07725 806870 mail@unexplored.scot
07725 806870 mail@unexplored.scot

Winter Mountain Skills Course

(20 Reviews)
2 Day Course £180
5 Day Course £395
From£180
2 Day Course £180
5 Day Course £395
From£180
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  • 2 Day Winter Skills CoursesAvailable: 4 seats
  • 5 Day Winter Mountaineering CourseAvailable: 4 seats

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23810
2 or 5 Days
Availability : January - April
Aviemore, Scotland
Min Age : 18
Max People : 6

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What we cover

  • Use of ice axe and crampons
  • Walking with winter boots on steep ground
  • Ice axe arrests
  • Self-arrests without an ice axe
  • Slips and trips on steep ground
  • Winter navigation and map reading
  • Understanding snow conditions
  • Equipment choices and use
  • Weather forecast, avalanche awareness and route planning workshop
  • We also take photos of this lasting experience and share the photos with you afterwards (if there are no objections)

On 5 Day Winter Mountaineering Courses, we can also cover the following

  • Improving any skills from the first 2 days
  • Expedition food
  • Snowhole designs
  • Snowholing for one night
  • Summit a mountain

Is This Course For You?

Start your winter mountaineering journey with one of our 2 or 5 day Winter Skills Courses. Learn all the essential skills to become a confident walker in the winter mountains. You should already have some Summer hillwalking experience or have dipped your boots into winter mountaineering. We also might be able to teach you skills to start off at guided alpine (or other great ranges) trips. Contact us for more information about the course or if you have specific requirements.

2 Day courses are from early January till the first week of April
5 Day courses are from late January till the end of March

Can’t find the right date or course? Simply contact us and we will try our best to organise a different date for you.

Why Us?

It can be difficult to find the right outfit to run a course for you. All courses seem to offer the same itinerary. Here are a few points we offer that some other courses may not cover.

  • 30 years experience winter mountaineering and 14 years running winter skills courses.
  • We only teach practical skills on our courses.
  • Safety is our number one priority.
  • That starts by making sure that all helmets are fitted properly and if something doesn’t look right we fix it.
  • Ice axe arrests are always practiced with safe runouts.
  • We will only use safe practices when wearing crampons and won’t ask you to run or jump with them on.
  • We show how to put on crampons on snow slopes and will never put them on at heather or rocky areas.
  • You will also learn using simple to remember rules when to use crampons or whether alternatives should be used.
  • Ice axe arresting will be broken down in small bite sizes and we explain every step and give support in making it easier.
  • As part of the course we cover a 2 hour lecture/workshop about avalanche awareness, weather forecast and route planning for the winter mountains.
  • We help you choose the right equipment like what ice axe, crampons and other winter kit to get.
  • You can borrow more equipment from us for free than any other independent winter skills course provider. Have a look at our full kit list. Most only offer ice axe, crampons and helmet.

Our Working Dog

Meet Sastrugi, our working dog at Unexplored Scotland. She is a very friendly Alaska Malador (Malamute/Labrador cross) and is our snow specialist. I hope you all like to meet her in our courses.

PhotosDetailItineraryKit ListReviews
Photos
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  • crampons
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  • steep ice
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  • Winter skills course
  • avalanche awareness
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  • ice axe arrest
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  • winter skills course emergency shelter
  • Coire An t-Sneachda
  • winter skills course - using crampons
  • avalanche awareness
  • Winter mountaineering course ropework
  • Winter mountaineering course ropework
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  • Winter mountaineering avalanche awareness
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  • Winter mountaineering course ropework
  • winter mountaineering snowhole
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Tour Details

At Unexplored Scotland, we provide a weekly winter skills course from early January till early April. The winter mountains in Scotland give some of the UK’s most demanding and rewarding mountaineering conditions. Travelling over these hills on high levels often requires a very mature set of multiple skills to ensure a successful and enjoyable day.

First 2 Days Winter Skills Course

The 2-day winter skills course in Scotland will be in the Cairngorms near Aviemore and covers all aspects of winter mountaineering in the UK. These courses run every weekend from January to early April. We focus on practical skills and sometimes participants would like to learn specific skills, needed for a future trip. We will practice ice axe arresting and self-arrests without ice axes and fit crampons on steeper ground. With all the skills we teach, we make sure they are broken down in small bite sizes.

