Winter Courses & Guiding
All Point 5 Mountaineering Winter courses are personalised to your requirements. We don’t offer open courses or group people together who don’t know each other. This ensures that course sizes are kept low and you get exactly what you want out of the time. You select what you would like to do, when you would like to do it and for how long.
Winter Walking, Mountaineering and Climbing is available throughout the season.
This can start as early as November and extend through to April with January to March being the peak season. It is worth noting that Point 5 Gully has been climbed as late as mid May before!
Being based in Fort William we have rapid access to the Nevis and Glencoe mountains which hold some of the best and reliable winter mountaineering conditions in the UK. Creag Meagaidh and the Cairngorm Range in the east and the Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy hills to the south are also all within an easy drive of Fort William.
If you don’t see what you are looking for here, then please get in touch and we can discuss your requirements.
Winter Skills
Winter walking in Scotland can be a demanding yet immensely satisfying experience. Along with skill in crampons and ice axe, you’ll also need avalanche awareness, winter navigation techniques and importantly, the ability to look after yourself in what can be a harsh environment.
We offer courses which will equip you with the skills to safely enjoy walking in Scotland’s winter mountains. Winter equipment, use of ice axe and crampons, avalanche awareness and winter navigation will all be covered.
Winter Mountaineering
There are a wealth of winter mountaineering routes in Scotland that don’t require full climbing techniques but may require some ropework skills, solid cramponing and a good head for exposure. There are classic gully climbs such as No. 3 Gully on Ben Nevis, exposed ridges such as the East Ridge of Beinn a Chaorainn and long traverses such as the Aonach Eagach.
If you are used to winter walking and would like to step it up a level and learn the skills for climbing easier gullys and ridges then our Winter Mountaineering course is ideal. Ropework, snow and rock belays will all be covered along with climbing some classic mountaineering routes.
Winter Climbing
Scotland is world famous for its winter climbing. Walk into the Ben on a Feburary morning and you might hear French, Spanish, Italian or even Japanese language.
Winter Climbing in Scotland is a broad church and encompasses many different styles of climbing.
These include the classic easy to mid grade gullys and ridges (Grade II-4) of Glencoe or Nevis,the steep cascade ice of Ben Udlaidh, thin ice routes of Indicator Wall on Nevis through to the high standard modern mixed routes of the Northern Corries of Cairngorm or Beinn Eighe.
As great fans of the winter climbing game, we offer a range of winter climbing coaching courses from Introduction to Advanced. As with all our courses, along with learning loads, you will also climb some of the best routes that Ben Nevis, Lochaber and Glencoe have to offer.
