International Mountain Climbing School

International Mountain Climbing School

International Mountain Climbing School
5
About
In business for over 45 years, the International Mountain Climbing School (IMCS) specializes in rock and ice climbing, backcountry skiing, mountaineering, and avalanche education in North Conway, New Hampshire. This prestigious climbing school offers comprehensive climbing programs including mountaineering instruction, wilderness first aid education, and guided climbs. Certified guides provide safe access to technical climbing in the White Mountains, including Cathedral Ledge, Whitehorse Ledge, Crawford Notch, Cannon, and Mt. Washington. IMCS offers a progression of instruction from beginners to experienced climbers. IMCS rents climbing gear, camping equipment, and outerwear/accessories. Located within International Mountain Equipment, we outfit our clients with proper gear for their outdoor experiences. We organize the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest, the largest ice climbing event in the northeast.
North Conway, New Hampshire

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles40 reviews
Excellent
38
Very good
2
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Meghan L
4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022
After hearing so many good things about the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest during my college years at Saint Michael's College in Vermont I was so excited to finally check off this bucket list festival. I signed up for the Women's Ice Climbing Clinic for those that had previous ice-climbing & rock climbing experience. The guides for our clinic ,Jeni Calzaretta and Kelsey Rex, were so amazing! The group of women in our clinic were wonderful and we all had an absolute blast. We spent the day climbing, taking turns belaying, learning about creating anchors for ice climbing, and best conditions for placing ice screws. I had researched a few different ice climbing programs and participating in the MWV Ice Fest is seriously the best bang for your buck plus being with an incredible community. The clinic price included climbing, renting gear from top brands (shoutout to Rab, Black Diamond, La Sportiva, etc), plus bbq dinner and drink vouchers for Ledge Brewing. It was so fun to spend the day with our own group and then hang out and meet up with everyone else from their clinics back at Ledge Brewing Company. It was so cool to meet people who were local to NH as well as those that flew in for their clinics from locations such as Alaska & parts of Canada. MWV Ice Fest offers so many incredible clinics from mountaineering to ice climbing for beginners to those that are more advanced. I would 10/10 recommend for anyone considering the Ice Fest. We all exchanged info in my group and can't wait to come back next year!
Written February 8, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Geoff C
7 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2023 • Family
Our guide Paul took myself and two kids (11,13) to a crag in Maine and he hung three topropes over various grades. The kids can belay so we just traded lines for the morning until everybody was exhausted. He took the time to teach both climbing and gear techniques. It was a perfect half day outing.
Written September 5, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Galadriel F
6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2023 • Friends
My partner and I recently took the Basic Mountaineering Course through IMCS and we couldn't be happier. Both of us have climbing experience but we are now branching into Mountaineering and this seemed like a great place to start. Our guides Jeni & Amanda were very knowledgeable and wonderful in communicating complicated tasks and concepts to the group regardless of everyone's skill level. Despite having a large group of 8 people everyone's needs were taken care of and I always felt like we were in very competent hands. Although the weather was very wet and cold we were able to summit Mt Washington on the 3rd day with bluebird skies and believe it or not...a rainbow as well. This course isn't for everyone but for those that are looking to get into the sport and have adequately trained to meet the physical demands this is a wonderful way to experience the White Mountains. We loved it so much we are going back for round two in a couple of weeks with IMCS :)
Written January 2, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Eric B
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2023
We were privileged to spend three days in the Whites with Dodge, our all-star guide. Dodge was a humble, kind, focused, thorough, and overall fantastic guide. I could not recommend him more highly and would not hesitate to send my mom and sisters up a mountain with him. Overall, very happy with our IMCS experience and will not soon forget these past three days in New Hampshire. Thank you Dodge and Paul.
Written January 29, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

S.PANITS
12 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2024 • Family
We had a wonderful half-day Family Climb led by Conrad. We had 6 kids, age 8-17, and Conrad did an excellent job making sure all the kids had a chance to climb as much as they wanted, at an appropriate challenge level. The staff at the Climbing School, especially Matt, was responsive, helpful and really easy to work with. The kids LOVED it and we will definitely be back. Would definitely recommend as an amazing adventure outing (surrounded by natural beauty) with kids.
Written August 26, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Daniel B
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022 • Solo
First of all, IMCS is awesome. This is my 3rd year doing a private ice climb with them. Did some mixed climbing with an incredibly awesome guide named Jon. IMCS has incredible, professional, and safe guides who will do whatever they can to assist you and teach you. Asides from that IME is an awesome store with upbeat and helpful staff who will guide you with all your gear needs.

Use IMCS, they're the best!!
Written January 2, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

PJ
Morristown, NJ2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022 • Solo
Did a 3 day basic mountaineering course with Jeni and Amanda. Had a great experience learning the ropes, crampon technique, ice technique, winter camping, and climbing Mount Washington. A great course, would absolutely recommend if considering getting into winter climbing. We were a fast moving group and had a good weather window, we were able to make it to the summit!
Written January 12, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

IceClimberDW
Leominster, MA2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
My son and I took their 3 day "Learn to climb rock" course. By day two we were hooked. We had to invest in our own rock climbing gear so that we could go climbing on our own! We learned so much about climbing and climbing safety we felt confident going out on our own. Later in the year, during the winter we went back to IMCS and took two days of ice climbing lessens! Again the guides and instruction were exceptional! IMCS wants you to have fun while you learn to climb safely.
Written July 3, 2005
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

A Tripadvisor Member
5.0 of 5 bubbles
My wife calls us her "three boys" and we love to try new adventures together. My boys were ages 5 adn 8 when we were guided by teh International Mountain Climbing School on a mornign of "bouldering" and an afternoon of climbing. Although my two boys argue over how hig we climb (one claims 350 feet, the other claims 450 feet) no one argues that it was fun and safe for all of us. While we don't love heights, we dont fear them either and for some reason, the solid nature of the cliff face made us feel safe, as did the meticulaous safety from our IMC instructor, who really made the day terrific.

It truly was a vacation we still talk about and we will be back there for more later this summer.
Written August 20, 2002
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

c415
Sutton, MA121 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2014 • Friends
I have been to the store many times for gear. This is the place to go for new and used technical gear and a helpful, knowledgeable staff. You should definitely check it out (especially if you're a gearhead).

As for the school, I ran into the guide Zeb while climbing White Horse. He had a group of kids, and was super informative and safe.

I plan to use the school for a snowkiting lesson this winter!
Written October 16, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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