Mont Blanc Winter Training Weekend Cairngorms 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 February 2024

This course offers an ideal introduction to the fundamental skills of winter mountaineering, with a particular emphasis on movement skills with mountaineering boots, crampons and an ice axe.  These are elements which will serve you well not only on Mont Blanc but on all other adventures along your mountaineering journey.

The first day of the course emphasises lots of this training with the opportunity to practice the skills in context as part of short yet interesting mountaineering journeys.  Whilst we focus on the positive training of sound cramponing on ice and steep snow with an axe, we also look at using the axe for self-arrest as an emergency response to a slip.

The second day, with a lower 1:2 guiding ratio, is then a great opportunity to build these good movement skills into a bigger and more physical mountain day.  We aim to both climb some of the big peaks of the area like Cairngorm or Ben Macdui (at 1309m the UKs 2nd highest mountain) as well as tackling some steeper terrain and a classic Scottish snow gully if conditions allow.

Course Fitness & Mountain Experience Pre-Requirements

An existing level of very good fitness is required for 2 winter days in the mountains up to 6-8 hours each day.  This will mean you have some existing mountain walking experience or a very good level of current fitness from other aerobic / endurance sports like running / cycling etc.

No previous mountaineering experience is required but you should however be keen to embrace the tough elements of winter days in the mountains and be ready for some moderately exposed mountaineering and thus have a reasonable ‘head for heights’.

Michael’s feedback from our wintery 2022 course…

Having just completed the February Mont Blanc training weekend in Aviemore I wanted to say thank you to HMG for organising a really enjoyable and informative course.  The weather was wintery but the flexibility of the guides to accommodate the weather and still put us through our paces meant we got a lot done.  Rob answered several kit questions before the course and that stood me in great stead.

If you are thinking about whether to go on the course, I can say that it is a great opportunity to benchmark your kit and fitness, the safety and movement skills learned give confidence and the amount of practical information about actually climbing Mont Blanc that comes from general discussions with others and the guide is invaluable.  Definitely recommended. 

Course Fee & Booking

Please note – this is a course fee only and does not include accommodation, equipment hire or any other expenses.  It just includes participation in the course and travel to the climbing venue from Aviemore.