All winter skills course also covers weather forecast, avalanche awareness and route planning. If necessary we also cover some winter navigation and map reading.

We will meet in the morning in Aviemore and drive to the hills after an introduction. The main locations we use for the winter mountaineering course are near Cairn Gorm.  All our instructors are qualified Winter Mountain Leaders or Mountain Instructors and have years of experience in running winter courses.

5 Day Winter Skills Course

The first 2 days are the same as on the 2 day course. The third day is kind of a flexible day where the course can either focus more on already covered skills or it could include some rope work.

Finally, the highlight of the course is a 2-day expedition with navigation and staying in a snowhole. You will build a snowhole from scratch in a remote area and stay in it for a night.

Depending on the weather we may have to start the expedition (snowholing) on Mondays rather than Tuesdays.

Price Includes

  • Winter Equipment (ice axe and crampons)
  • 35-45L Mountaineering Rucksack
  • Navighation Equipmet
  • Safety Equipment (helmet, group shelter, etc.)

Additional Kit for 5 Day Course

  • Therm-a-Rest Xtherm Sleeping Mat
  • Army Style Bivvi Bag
  • 4 Season Hollowfibre Sleeping Bag
  • Cooking Equipment

Have a look at the Kit List below for more information about what we provide and what you need to bring.

Price Excludes

Complementaries

  • Lifts from Aviemore to the hills at the Cairngorms is not included in the price, We can however give up to 3 people per course a lift. This is for individuals using public transport. Please fill out a participation form after booking the course if you would like a lift.
What to Expect
  • Friendly and relaxing environment
  • Qualified Winter Mountain Leader or MIC
  • Good quality equipment
  • We provide more equipment than any other independent provider
  • Safety, fun and learning principal
  • Skills are taught in bite sizes to make it easier to learn
  • We teach only practical skills that will help furure winter mountain adventures
  • Over 10 years of course experience
  • Over 20 years of local knowledge

Frequently Asked Questions

Some common enquiries.

If your questions haven’t been answered feel free to contact us.

What is included in the price?

Most winter specific equipment like ice axe, crampons, helmet but also rucksacks, ski goggles etc.. For a full list have a look at the Kit list below.

What is not included in the price?

Personal equipment like jackets, waterproofs and boots. For a full list of what you need to bring have a look at the Kit list below.

Can I buy a gift voucher?

Please contact us if you atre interested in buying a gift voucher.

Do I need Insurance?

We highly recommend that all of our customers take out insurance to cover their course or tour, specifically covering cancellation and curtailment of your course/tour as well as accident and personal injury. We will not be able to refund your course fee should you cancel within 6 weeks of the start of the course.

Can I get a lift to the hills from Aviemore?

Lifts from Aviemore to the hills at the Cairngorms is not included in the price, We can however give up to 3 people per course a lift. This is for individuals using public transport. Groups should organise their own transport. Please fill out a participation form after booking the course if you would like a lift.

Itinerary

Day 1Intro to Winter Skills Course

Meet up in Aviemore in the morning and get on snow to work on basic skills.

Walking in the snow, kicking steps
Cutting steps with an ice axe
Different techniques of cutting steps
Using crampons
Learn about snow and avalanche risk

Day 2Continue with Intro to Winter Skills

Meet in Aviemore and head to the hills. Work some more on those winter skills and move on to how to stop yourself from slipping or sliding down the side of a hill. The key focus on this day is ice axe arrests and how to prevent sliding down a hill.

Day 3 Flexible Day (5 Day Course Only)

Learn how to navigate in the winter. Since there are many features of a map covered by snow you need to be much more precise than navigating in summer. Alternatively you could do some rope work. Learn how to build snow anchors like buried ice axe, bollard and stomper. Also will introduce you to safety and rescue procedures. In the evening pack all the gear for a 2-day expedition.

Day 4First Day of Expedition (5 Day Course Only)

Walk to a good location for snowholing. We would need a large accumulation of snow to be able to dig deep enough. We then start digging which can take between 2 and 6 hours, all depending on the snow pack.

Day 5Final Day (5 Day Course Only)

In the morning we will pack our things and depending on the weather conditions we aim to walk back down the hill or make it a bit of a journey.

