This course is run over the weekend Whilst it's based in Dolgellau we will use the areas with the best conditions on the day (transport provided from and back to Dolgellau).
Must be 18+ unless parent or guardian is also attending.
During a 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 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 session to review the day and plan the following day's outing.
You can expect to be out walking each day for most of the day and generally on Mountain Skills courses this will be on ground that is 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.
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.