With the first snow already on the ground in the Cairngorms and on the Ben now is a good time to start thinking about winter and the different challenges and delights it offers us as walkers, climbers and mountaineers.
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. The winter mountaineering dates are all now full but I have space on several winter climbing courses.
On all courses we can lend ice axes and crampons if required. Accommodation is not included but there is a list of options on my website. The full course details are available here: http://www.expeditionguide.com/snowandice.htm
In reply to Rob Johnson expeditionguide.com:
Are these prices per person or per group? Also, how many people would you take out in a group?
Thanks,
Gethin.
In reply to gethin_allen: Hi Gethin, many thanks for the posting. The prices are per person and the group size or ratio depends on the course. Each course page on the website sets out the ratio for that particular course whilst the diary page will tell you the dates that course is running and how many spaces are left on it.
