Steep Snow and Ice 2026

Activity Notes

SSI virtual information night was Thursday, April 28, but you can find the recording on the SSI homepage.

SSI 2026 applications are open from May 1 - 24. We will try to notify accepted applicants by approximately June 1.

SSI classes and field sessions are scheduled during July. There are four evening lectures/skills practice sessions at the Mazama Mountaineering Center (MMC) (although each participant will only attend three of them - see below for details) as well as a weekend field session. The class will be divided in to two teams, which allows us to include more participants in the weekend field sessions.

The first two lecture/skills sessions at the MMC are mandatory for all participants and are scheduled for Tuesday, July 7th and Thursday, July 9th.

Team A will then have an evening practicing ice screw placement and climbing techniques on the MMC’s foam artificial-ice wall on Tuesday, July 14th. Team A will have their Eliot field session on the weekend of July 18th and 19th.

Team B will similarly have an evening practicing ice screw placement and climbing techniques on the MMC’s foam artificial-ice wall on Tuesday, July 21st. Team B will have their Eliot field session on the weekend of July 25th and 26th.

All participants must be present for the first two MMC activities, but thereafter will be assigned to either team A or team B. We will try to accommodate participants' requests for the third class and field dates that best fit their schedule, but we may not be able to accommodate every request. If weather prevents either field session from occurring we will do our best to reschedule, tentatively for the weekend of August 1st and 2nd.