Courmayeur 2025 - Helping Women Dream Big! + Rab Sponsorship
“WAAC's events and community provide opportunities for so much joy, inspiration, learning and adventure just by way of bringing women together in the mountains.” - One happy WACC’er
Our alpine meet this year saw 32 women smashing it in the mountains. Everyone from the complete beginners to the experienced climbers enjoyed a week packed full of new experiences, new friends and beautiful alpine snow and rock.We absolutely loved having such a wide range of ages this year, from women who climbed the classics 25 years ago getting back into alpinism, to those 50+ starting it for the first time. It's a particularly lovely thing to see cross generational sharing and learning.
Rab Equipment Sponsorship
This year we have been lucky enough to gain sponsorship from Rab Equipment. We decided we wanted to help break down some of the biggest barriers we have found getting into alpinism 1) financials, 2) Access to knowledge and support. And that's why we decided to sponsor two full place on our Intro Into Alpinism for Black Girls Hike (a group we have previously worked with), as well as one additional space from our wider WAAC community on our one-day Skills Check.
Read below if you want to hear what everyone got up to!
Intro into Alpinism
6 women on our 5-day beginners course started the week learning about the equipment we use, crevasse rescue and glacier travel, they went on to tackle the technical Marbrèes traverse and even submitted a 4000m peak, Gran Paradiso by the end of the week! Thanks to our amazing guides Tania Nokes and Annetta Torretta.
Thank you to Rab Equipment sponsoring two places on this! Making big mountains more accessible.
One attendee said "People were so helpful to me as a beginner and shared their knowledge, food, equipment, stories so I went from thinking I must be mad to do this to thinking- I can and I’m enjoying it! Discovery was wonderful too. I knew nothing of mountain huts, knots, etc."
2-Day Improvers
We had another 6 women on our 2-day improvers course before they headed out independently for the rest of the week. This course was designed to be a building block for alpinists by recapping the essentials of alpine climbing. They covered crevasse rescue, glacier travel, rappels and much more with our guides Cristina Pogacean, Karin Iz and Guilia Monego . Later in the week the improvers got up to a huge variety of alpine and rock routes, heading to the Aiguille d’Entrèves, Venus, Voie Ortiz-Hurzeler on the Aiguille Croux, Petit flambeau and the Aiguille du Toule to name just a few.
One attendee said "I was initially a bit concerned that I shouldn't have been on the improvers' course (and perhaps should have been on the beginners' course as I hadn't done any alpine stuff before, just a bit of Scottish winter), but I actually found the course perfect for my level, I was able to keep up with all the instruction and felt I was able to practice what I'd learnt during the rest of the week and felt safe doing so.
And another "Great ratio 2 to 1 guide, didn’t expect it, was very hands on experience!"
Independent Climbers
Our 20 independent climbers had a 1-day skills check with the guides to cover crevasse rescue and ask as many questions as possible! The energy and motivation of these women is so inspiring, and they smashed it one route after another all week, many of them staying on to extend the trip and continue exploring this amazing place. If you want to read more about what they got up to and some inspiration for routes check our Liv's blog post 'An Alpine of Firsts'.
El said "It was great to see my progression from my first WAAC meet 3-years ago, I was trying to find my confidence leading easy climbs and now I just lead an AD2+ route and felt great! Ready to take on more big challenges"
What Did our Attendees Think? - Read the reviews below.
Would you recommend a WAAC Trip?
100% said yes.
"I already have on many occasions, in fact people struggle to shut me up about WAAC trips! I tentatively booked on my first meet as a very new climber, and I haven’t looked back since. They are life changing. I’ve met so many incredible and inspiring people and had a whole heap of awesome adventures. I now can’t imagine a year going by without a WAAC shaped trip or two in it!
"Yes. Most definitely. WAAC is a really welcoming environment and I think women climbing friends of mine would really appreciate the tuition on offer."
Can you describe your trip in one sentence?
"A trip to remember with not enough positive adjectives to do it justice! I left with a full heart feeling inspired and empowered"
"It was terrifying in prospect but gave me so much personal growth and it was a feast for the eyes. I got a great workout and I can still feel how much my fitness has improved."
