Winter Mountaineering skills
These Lake District based courses are available whenever the snow comes. We are flexible and often able to take last minute bookings.
Walking in summer has less objective danger or hazard than winter. When walking or climbing in the mountains during winter, we are not just walking, we are mountaineering! It’s spectacular, refreshing, challenging, arduous, cold, hot, but most of all it’s hugely rewarding. There are a few skills required that a summer walker wouldn’t need, and for that reason, we offer introductory courses so you can acquire these important skills and practice them to hone your techniques.
Maybe you already have some knowledge of the winter environment and wish to get onto steeper ground. We can arrange this too. Ridges & gullies of grade I - II are often fabulous days out and we can guide these for you, often at short notice. Should you want even more demanding terrain and have previously climbed at least grade II we can arrange for a day of 'mixed climbing'. Call us first to discuss this.
Areas covered during a 2 day course will include:
Equipment:
We can provide axe & crampons for the duration of your course. You will need either sturdy boots, or far better fully stiffened winter boots.
Location:
The Helvellyn & Scafell range of mountains are most likely where we'll be spending most of our time.
So if booking accommodation: the Ambleside; Grasmere; or Keswick areas will prove most convenient.
Prices are dependant on group size and as follows:
£220 for 1 person = £220
£150 each for 2 people = £300
£130 each for 3 people = £390
£125 each for 4 people = £500
These prices include all instruction and the use of axe & crampons over 2 days.
Dates:
As these are bespoke courses, we can be very flexible with dates, please ask.
Walking in summer has less objective danger or hazard than winter. When walking or climbing in the mountains during winter, we are not just walking, we are mountaineering! It’s spectacular, refreshing, challenging, arduous, cold, hot, but most of all it’s hugely rewarding. There are a few skills required that a summer walker wouldn’t need, and for that reason, we offer introductory courses so you can acquire these important skills and practice them to hone your techniques.
Maybe you already have some knowledge of the winter environment and wish to get onto steeper ground. We can arrange this too. Ridges & gullies of grade I - II are often fabulous days out and we can guide these for you, often at short notice. Should you want even more demanding terrain and have previously climbed at least grade II we can arrange for a day of 'mixed climbing'. Call us first to discuss this.
Areas covered during a 2 day course will include:
- Movement on snow & ice, with and without crampons - how & when to put them on, how to walk in them, when to take them off, how to store them
- Use of an ice axe - how to stop a slip becoming a fall, how to self-belay, how to hold, store, & carry the axe correctly
- Avalanche awareness, snow pack evaluation, and test pits - how to spot the signs you may be in avalanche terrain, how to avoid it, and how best to move through avalanche prone slopes
- Navigation - whilst being a useful and important skill during summer, good navigation becomes essential in winter
- Route planning - thorough route planning helps minimise problems, but flexibility is very important too
- Weather considerations – wind, snow, cold, dark
- Coping with the cold – clothing systems
- Shorter days & onset of darkness - how to avoid being caught out and what to do if it still happens
- Snow shelters - as an exercise these are fun to build and surprisingly warm. In an emergency they become life-savers
Equipment:
We can provide axe & crampons for the duration of your course. You will need either sturdy boots, or far better fully stiffened winter boots.
Location:
The Helvellyn & Scafell range of mountains are most likely where we'll be spending most of our time.
So if booking accommodation: the Ambleside; Grasmere; or Keswick areas will prove most convenient.
Prices are dependant on group size and as follows:
£220 for 1 person = £220
£150 each for 2 people = £300
£130 each for 3 people = £390
£125 each for 4 people = £500
These prices include all instruction and the use of axe & crampons over 2 days.
Dates:
As these are bespoke courses, we can be very flexible with dates, please ask.
Afternoon light. Harter Fell from Esk Hause
