A winter skills course for anyone who would like to run in a winter mountain environment
A two day course led by a qualified Winter Mountain Leader and experienced fell runner. These are aimed at anyone who would like to build skills and experience for continuing their running through the winter months, particularly in a mountain environment.
Winter can be a difficult time to keep running motivation up. Day light hours are short, the weather unpredictable and underfoot conditions challenging. It’s also the season when getting out for a run becomes ever more important to keep us happy and healthy.
This course is aimed at anyone who would like to run on the trails and mountains year round. It will help you gain the skills and experience needed to stay safe in the winter mountains, give you the confidence to keep running year round, and enable you to make sound decisions when winter mountain running.
Course Content
The content of the two days is designed to teach and develop the winter skills required for safe travel through a mountain environment and understand how and when it is appropriate to use them for running.
The following gives you an outline of the core skills and information we will cover over the two days. The exact content, location and style of movement will be shaped by the weather, conditions and participants.
DAY 1 – This will be a focused skills day in a winter mountain environment. This means minimal distance will be covered and participants should come dressed appropriately for winter hill walking. It will likely include:
- understanding mountain weather and avalanche risk
- skills for moving safely and efficiently over snow and ice
- where, when and how to use crampons, micro-spikes and ice axe
- pros and cons of crampons vs micro spikes
- winter running kit and mountain safety essentials
- tips, tricks and advice on how to train and fuel for winter runs
DAY 2 – This will be a journey day appropriate to the weather and conditions. It could be a winter hill run using micro-spikes, a winter mountain walk in crampons or a lower level winter trail run.
As it is not always sensible or safe to attempt to run up high in the winter mountains we cannot promise that we will do this – but you will learn how to make good decisions in this context and if it is possible to run up high we will. The day will likely include:
- how to plan an appropriate route for a variety of winter conditions
- how to decide whether a mountain run is a good option, or not
- a running or walking journey through a winter mountain environment
- the chance to practice the skills learnt from the previous day in context
- winter navigation strategies
