Intro Winter Mountaineering

Itinerary

We offer both Two Day Winter Mountaineering Courses and Five Day Winter Mountaineering Courses.

Our five day course can be considered the complete package. Starting with a refresher of your basic winter walking skills we will soon progress through the techniques needed to turn you into an effective winter mountaineer. By the end of the week the aim would be for you to be confident and safe in mountainous terrain, belaying, building your own anchors, and developing good judgement of both rock and snow conditions.

Our two day courses are perfect for those with time constraints, or those less confident about going straight into a 5 day course. We will cover everything within the 5 day itinerary (below) but we will have much less time to refine those skills. This will give you the tools needed to get out to practice and improve independently or to come back to us again in the future for more instruction.

Day One:

We will start the day by refreshing your core winter skills, looking at good movement and footwork, use of crampons and ice axe, navigation and avalanche awareness. Refreshing and refining these skills is essential before we move onto steeper and more technical terrain. Once confident we will begin to introduce some simple ropework.

Day Two:

Today we will begin to build on the ropework we developed yesterday. Looking now at steeper terrain and considering how and when to use a rope. We will introduce harnesses and learn how to build snow anchors both safely and efficiently.

Day Three:

Today we will head into more complex terrain and rockier ridges. Getting the opportunity to practice belaying, developing a sound judgement of rock, building anchors and equalising. We will also be looking at how to retreat from a route by both down climbing and abseiling. To ensure you are getting a realistic and practical experience, today we will be operating on grade 1 or 2 terrain.

Day Four:

On day four we will practice and refine all the skills you have learnt so far on a fantastic mountain journey. This will give you plenty of opportunity to gain a better understanding of the various techniques in the context of an excellent winter mountaineering experience. Once again we will aim to undertake this journey on grade 1 or 2 terrain.

Day Five:

This is our last day together and your chance to build on your current skills while developing the confidence to be independent. Your guide will be on hand at all times to advise and answer questions, however today the focus is on you to be more self-reliant. Making smooth and safe decisions and becoming an efficient winter mountaineer.

Accommodation

We offer courses with and without accommodation. For courses where we offer it with accommodation you will see this in our pricing table on our dates and price tab.

The accommodation included with this course is on a self catering, twin sharing basis in Kinlochewe at Kinlochewe Mountain Chalets situated at the head of Glen Torridon. This location provides the perfect base for our winter mountaineering courses, being close to the hills and in a beautiful little hamlet that resides next to the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve.

The accommodation includes shared cooking facilities and lounge for you to relax in after your hill days. There is also a private carpark onsite so travel is simple.

Dates and Pricing

In order to provide the highest level of learning and safety we maintain low ratios for our courses. For our Winter Mountaineering courses we never go beyond a ratio of 1 guide to 4 clients. These small numbers allow us to make sure you get the tuition you need and the course is tailored around your aspirations whether you’re booked onto an open or private course.

• Open Courses
• Private Courses