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Guided Winter Climbing

Winter climbing at its best

Point 5 Gully? Tower Ridge? We will help you realise your dream to climb that classic winter line by pairing you up with our experienced Mountaineering & Climbing Instructors (WMIC) for the day.

Choose to be purely guided for the day, or develop your winter climbing skills and learn about route choice, avalanche awareness, placing winter protection and winter climbing technique.

Generally, we run our guided days from Fort William and Glencoe in the West Highlands, or the Cairngorms in the east, but we would be more than happy to discuss other areas with you.

At Highland Ascents, we pride ourselves in ensuring that your day is tailored to your own personal ambitions, so if you’ve got an idea of a climb that you’ve always wanted to do, then we will be happy to be your guide. If not, there are hundreds of great winter lines in Scotland, for all abilities: we are certain that we can find one that works for you, but here are some suggestions of ‘must-do’ classics:

• Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis – the UK’s only true alpine ridge.  800m of climbing in incredible positions, to the summit of Britain’s highest mountain
• Point Five Gully on Ben Nevis – arguably the most famous ice gully in the world an absolute classic
• The Pumpkin on Creag Meagaidh – excellent ice climbing on ‘Meggie’
• Savage Slit in Coire An Lochain, Cairngorm – steep hook pulling – mixed climbing at its finest.

Information

Dates and prices: are shown in the table below. 

Click here to make a booking or to find out more. You can also contact us by telephone on 07702 942980.

Point 5 Gully with Highland Ascents

Ages and abilities: The winter environment can be extremely challenging, so this course is for adults only and for those who already have experience of winter walking and ideally winter climbing in the high mountains of the UK. Fitness is important as days are long, approaches generally tough and packs heavy.

Group sizes and ratios: Our instructor to client ratio never exceeds 1:2

Kit: We will share a kit list with you when you book, but you will need warm and waterproof clothing and sturdy B2 or above crampon compatible boots and crampons. You will also need to have a pair of ice tools and basic climbing kit. All kit is available to hire from a partner company. We can offer advice on all kit at booking.

Times: Guided days run from around 08.00 to 17.00