Hill Skills

Getting started Courses are delivered by approved providers who will introduce you to the skills and techniques required to enjoy hill walking in your own time. You will have plenty of opportunities to practise these new skills as well as learning more about the environment and how to manage the risks associated with hill walking.

Courses include:

A copy of the Safety on Mountains book
A navigational timing card
A certificate of attendance for completing each course
Lifetime use of our digital logbook (DLOG) for recording your walks

Participants get 15% off at Cotswold Outdoor and Snow+Rock, in store and online. Ask the course provider for the discount details.

Skills stories:

Ingrid Lohr

Martyn Broughton

Do you have additional needs?

Do you have a physical or mental impairment or disability which may require a provider to make reasonable adjustments so that you can take part in a training or assessment course? Find out more.

Hill and Mountain Skills participant handbook

Connect with your Mountain Training account after your course

Your course provider will create a record of your training course on our Candidate Management System (CMS) - if you would like to view this record and start using our digital logbook, you will need to connect with your Mountain Training account.

Course content

Planning – how to successfully plan a hill walk 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 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 hills and your day out.

Navigation in the hills – everything from selecting a compass to navigation strategies and an intro to GPS.

Environmental knowledge – how to minimise your impact on the hill and information on good practice and useful organisations.

Hazards and emergency procedures in the hills – how to respond to any hazards you encounter and what to do in an emergency.

During a Hill Skills course, you can expect to start each day at about 9am. The first part of the course is spent indoors, getting to know the other people on the course and gaining an understanding of basic hill walking planning. Your experienced tutor will outline the plans for the course before you head out into the hills. The end of the day will usually involve a short indoor session to review the day and plan the following day's outing.

You can expect to be out walking each day for around 4-5 hours and generally on Hill Skills courses this will be on footpaths or trails that are rough underfoot. Much of the journey during the course will involve learning opportunities and as such, the pace of the day is friendly and will include plenty of breaks.

Training Hill Skills courses typically last for two days, although some providers deliver them over 3-5 days.

There are approved Hill Skills course tutors located around the UK and they offer courses in many of the popular walking areas. The course finder facility will show the number of available courses along with cost and location.

Some good examples of locations are:

Peak District - North Yorkshire Moors - Pennines - Lake District - Cheviots - Clwydian Hills - Pentland Hills - Lammermuirs - Dartmoor - Brecon Beacons - Snowdonia

Content