Advanced Mountain Navigation Course Overview
Advanced Mountain Navigation
Our Advanced Mountain Navigation Course is designed for experienced hillwalkers and mountaineers who are already comfortable navigating away from established paths and want to develop the accuracy, judgement and confidence required for more demanding terrain and challenging conditions.
It’s a natural progression from our Beginners’ Mountain Navigation Course and is pitched at a similar level to the navigation skills encountered in Mountain Leader training courses. It can also provide valuable additional practice for anyone working towards their Mountain Leader assessment.
Navigating When It Gets Difficult
Accurate navigation becomes particularly important when the terrain is complex and the obvious visual clues begin to disappear. Low cloud, darkness, featureless ground and poor weather can transform otherwise straightforward navigation into a considerably more demanding exercise.
We’ll begin by consolidating your existing skills before progressing towards micro-navigation — accurately locating and moving between smaller features where there may be little margin for error.
Rather than relying on any single technique, we’ll develop a range of strategies and learn when to use them. Timing, pacing, compass bearings, contour interpretation and careful observation of the surrounding terrain all become part of a wider navigation toolkit.
What We’ll Cover
We’ll typically cover:
- Accurate navigation across complex and pathless terrain
- Advanced contour interpretation
- Timing and pacing
- Taking, walking on and checking compass bearings
- Micro-navigation and locating subtle features
- Selecting appropriate attack points and catching features
- Route choice and navigation strategy
- Maintaining position awareness in poor visibility
- Relocation techniques
- Navigating efficiently without unnecessary compass work
- Adapting techniques to terrain, visibility and conditions
- Sound decision-making when conditions become challenging
Poor Visibility & Night Navigation
Poor weather can actually provide some of the best conditions for developing advanced navigation skills. When the cloud comes down and distant features disappear, accurate map reading and disciplined navigation become considerably more important.
Where appropriate, we can also arrange the course to continue into dusk and darkness, providing an excellent opportunity to practise navigation when visual information is deliberately limited. Night navigation is also an important element of the Mountain Leader syllabus, making this particularly useful for candidates preparing for assessment.
Whatever conditions we encounter, the emphasis remains firmly on practical navigation in real mountain terrain. Expect to spend plenty of time away from paths, working with the map and landscape to become a more accurate, adaptable and independent mountain navigator.
How many can participate?
This course works well with a maximum ratio of 1:4 (instructor to participant) and can be booked for one or two days in duration. This low ratio will ensure you receive quality instruction.
How much will it cost?
Our standard rates are for private one-to-one guiding or instruction. Additional participants can join for £50 per person, per day, subject to suitable ratios for the activity.
For longer adventures, bookings of five or more consecutive guiding days receive a 10% reduction on our standard guiding fees.
How to book
Let us know which course you’d like to book, along with your preferred date/s a brief outline of your experience. We require a 30% deposit to secure all bookings with full payment due prior to the start date of your course.