Spokane Mountaineers take another group higher

CLIMBING — More than 50 students and instructors followed the steps of tradition to the top of Stevens Peak last weekend during the annual Spokane Mountaineers Mountain School overnight snow practice near Lookout Pass.

The on-snow practice gave them a chance to learn some of the finer points of climbing and camping in snow, roped team travel and avalanche awareness.

Volunteer instructor Steve Reynolds snapped the photo above on Sunday morning as the group ascended the peak, with a primer on cornices along the way. Kevin Davis of the Idaho  Panhandle Avalanche Center had given the group a seminar on evaluating avalanche conditions the previous day.

The Spokane Mountaineers climbing program has produced some of the world’s top mountaineers, including John Roskelley and Chris Kopczynski , both of whom took the course as teens in the 1960s.