Scott Johnston and Maury Birdwell are both incredibly experienced mountain athletes and endurance Coaches for both military selections and people that want to go bigger in the mountains. 

Maury currently holds the fastest known time on the Diamond of Long’s Peak, a 1000’ rock face that climbs at the grade of 5.10 and is usually a 12 hour or longer outing for most parties. He completed it in just 3.5 hours car to car.

Scott is the author of both Training for the Uphill Athlete and Training for the New Alpinism. Those books led to many operators pursuing Tier 1 selection events to begin reaching out to him for training. The people he and his team of coaches have trained for these events have a very high rate of success. He was a nationally competitive swimmer and cross country skier in his collegiate days. In the 1970s and 80s he spent many seasons on Denali

DOD Arctic Strategy: https://media.defense.gov/2024/Jul/22/2003507411/-1/-1/0/DOD-ARCTIC-STRATEGY-2024.PDF 

SFAS QC Success study: “Soldiers that were officers or 18× enlisted (fast-tracked to SFAS), had <1 year of active duty, ≥ bachelor degree, no children, were Ranger school graduates, from the Mountain region, and not married were more likely to be selected (p < .05). There were no statistically significant differences in probability of selection according to age or community of origin.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938419303063 

Snow has started to fall throughout much of the Western US and Europe, so this discussion is timely.

Today’s guest is Doug Bernard. He is a Green Beret who is also an avalanche instructor, certified ski guide and apprentice alpine guide. He has been operating in the mountains for a long time. It also took me a while to get him to agree to talk on the podcast. He is one of those silent professionals who doesn’t like to publicly share but he is exactly the type of person that I want to have on the podcast.

In the US there are four general different types of avalanche education.

ATES Scale: https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/terrain/avalanche-terrain-exposure/avalanche-terrain-exposure-scale-ates/

Alyssa is a professional Ultra runner who specializes in distances over 100 miles. She has won the San Diego 100, HURT 100, Moab 240 and starting during COVID, set a Guinness world record for doing 95 marathon in 95 days, many of those on a treadmill. 

Codi is an active duty US navy engineer and diver, a split boarder and an aspiring professional ultra racing crew member.

They currently are living in a van, full time, with two cats while on active duty in the Navy and getting out into the mountains frequently. 

Austria is well known for their mountain warfare training courses, and expertise. Their program has a deliberate and specific progression from zero to Mountaineering.

This episode's guest is a certified Austrian Military Mountain Guide and has been teaching Mountain courses in Austria for a long time. The main difference between an Austrian Military Mountain Guide and IFMGA Guide? The climbing movement standard for a civilian IFMGA guide is higher.

Nato Mountain Warfare Center of Excellence Website: https://www.mwcoe.org/

Tactical alpinism is intended to expand your ability to go bigger in the mountains, with an expanded margin of safety. To do this, guests will be sharing their experience and expertise so that you can maybe apply something that you learn to your own mountain objectives and missions.

All views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the stance of any entity that they may represent. Not DoD endorsed or affiliated.

This episode is an overview of several different courses and certifications that we can search out to gain more experience and expand our safety margin in the outdoors.

Recreational Courses include:

Outdoor Rock Climbing

Backcountry Skiing/Riding

Avalanche Education

Mountaineering

Professional Courses Include:

Avalanche Pro Courses

AMGA Mountain Guide Progression

Is mountain warfare training relevant as we look at how warfare is changing?

This is part 2/2 with LTC Nate Fry. Nate is the current commander of 3-172 Mountain Infantry in the Vermont National Guard. Additionally, he is an Infantry Officer, AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, Assistant Alpine Guide, Avalanche PRO2 and Avalanche Educator. He was the 2023 Edelweiss Raid Team Captain and previously worked at the AMWS for three years as the executive officer and training officer.

General Anderson’s Paper: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/July-August-2024/The-Queen-of-Battle/

Nato Mountain Warfare Center of Excellence Website: https://www.mwcoe.org/

LTC Nate Fry is the current commander of 3-172 Mountain Infantry in the Vermont National Guard. Additionally, he is an Infantry Officer, AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, Assistant Alpine Guide, Avalanche PRO2 and Avalanche Educator. He was the 2023 Edelweiss Raid Team Captain and previously worked at the AMWS for three years as the executive officer and training officer.

General Anderson’s Paper: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/July-August-2024/The-Queen-of-Battle/

Nato Mountain Warfare Center of Excellence Website: https://www.mwcoe.org/

Arthur did not take a straight path to joining the military, in fact he was inspired to become a PJ because he was rescued and treated by one on Denali.

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Christian Beckwith is a veteran alpinist, climbing historian and host of the Ninety-Pound Rucksack, a podcast about the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division and the dawn of America’s $1T outdoor recreation industry. 

The 10th Mountain was an unprecedented unit of World War II climbers and skiers who trained for more than two years in the Colorado Rockies to fight the Axis powers in extreme cold and mountainous terrain.

90 Pound Rucksack: https://christianbeckwith.com/podcast-episodes/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NinetyPoundRucksack

2024 DoD Arctic Strategy: https://media.defense.gov/2024/Jul/22/2003507411/-1/-1/0/DOD-ARCTIC-STRATEGY-2024.PDF

Christian Beckwith is a climber, skier and self-dubbed climbing historian... whatever that means. He is currently researching and publishing a podcast about the founding of the 10th Mountain Division. Follow his work over at the 90 Pound Rucksack Podcast, @beckwithchristian on instagram and at www.christianbeckwith.com.