Scottish Winter Skills Development Week

One of the biggest challenges of winter walking is learning to read the conditions and understand how they’ll affect your plans. Snow, ice, changing weather and reduced visibility can all bring new challenges, and developing the judgement to respond to them comes with experience and time spent in the mountains.

This five-day winter skills development course in the Cairngorms gives you the time and space to build that experience. Going beyond a standard introductory course, the programme covers a broad range of essential and advanced winter skills, with plenty of time to put them into practice in real mountain conditions.
At the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Use winter boots, crampons and an ice axe
• Move safely on snow and ice
• Cut steps and use efficient footwork
• Use ice axe techniques including self-arrest
• Interpret mountain weather forecasts
• Understand avalanche forecasts, hazard levels and avoidance strategies
• Navigate in in poor visibility
• Use emergency procedures
• Know how to move on steeper and exposed terrain
• Assess snowpack and slope stability
• Route plan for complex winter terrain
• Manage groups in winter conditions