the great
outdoors, he led, developed, managed and delivered the multidisciplinary
support services to the Everest West Ridge 2006 team, which included
physiological, nutritional and psychological support. Since then, he has
provided a similar level of support to other Army Mountaineering
Association expeditions and other sporting disciplines, such as the
Vendée Globe 2008, a round-the-world single-handed sailing race.