Do you want to get out into Scotland's mountains, but want to do it well? Then this course is for you.

The Mountain Skills course from Mountain Training is an ideal choice for people interested in transferring their walking skills to more mountainous terrain. Ideally, participants would have some basic hill walking experience and have a reasonable level of fitness. These courses are run in the higher mountain areas of the UK and Ireland.

What does the Mountain Skills course cover?

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 starts with an opportunity to meet the other people on the course and take part in a planning session with the Tutor. This will be held in the Hutchison Bothy at Tiso Perth from 1pm - 3pm on Saturday 5th September.

After that we will go out in the mountains, moving away from marked paths and into steeper and sometimes 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 is more demanding than the Hill Skills course and you can expect to be out in the mountains for between 5-6 hours on both days. The first day will include an evening session that includes walking into darkness or poor visibility.

On Saturday 5th, we will on and around Uamh Bheag, SW of Comrie, for a basic introduction to navigation, ascending and descending on steep ground, and navigation in poor visibility. We will aim to be back at our cars for 10pm.

On Sunday 6th, we will meet on location at 10am and do the Munro Meall nan Tarmachan, north of Loch Tay, where your navigation and steep ground skills will be developed and a brief introduction to ridge walking and scrambling will be provided.

For those who are interested, the opportunity to do a wild camp on the night of Saturday 5th, where you will be guided in the principles of good practice around this, is also available. You will need to provide all your own camping equipment.

Description supplied by the event organiser.