Winter Hillwalking Courses

[malrobb]

Hi All,

Its the middle of the Summer but just trying to plan ahead and although I am mainly a summer Munro bagger, I was looking to expand my horizons and keen to tackle some Munros in the winter months. I think it would be prudent to take a course to know how to use crampons, ice axe arrest etc and was looking for recomendations for courses. As I travel from the South of England to get to the hills so I would be keen to ideally have the tuition on one day and then ideally put the practice into action on the follolwong day and would be keen to bag new Munros. The courses that i have seen online seem to take place in the Glencoe, Mamores area but I would be keen for the Cairngorms, as that is a relatively untapped Munro area for me. Grateful for any recommendations for any 2-3 day courses.

Thanks

Mal

[Skyelines]

Glenmore Lodge https://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/cat-18-Winter%20Mountaineering%20&%20Winter%20Climbing/course-222-intro-winter-skills-2-day/

[Cairngormwanderer]

Mountaineering Scotland also offers winter skills courses, and they're in the Cairngorms.
https://www.mountaineering.scot/safety-and-skills/courses-and-events/our-courses/winter-skills

[malrobb]

Great, Thanks for the steers. Have any of you guys used them yourself before?

Thanks

Mal

[prog99]

I did the mcofs one at glenmore lodge 10 years or so ago, got a lot out of it. Proper cairngorm plateau conditions!
Weather conditions may differ but I think you get more out of it when the weather craps out.

[Cairngormwanderer]

Great, Thanks for the steers. Have any of you guys used them yourself before?

I have to confess - I work for Mountaineering Scotland, so am maybe not the most impartial of judges. But if you scroll down to the bottom of the courses page there are plenty recommendations - and they ARE genuine.
(Edit: I see Prog99 has endorsed the MCofS courses. MCofS is the old name for Mountaineering Scotland.)

[Magoo82]

I did the weekend course at Glenmore Lodge about four or five years ago and would 100% recommend it. The first day concentrated mostly on the technical side of ice-axe and crampon training with avalanche awareness lectures back at the base in the evening. The second day was all about putting it into practice, and navigating in winter conditions. For the second day we got really hostile conditions on the Cairngorm plateau, total whiteout conditions, heavy cornice on the corrie rims, air temperature of -12C with a windchill of -24C, probably the worst conditions I've ever been out in but absolutely the best conditions to learn in under supervision. It really hammered home the importance of planning, navigating around potential hazards, and just paying attention to all the details.

[SuperMillie]

You could try one of the Mountain Aid courses which are great value for money, they're free

I did one a few years ago and found it well run with very experienced instructors and would definately recommend it

Check out their website: http://www.mountainaid.org.uk/free-skills-courses.html

[Fiona Reid]

Great, Thanks for the steers. Have any of you guys used them yourself before?

Mal

Yup, did the MCofS (now Mountaineering Scotland) one at Glenmore Lodge back in 2006. It was very good. Foul weather means you get to learn *why* being able to navigate is important and more so in winter when paths, streams and fence and a lot of features you use in summer bet covered up. I do remember thinking at the time that I'd never go out in this sort of weather (little did I know)...sometimes it starts of great and goes pear shaped during the day.

If you do a course try to get out to practice the skills as soon as you can. It's easy to forgot if you don't practice what you learn.

We were lucky and got that chance the following weekend and we also helped out another chap who cut his finger (slipping on ice due to having no crampons on). He had crampons with him but it was so long since he'd done his course he'd forgotten how the went on so had winged it resulting in a nasty cut. We got his crampons on & bandaged his finger so he could get safely down the hill.

[malrobb]

Thank you all for the additional comments; much appreciated.

Thanks

Mal