For the 2026 winter season Graham Uney Mountaineering and Sharon Kennedy from Team Tortoise are collaborating on a range of skills courses for walkers.

On each course, conditions permitting, we'll aim to go through the techniques of winter mountain walking, including:

Winter route planning
Weather and avalanche forecasts
Winter clothing and equipment
Personal admin and resilience
Using the boot as a tool
Step cutting
Ice axe arrests
Walking in crampons
Emergency procedures
Winter navigation
Looking after your equipment

You'll need your own winter mountaineering boots (B1 boots as a minimum, but we'd recommend boots rated B2 for extra stability and warmth), as well as winter clothing, goggles, hat and gloves, and a packed lunch. If you have your own ice axe and crampons you can of course use those, but we can hire these to you for £20 if you haven't bought them yet, or if you're not sure of the best ones to buy.

When you book we'll send you a kit list along with your booking confirmation and joining instructions.

You should aim to be very flexible in your expectations of conditions though, as some days it'll be great for crampon technique, but not so good for ice axe arrest, for example, or we may have perfect snow and weather conditions for an ascent of a mountain on one day, or may decide to keep out of the wind and weather on another day and practice skills in a sheltered corrie. This is what UK winters are all about - understanding the conditions and the skills needed at any one time, and being flexible in our planning to be able to make the most of the day whilst making sound mountaineering decisions. On any course we'll tailor the skills taught to suit the snow and weather conditions on the day.

Course Dates for the 2026 season:

Scottish Winter Skills 2-day Course (held in the Braemar area, giving you lots of good accommodation options, and lots of great choices for us to get into the snow each day!):

January 17th - 18th

January 31st - February 1st

February 28th - March 1st

March 14th - 15th

Lake District Winter Skills 1-day Course (this will be ad-hoc dates, arranged and advertised last minute on here and on our social media channels if and when there are good conditions).

Course fee for the 2026 season:

2-day Scottish Winter Skills Course - £220 (minimum of 2 required)

1-day Lake District Winter Skills Course - £120 (minimum of 2 required)

Private Scottish or Lake District Winter Instruction/Guiding - contact us for a quote

Ice axe and crampon hire is £20pp per course. When you book you'll be sent details of where to meet on day one, as well as a full kit list. the course fee does not include accommodation.