In this article, Steve writes, “However, most mountain athletes, especially beginners and intermediate-level, can make bigger gains by improving technique than they can by improving fitness.”
TFTNA does a great job of explaining how to train but does not try to go into detail about what specific movements are most efficient.
Does anyone have any techniques for moving efficiently in alpine terrain? Or even better, are there any books that talk about this kind of thing? I don’t mean rope work and improving fitness, I mean patterns of movement that can be learned.
For example, I recently watched a British guide in the alps blow past me at seemingly about half my speed. The terrain was a snow/ice covered rock ridge so crampons on. I noticed some things about his movement that I was not doing. He moved quite slowly and never changed pace or stopped. He was also very upright, standing up while I was hunched over using hands and feet. After deciding to follow his footsteps (literally) I noticed that he was taking several small steps where I would have taken one big step up, often on steps so small I would have ignored them. In this way he used more skill on his front points to avoid strenuous leg work.
