Skills Courses

As Personal Proficiency Training they are designed for aspiring and improving walkers and give an introduction to the essential skills for safe travel in UK wilderness and remote areas.  If taken in conjunction with the intensive and assessed National Navigation Award Scheme they are an ideal precursor to any of the leader award schemes and give people a significant leg-up in the learning process. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBdWi0-aD6o  --  be inspired!

Hill Skills

The Hill Skills course is aimed at the beginner hill walker and ideal for those interested in developing a practical understanding of how to plan walks, become familiar with the use of a map, learn about the equipment required and also gain an understanding of the effects of weather, how to deal with emergencies and gain a valuable understanding of the upland environment.  Terrain for Hill Skills is classified as UK upland or moorland, not necessarily but generally considered to be up to around 600m (app 2000ft) asl.  The Hill Skills course has a 16 hour contact duration over a weekend. 

Mountain Skills

The Mountain Skills course is an ideal choice for walkers interested in applying their countryside walking skills to the mountain environment. Ideally, participants would have done some basic hill walking previously and have a reasonable level of fitness. Skills in map and compass, mountain weather forecasting, movement through steep ground, planning and preparation, emergency procedures, seasonal effects and the mountain environment all form the syllabus of this course.

Mountain Skills provides additional material particularly covering steep ground and more complex navigation for UK mountain areas, generally over 600m and typical areas include Munros, and Corbetts.  There is an 18 hour contact time over one weekend for this course, which includes a short evening session.  Some previous outdoor experience is required for this course and as it involves ascending and travelling in our mountain areas a reasonable standard of fitness is required.  Successful attendance on a Hill Skill course or equivalent experience with a number of personal consolidation days would be a suitable pre-requisite.  This course is intended to be run under 'summer' conditions, meaning that there is no use of winter technical equipment or any specialised winter techniques, even though the weather may well be wintry!   Specific winter skills courses can be arranged separately. 

NSC Outdoor Adventures makes use of the Angus Glens, Glen Shee, Sidlaw Hills and Forest of Atholl areas for all our training, though we can make arrangements for other areas as necessary.  While our training schedule lists what we are offering any of the courses can be scheduled or re-arranged to suit your own requirements.

These courses are over 2 days so accommodation will be required.  You will need to be equipped for a walking day in the outdoors and appropriately for the predicted weather.  Both courses are conducted under 'summer' conditions, but this can include cold weather and snow though no winter skills or equipment are required.  We can alos offer 1 or 2 day winter training as an alternative.  If you have any queries please drop us an email or give us a call. 

While officially we can take up to 8 clients we have found that the more people the greater the difficulty in getting through the material, particularly navigation, and the hence less opportunity for personalised practice.