Winter mountaineering course around Fort William and Glen Coe

5-day winter mountaineering course with a certified guide, to improve your winter climbing skills while admiring Fort Williams and Glen Coe area.

Highlands

5 Days

Jan - Mar, Dec

High

Beginner

Highlights

Improve your winter climbing skills on a comprehensive 5-day course.
Enjoy climbing during the winter in the amazing Scottish Highlands.
Catch sight of amazing landscapes as you acquire new skills.

Description

Are you a fit hillwalker looking to step it up a notch? Then this Winter Mountaineering course is the perfect opportunity to learn more technical aspects of the sport!

During this 5-day course I will teach you a diverse range of skills to increase your confidence when on winter adventures:

How to move efficiently over steep and exposed terrain.
Advancing through low-grade gullies and ridges.
Revisit central winter skills like the use of the ice ax, crampons, or rope gully.
Introduce climbing techniques such as ropework, avalanche awareness, and winter navigation.

I’ll be teaching these techniques while touring around the admirable scenery that surrounds the Fort William and Glen Coe Area.

Some of the example routes that we may take are:

Ledge Route (I/II) Ben Nevis
East Ridge (I/II) Beinn a’Chaorainn
Ledge Route (II) Ben Nevis
No.2 Gully (II) Ben Nevis
Aonach Eagach (II) Glen Coe
Golden Oldie, (II) Aonach Mor
Curved Ridge, Buachaille Etive Mor (II/III) Glen Coe
School House (ENE) Ridge of Sgorr Bhan (II) Glen Coe

So this 5-day winter mountaineering course will offer you a wide range of activities: learning more about snow and ice climbing, walking with little visibility, and winter survival techniques. Also, I’ll explain daily climate, avalanche, and how to evaluate ascent conditions. If 5 days is too much for you, I also offer a 4-day New year course. This could be the perfect adventure to start a fulfilling Year!

Whatever your preferred option is, keep in mind that these winter mountaineering courses will help you improve your skills. The result is that you will be much more efficient at moving around the endless scenery of the Scottish Highlands!

Contact me now to improve your mountaineering skills and become a Scottish Winter Highlander! And if you are looking for something else around Scotland I offer other possibilities like the Cuillin Hiking or the Cuillin ridge traverse.

Price includes

Guiding fee

Price details

Prices include: guiding and instruction and the use of a harness and helmet. You will also need to take accommodation, food, uplift, personal equipment (including hiring of crampons, ice axes and boots) and insurance costs into consideration.

Itinerary

Day 1: Kit check and basic skills

Kit checks – Essential skills – Step kicking/cutting – Ice axe arrest – Walking & scrambling in crampons – Snow belays – Guided ascent of a graded gully or ridge.

Day 2: Moving together

Essential skills – Using previous skills to ascend a simple graded ridge or gully (Grade I/II). Introduction to ‘moving together’ roped and basic winter belays.

Day 3: 1st technical ascent

Essential skills – Ascent of simple ridge or gully followed by Navigation, Map & Compass, Pacing & Timing.

Day 4: Client leading ascent

Ridge climbing day led by clients under supervision of instructor (Grade II).

Day 5: Client choice

Client choice depending on conditions and fitness level.

Details

More info

Level: Regular summer walkers with a good level of hill fitness. Previous winter walking, easy summer scrambling, and some rock climbing is a plus, but not mandatory.

Equipment: -Socks. A medium to thick pair of synthetic or wool/synthetic blend socks. -Thermal/Base Layers. A couple of thermal layers are useful, along with thermal leggings. -Fleeces. At least one fleece layer for your upper body. Having an extra fleece top or synthetic layer in a waterproof liner at the bottom of your rucksack is essential. -Walking trousers -Warm Hat & Waterproof Gloves -Waterproof jacket and over trousers ( Outer shell clothing) -The trousers should have at least a knee length zip enabling them to be fitted over boots/crampons. -Rucsac. A medium volume sac (35-50 litres) is best for winter climbing, with ice axe carrying loops. -Bivvy Bag -Gaiters or Stop-tous -Head Torch -First Aid kit -Compass/Map -Whistle/Watch Flask -Lunch & Spare Food -Boots. For climbing courses, stiff, crampon compatible boots are required. They should have a stiffness rating of B2 minimum and ideally B3. -Crampons. They should have 12 or 14 points and be compatible with your boots. -Ice Axe -For winter climbing, two technical climbing axes (40-50cm) are required. -Helmet. Please bring one along if you can. We have DMM helmets available. -Harness. Make sure it can be put on over boots and crampons. -Belay device, two HMS Carabiners and one 120cm sling. We can provide you with these if you don’t have your own.

Meeting point

About the guide

West Coast Mountain Guides

4.9

(23)

Mountain Leader

We are based in the shadow of Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain and arguably the most iconic and sought-after winter climbing venue in Britain.

All our instructors and guides have extensive, relevant experience which is eagerly passed on to everyone taking part in instructional mountaineering courses, private guiding and worldwide expeditions. This background, together with a genuine passion for adventure, can only inspire and motivate our customers to achieve their own goals.

Languages

English

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What people are saying about West Coast Mountain Guides

Ken immediately made us feel welcomed and we had a good chat on the walk in before gearing up for the ridge ascent. Both my son and I had a fantastic experience thanks to Ken's calm, expertise in leading us over Tower Ridge and then descending via Ledge Ridge to round off a great day. Highly recommended!

Ken was a fantastic guide, safe, experienced and took us on an incredible adventure!

have just come back from completing an ascent of ledge route and a descent via no4 gully, guided by Ken. absolutely fantastic day and Ken was friendly, professional and very confidence inspiring. cant recommend highly enough and I'll definitely be back next season!

Ken took me and my son up the north face ledge route to the top of Ben Nevis. It was a challenge in places - particularly with the snow and ice - but it was an unforgettable experience! Ken was a great guide.

I usually do these things with my Husband, but we currently live in Singapore and I’m back visiting family and didn’t want to miss out. I was doubly anxious because our usual guide was unavailable, but Ken quickly put me at ease. For me that’s about feeling like I have all the information I need, being reassured that I’m making good time and having a few scheduled breaks for snacks etc. We also had a good chat, which made the walk in fly by. A very enjoyable day, I felt safe and comfortable throughout. I hope to be back in the future for more adventures.