Mountain Skills Course

Service Description

Set in the beautiful Lake District National Park our Two Day Mountain Skills course is a great way to learn the essential skills you will need to enjoy the mountains in the UK safely. Whether you'd like to feel more confident using a map, you have ambitions to climb Everest or become a Mountain Leader, a Mountain Skills course is a great first step. Each of our Mountain Skills courses will start at 9am with an opportunity to meet the other people on the course and take part in a short planning session with your course tutor. After that we will be out in the mountains, moving away from marked paths and into steeper, rockier terrain in order to learn about the differences in weather, navigation and managing risk in the mountain environment. The physical effort required on our two days will be more demanding than our Hill Skills course and you can expect to be out in the mountains for between 5-6 hours. In addition, we will use the evening of the first day of the course to conduct some additional training, this could be anything from a Q&A sessions to help develop your technical knowledge or a practical night navigation session (this will be tailored appropriately during the course to meet the needs of those on the course). ​Training Objectives During your Mountain Skills course you will be given the opportunity to develop a range of essential skills that you will need to enjoy the mountains in the UK safely. These skills include: 💡 Planning: how to successfully plan a walk in the mountains in the UK or Ireland. 🥾 Walking skills: what things should you consider while out walking and what can make life easier (pace, nutrition, movement skills, steep ground etc.). ⛺️ Clothing and equipment: being suitably dressed and equipped can make the difference between a great day out and a complete disaster. 🌧️ Weather: how it affects the mountains and your day out. 🧭 Navigation in the mountains: everything from selecting a compass and using a map to navigation in poor visibility and an intro to GPS. 🌳 Environmental knowledge: how to minimise your impact on the hill, information on good practice and useful organisations. ⛑️ Hazards and emergency procedures in the mountains: how to respond to any hazards you encounter and what to do in an emergency.