A little bit of knowledge and experience can open up a world of opportunities in the mountains. Daily instruction or courses can be arranged to help you enjoy the hills at any level, from adventurous walking to winter mountaineering. Prices and booking info can be found on the bookings page.

winter skills  there are certain mountain skills in the UK that are unique to winter and essential to walkers and climbers alike. There are the essential basic winter skills of using an axe and crampons and how to self arrest if you blow it. It's also important that anyone venturing above the snowline knows what to do in an emergency, including how to build snow shelters and ways of staying warm. There are safety skills for on the move, such as recognising avalanche danger through to avoiding (and even negotiating) cornices. Then there are more advanced skills, such as using a rope and constructing snow anchors for the safe ascent (or descent) of steep snow slopes. All these things can only be learnt in a true winter environment which to be realistic, means Scotland.

winter skills courses Scotland 2012  the valley base for this winter's courses will again be the Aviemore area of the newly formed Cairngorms national park. The Cairngorm mountains, with their high arctic plateau, steep corrie headwalls and often 'testing' winter weather, provide the perfect location for winter skills training. A short course is the easiest and most effective way to gain the skills required to begin exploring our winter mountains. Courses can be arranged on a daily basis for yourself, with a partner or with a group of friends. There's also the option of including a day in your course to explore the mountains of the far North West, Torridon, or Lochaber. You'll find more in-depth information about Scottish winter skills courses on the additional winter skills page.

winter gallery  for an idea of some of the mountain areas visited during courses over the last few winter seasons, take a look here. You can also click on any of the images on this page to get a bigger picture.

navigation  for some of us, simply avoiding getting lost is all that's required and that's fine. Finding your way around in poor visibility can be far easier and more fun to learn than you think. In just a couple of days you can have the whole map and compass thing de-mystified and be comfortable navigating around the hills. You'll learn about walking on a bearing, pacing, timing and basically how to follow the easiest route to your destination. If you think your adventures might land you in more demanding situations, you can be trained how to get safely across the trickiest of terrain in whiteout conditions. Navigation training is available all year round, on a daily basis, for groups to a maximum of six.

scrambling  no pastime better typifies the true amateur spirit of adventure. At one end it's the big booted (and usually ropeless) approach to exploring the more rocky and secluded parts of our mountains. At the other end, it's traditional mountaineering. You can grab the basic skills of route finding and hazard awarness which is all that's needed for easy scrambles. Or learn rope and belay techniques to help you tackle steeper sections on grade 3 outings. Snowdonia has some of the most accessible and varied scrambling in the UK and is an ideal area to literally clamber around and learn. For the total scrambling hit, trips can be arranged to the wonderful Cuillin ridge on Skye.

alpine preparation  make life in the bigger mountains that much easier with a bit of pre trip training. Learn the art of safe glacier travel and make sure you can haul a partner from a crevasse. If your objective is alpine rock, the ability to 'move together' quickly and fluidly can be practised on the numerous mountain crags in Snowdonia... and if you still think 'fast and light' is a washing machine cycle, then you'll probably need some advice on what equipment to take with you.