Kit List
What We Provide
  • Mountaineering rucksack (35-55 litres)
  • Climbing helmet
  • Ice axe
  • Crampons (C2 only)
  • Ski goggles
  • Warm hat
  • Balaclava
  • 1:50,000 map and map case
  • Silva Expedition compass
  • Snow shovel
  • Safety Equipment
Additional kit for 5 Day Course
  • 4 season hollow-fibre sleeping bag
  • Therm A Rest XTherm sleeping mat
  • Army style bivvi bag
  • Stove and cooking utensils
What You need to bring
  • Winter walking boots (B2 or B3)
  • Waterproof jacket (absolut minimum 10,000mm, ideally 3 layer with 20,000mm waterproof rating)
  • Waterproof trousers (trousers you don't mind to slide on snow with)
  • Suitable warm clothing for walking (synthetics and outdoor wool only, no jeans)
  • Warm fleece or belay jacket (down jackets are not suitable)
  • Packed lunch
  • Hot drink flask
  • Sun cream
  • Warm Hat
  • Sunglasses
  • Several wind and waterproof gloves (ideally 3 pairs)
  • Wide neck plastic water bottle (not hydartion system with hose)
  • Headtorch & spare batteries
Additional kit for 5 Day Course
  • Rucksack for expedition, minimum 55 litres (we have a few spare, contact us if you need one from us)
  • Spare clothing like additional fleece, belay jacket or down jacket
  • Spare socks
  • Spare warm, leather or waterproof mountain gloves
  • 2 dinner or torpedo candles
  • Outdoor mug
  • Spork or spoon

Note about crampons and boots: At Unexplored Scotland we only provide C2 crampons on the winter skills course. These will only fit B2 or B3 boots.

Find out on our blog how to identify boot ratings.

You can hire boots at some of the shops in Aviemore or somewhere on the way. I would always advise to call them to book the boots well before the course. 
Cairngorm Mountain Sport Aviemore 01479 810903 – £20 for 2 days, £35 for 5 days
Ellis Brigham Aviemore 01479 810175 – £24 for 2 days, £40 for 5 days
Tiso Aviemore 01479 788840 – £20 for 3 days, £30 for 7 days (recommended)
Tiso Inverness 01463 729171 – £20 for 3 days, £30 for 7 days
Tiso Perth 01738 634464 – £20 for 3 days, £30 for 7 days

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20 Reviews
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Suzanna T

Solo Traveller

I did a two day winter skills course with Unexplored Scotland earlier this year with my friend and we really enjoyed it. Andreas was a great instructor with a lot of local knowledge who tailored activities to the abilities and interests of the group. I’d never done anything similar before and he was very patient and clear. Andreas also provides plenty of equipment so that we didn’t need to hire much ourselves. Thoroughly recommend!

10th March 2022

CKing

Solo Traveller

“Booked onto the 5 day winter skills course in February, based out of Fort William, and had a brilliant time!

Andreas knew good spots to practice the basics of crampon and ice axe use, and we put these to the test with bigger hills days in the latter half of the week.

Unfortunately the weather had slightly different ideas, but our plan was fully adjustable and we made the short trip across to the Cairngorms to ensure good mountain days.

Andreas is friendly, approachable and communicative. He has a clear lesson plan and structure and spent time to go into the theory of route planning and avalanche awareness. The peak was digging a massive snow cave on the side of Cairn Gorm!

I would absolutely recommend Andreas for anyone wanting to learn the basics of winter mountaineering.”
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3rd March 2022

Malc K

Solo Traveller

Booked a 5 day winter skills course last winter, would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys summer hill walking but who isn’t experienced with full winter conditions. Learned a lot of valuable information and skills from the highly knowledgeable Andreas, plus plenty of laughs and stunning scenery thrown in. What’s not to like!

1st March 2022

Sam M

Solo Traveller

Fantastic course run by an amazing guide. Andreas taught us all the skills required to tackle the mountains in winter. From navigation, using crampons/ice axe, to building a snow hole. Andreas was friendly and welcoming and i highly recommend booking a course with him.

28th February 2022

emmanuelvaz

Couple Traveller

Best winter mountaineering course. I definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in learning basic leaning skills in mountaineering. Andreas is really knowledgeable.

8th April 2019
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