GUIDED WINTER CLIMBING

If you have some experience of some experience of summer/winter climbing and want to spend some time enjoying the incredible places and adventures Scottish winter can offer then this is the course for you. 

The idea for this course is to get you climbing, a lot. This will normally be on a mixture of mixed and ice climbing but will be governed by the climbing and weather conditions. 

It can be based either near Aviemore or Fort William but with the potential to head further afield if the conditions are good. We would generally start with a shake down day, climbing something appropriate to your ability with room to get back into the flow of winter climbing and to be able to start building a relationship with your instructor. As the week goes on you and your instructor will be able to develop your course giving it a truly personal touch enabling you to get the most out of your time in the mountains. 

If based out of Fort William then you will almost certainly get to do some climbing on Ben Nevis, the largest mountain in the UK. Ben Nevis has as amazing variety of climbing and is steeped in climbing history. 

If based out of Aviemore then the ‘Northen Corries’ offer a huge variety of winter climbing. Slightly longer walks offer climbing on ‘Hells Lum’ and the ‘Shelter Stone’. 

Weather and conditions always plays a massive part of Scottish winter climbing. Sometimes we may climb only parts of a route to avoid strong winds high up, or abseil into a route to avoid avalanche prone slopes lower on the mountain. Remaining flexible is an important part of Scottish winter climbing. During periods of bed weather our climbing courses might get involved in other Scottish winter climbing skill sessions. This might include building snow anchors, abseiling from snow anchors, crampon bouldering or dry tooling. To help make the most of the conditions, we may have longer days during the week to make up for shorter days if the weather is bad. The key thing is that we will do all we can to ensure that you have the best climbing experiences possible. 

Duration Between 1-5 days

Ratio 1:1 or 1:2

Cost From £165 per day per person at 1:2 ratio

What’s included

• All technical climbing equipment. Harness, helmet, crampons, ice axes etc.

• Transport from accommodation to the mountains and back. To be arranged when booking. A fuel surcharge will be added if we decide to drive further away to enjoy more remote destinations. 

What you need

• Personal clothing including waterproofs. 

• Rucksack, ideally 40L

• Gloves, hat and spare layers.

• Map and compass. 

• Winter boots either b2 or b3. 

• Lunch, drink and snacks each day.