Alpine Mentors with Steve House

One of the world's most famous alpinists, 41-year old Steve House from America, has launched a interesting new initiative aimed at young climbers and alpinists. Entitled "Alpine Mentors", House's program promotes alpinism by encouraging, coaching and climbing with technically proficient young alpinists who aspire to climb the world's greatest mountains in a lightweight, low-impact style.

Applications are currently being accepted for the program and successful applicants will climb side-by-side with a series of mentors including House himself and his long-term climbing partner Vince Anderson, with the aim of achieving climbs perceived to be beyond the young climbers' reach. The highlight of the program is a joint expedition to Asia or South America in 2013.

The idea behind this initiative stems from House's 2010 climbing accident on Mount Temple. "At home I pondered the fact that while waiting for the helicopter to rescue me, I was not wishing I had done more climbing, but rather I was repentant that I had not done more for my tribe" he commented, acutely aware of the fact that during his formative years he himself had benefited greatly from more experienced climbers such as such as some of Slovenia's top climbers, as well as the likes of Barry Blanchard, Steve Swenson, Scott Backes, and Mark Twight.

Climbing is central to the program but House hopes young climbers will share his broader vision: "...to communicate their experience with humility and integrity, to act to redress the environmental impacts of climbing, to respectfully give back to the communities that host us, and to foster an inclusive, supportive environment within local and international climbing communities at all levels."

Applications of all nationalities will be accepted until 1 April 2012 and can be found on the website: alpinementors.org