Winter Skills, Mountainering & Climbing Courses in Scotland and Snowdonia
I move upto Scotland for the winter season and rent a cottage in Fort
William from January until March. Our Scottish winter skills courses are
therefore based in the Highlands, on the
West Coast of Scotland and we offer 2, 3 and 5 day itineraries. Fort
William offers an excellent central base for all of the main
climbing areas and a wonderful choice of Munros to bag.
We run our courses from the beginning of
January to the end of March because this is the most reliable season
for conditions.
Winter Skills Courses These courses are designed to provide you with the skills to become a self sufficient hill walker in winter conditions. The weekend courses provide the basics of ice axe and crampon use whilst the 3 and 5 day courses provide additional time for additional skills. None of these courses involve any climbing or mountaineering and the only pre-requirement is that you have some summer hill walking experience and fitness.
Winter Climbing & Mountaineering Courses These courses are for people who have done a winter skills course (not necessarily with us), or have more than 15 days hillwalking experience in winter using ice axe and crampons under their own steam. These courses will provide the additional climbing and mountaineering skills to allow you to tackle Scottish winter climbs.
Winter Skills Courses in Scotland & Wales
Scottish Winter Skills Weekend
Scottish Winter Skills 3 day course
Scottish Winter Skills 5 day course
Snow Shelter weekend
Welsh Winter Weekend
Snow and Ice Climbing Courses in Scotland & Wales
Winter Mountaineering Course
Winter Climbing Course
(Snow, Ice & Mixed)
Cold Climbs
Performance winter climbing
5 day learn to lead winter climbing
Welsh Winter Climbing & Mountaineering
Ice Climbing week in Rjukan, Norway
Request a brochure
So whats so special about the Scottish mountains in winter?
If you walk into Snell Sports in Chamonix (the biggest gear shop in the mountaineering capital of the world) you will find a great guidebook section alongside an equally good climbing counter. The most popular guidebooks sit on the top of the display cabinet for all to see, and there in the middle is the Ben Nevis guide. Scotlands mountains might not be alpine in scale but they certainly are in nature and they are world famous.
Once the snow and ice arrives the mountains are transformed and become both stunningly beautiful and wildly challenging. For winter walkers the mountains offer fine vistas of the last great wilderness areas of the UK. What would be a pleasant stroll in fine summer conditions can become a challenge of epic proportions for the unaware in the depths of a Scottish winter storm. The challenges and rewards offered require specialist skills - you need to know how and when to use an ice axe and crampons, how to read and understand the weather, avoid avalanches and have the navigation skills to find your route.
For winter mountaineers and climbers the challenges are pushed up a notch but so are the rewards. Walking in to the foot of a route surrounded by world class scenery, finding the correct route, avoiding avalanche prone slopes, making sure the route is in condition, arranging protection, building belays, climbing well, topping out to a new vista and then navigating back down in all weathers require a diverse range of skills but offer days that will stay in the memory for a good long time and enter many a bar room tale!
