Where your judgement becomes the map

Winter has a way of erasing the mountain you thought you knew. Snow drifts over the path, cloud rolls in below the summit, and the features you would normally use to find your way aren't there. This course is built for people who keep going anyway, calm and confident in their own judgement.

Hatt Adventures has spent over twenty years teaching people to navigate confidently once visibility disappears. This course gives you the skill to keep your bearings when the ground and cloud try hardest to take them.

You will master precision pacing and timing to replace what you can no longer see, plus contouring, aiming off, and handrailing across featureless, snow-covered terrain. Relocation is practised under pressure, so it becomes second nature long before you need it on the mountain. You will also learn to read slope angle as a navigation tool as much as an avalanche indicator, and bring map, compass, GPS, and phone apps together as one reliable system. Scottish weather can turn in minutes, so we choose your exact venue on the morning itself, wherever gives you the sharpest conditions to learn in. This course builds directly on your existing skills, so come already confident with an ice axe and crampons.

Choose your BASE

Fort William

Fort William, beneath Ben Nevis Based from Fort William, at the foot of the UK's highest mountain. Routes explore the surrounding hills and glens rather than the summit itself, with the Nevis range setting the backdrop for the day.

Aviemore

Aviemore, in the Cairngorms Based from Aviemore, on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park. Broad plateaus and rolling glens give a different winter character, with routes shaped by your guide to suit conditions on the day.

What's covered

  • Precision pacing and timing, replacing what you can no longer see.
  • Contouring, aiming off, and handrailing on featureless, snow-covered terrain.
  • Relocation: what to do the moment you realise you're not where you thought you were.
  • Reading terrain and slope angle as a navigation aid, not just an avalanche one.
  • Using a map and compass together with GPS and phone apps, as one system.

How the day runs

  • One full day in the mountains.
  • We start with straightforward legs and build difficulty as your accuracy improves.
  • A relocation exercise later in the day, so you've done it under pressure before you ever need to.
  • Small groups throughout.
  • Personal feedback on your pacing and decision-making