FAQs
Courses FAQ
General information about our course programme. For specific details of each course, check out the course pages on our website.
- Instruction/coaching and equipment
- In-course transport
- Secure boat and bike storage
- Free use of climbing wall, gym MTB skills course & rolling pool
- Free tea, coffee or selected hot drinks for the duration of your visit
- Afternoon tea and cakes
- Free wifi access
- Parking with CCTV surveillance
- Secure storage, showers and toilets
- Shared en-suite accommodation the night before your course starts and during your course (rooms must be vacated by 10am on the final day)
- Breakfast, lunch and evening meal (there is no evening meal the night you arrive or depart)
For Scottish courses and courses based away from Plas y Brenin, please see the individual course page on our website for details.
- Personal insurance
- Registration and fees for National Governing Body coaching and award schemes
- An evening meal the night before your course commences
For residential courses, accommodation will be provided from the night before the course start date. Your room will be available from 18:00 onwards. Bar meals are served between 19:00-20:45 if you wish to purchase a bar meal on arrival night. All courses will meet at 09:00 on the first morning and you will be finished no later than 17:00 on the final day.
For non-residential guests, please report to reception by 08:45 on the first morning of the course.
We aim to do everything despite the weather. If it makes an activity too hazardous, we do not do it. All of our instructors are highly experienced in making the most of whatever the weather throws at us, and will always do their utmost to make sure you get the most out of your course.
We have spacious drying rooms, which you can use to dry any climbing, paddling, biking or walking kit at the end of each day, so it will be ready for action the next day.
If after reading the course information on our website you are still unsure as to which course is the most suitable for you, please contact the Centre to talk to one of our instructors. Our instructors spend most of their time out on courses so might not be available immediately, but if you leave your name and a daytime contact number one of them will call you back.
As a general rule, the fitter you are the more you will get out of your course. Our winter courses are particularly demanding and consequently require higher levels of fitness. We can accommodate varying degrees of fitness within our programme but we do reserve the right to curtail participation or in (rare) extreme cases, we may ask you to withdraw from activities if we feel your lack of fitness is causing excessive difficulties for you or other course members. If you are unsure, please give us a call for advice.
A recommended list of what to bring with you for each course can be found on the specific course page on our website.
All technical equipment can be borrowed from our stores department at no extra cost. Your course director will take you to stores on the first morning of the course to sort out anything you need to borrow.
Please note that for most assessments you are expected to have your own equipment.
You are very welcome to bring and use your own equipment, but please note that you bring and use it at your own risk and we cannot accept any responsibility for any damage or loss to your equipment, howsoever caused. We have got secure storage for bikes and boats.
We have Professional indemnity insurance but would always recommend that you purchase your own personal accident insurance (including cancellation insurance) for all U.K. based courses. It is a small cost to give peace of mind and to protect against any monetary loss, should you have to cancel your place on a course for reasons beyond your control.
For all overseas courses, you must purchase specialist rescue, medical and repatriation insurance. The following companies provide appropriate mountaineering insurance:
British Mountaineering Council www.thebmc.co.uk 0870 010 4878
Snowcard Insurance Services www.snowcard.co.uk 01327 262 805
