Take your first step to enjoying the mountains in winter with our intensive, five-day winter skills course based in Glen Coe.

You’re a dedicated hillwalker who wants to take things up a level and become a true ‘mountaineer’, tackling the more challenging peaks of Glencoe and Lochaber in winter.

Winter climbing in Scotland offers rewards and challenges comparable with the best anywhere in the world. From a revision of the basic skills, to more advanced skills for steeper ground, you’ll make rapid progress over this five day course.

Put your experience and enthusiasm to good use and climb with the most experienced guides and instructors in Scotland. This amazing Winter Climbing experience aims to help you get the best from five days in Scotland.

You've been on our Scottish Classic Winter Climbs course and want to know what's next. Join us on this course to develop your winter climbing experience on some of the longer or more challenging routes and improve your technique still further.

Though said in jest, we do believe ‘West is best’ for these courses. Quite simply, we have a huge diversity of mountain ranges and terrain all within a 45-minute drive.

Presenting yourself for a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor assessment is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication, gaining it is a huge achievement.

Join our dedicated winter team for a week to remember, as we summit some of Scotland’s most revered and beautiful peaks.

In our role as the National Outdoor Centre, our primary goal is to encourage and support as many people as possible to get active outdoors. We recognise that in some cases, the primary barrier to individuals receiving the training they need is cost, so, as a not-for-profit organisation, we continually strive to ensure our course fees remain as low as possible. We also work with other organisations who provide funding support for specific opportunities.

Do you have your eye on classic mountaineering days out like the Aonach Eagach, or Number 5 Gully on Ben Nevis? This five day course is for you.

Why stop hill walking because there is snow in the mountains?

Passing a Winter Mountain Leader assessment is often cited as being the high point of people’s Mountain Training journeys, and for good reason.

If you love winter walking and want to share that passion with others, the Winter Mountain Leader is quite literally, just the ticket.