Mountain Skills

Getting started A 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.

Courses are delivered by approved providers who will introduce you to the skills and techniques required to enjoy mountain 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 mountain walking. Find a course.

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 mountain walking

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

Skills stories:

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

The handbook is currently being updated and will be uploaded shortly.

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 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.

A Mountain Skills course will start with an opportunity to meet the other people on the course and take part in a short planning session with the course tutor. After that you 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 these days will be more demanding than the Hill Skills course and you can expect to be out in the mountains for between 5-6 hours. In addition, many of our providers will run an evening session that can either be a walk into darkness or an additional teaching session on other elements of the course syllabus.

Training Mountain Skills courses typically last for 2 days, although some providers deliver them over 3-5 days.

Our approved Mountain Skills tutors offer courses in the high mountain regions of the UK. The course finder facility will show the number of available courses along with cost and location.

Examples of areas that courses are run:

Snowdonia - Brecon Beacons - Lake District - Mountains of Mourne - Scottish Highlands - Galloway Hills