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Scotland is world famous for the quality of it's snow, ice and mixed climbing. This combined with a strong history, makes for a rich and rewarding winter climbing experience.

James Thacker Mountaineering offers a variety of winter climbing courses to cater for the enthusiastic beginner as well as regular winter climbers who wish to push their grade or experience something new.

Our winter climbing courses are all held in the Scottish Highlands. This world famous region offers a vast variety of mountain terrain on which many British mountaineers have learnt their craft. We choose to base our courses on the west coast of Lochaber, this area includes Glen Coe, Ben Nevis and the outdoor capital of Scotland - Fort William.

Please note that all our Scottish winter courses require summer hillwalking experience and a good level of fitness. Mountain days in Scotland can be a long but worthwhile experience. This year we will be operating courses with fixed dates. In addition however, we are also available for other dates and bespoke courses in order to make the most of the prevailing conditions.

Intro Winter Climbing:

This introductory winter climbing course is aimed at those who have some experience of summer climbing/mountaineering and wish to make the transition to climbing in Scotland in winter. This course aims to get you climbing confidently while teaching the essential skills of ropework, belaying, and movement on snow, ice and mixed ground. In addition we would hope to take in some of Scotland's finest routes.

Duration: 2 days Ratio: 1:2 Location: Lochaber Price: £180 per person Dates: see calendar page.

Mixing it Up: Scottish Performance Mixed:

This week is aimed at folk who are keen to work specifically on mixed climbing at grade III and upwards. There are four places for this week with myself and Associate instructor Andy Turner (MIC and handy mixed climber http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1839 ). The aim will be to do plenty of mixed climbing to push you to the next level regardless of if thats to grade III,4 or VI,6.

Duration: 5 days Ratio: 1:2 Location: Lochaber/Glen Coe Price: £450 per person

Cold Climbs :

If it's in the inspirational book “Cold Climbs” and in condition then it could be fair game. These three days are all about classic routes and learning along the way.

Duration: 3 days Ratio: 1:2 Location: Lochaber/Glen Coe Price: £270 per person

Advanced Winter Climbing:

This course is aimed at those who wish to progress to climbing steeper routes of grade IV and V. Again the emphasis will be to get you climbing confidently while teaching the essential skills of ropework, belays, and movement on steeper ice and mixed ground. As such we would hope to take in some of Scotlands finest routes at this grade.

Duration: Flexible Ratio: 1:2 Location: Lochaber/Glen Coe Price: £180 per day

" Thanks a lot for a great couple of days back in March, I really thought the we we're going to be out of luck with the weather but to do both Curved Ridge and Dorsal Arete was fab" Alan, Intro Winter Climbing

Download additional course information: Intro Winter Climbing PDF, 23KB

Download Booking Form: JTM Booking Form PDF, 118KB