Hill Skills and Mountain Skills: walk the hills on your own terms
Mountain Training's Hill Skills and Mountain Skills courses teach you to plan, navigate and look after yourself in the UK hills and mountains.
In this guide
- What it is: Two-day Mountain Training skills courses that help you become an independent hill walker.
- What you need first: Nothing for Hill Skills. Mountain Skills asks for some hill walking experience and a reasonable level of fitness. The minimum age for both is 10.
- What you'll learn: Planning a route, what to pack, navigation, common hazards and what to do in an emergency. Mountain Skills adds simple scrambling.
- What's next: Walking track: Lowland Leader and Hill and Moorland Leader. Climbing track: Rock Skills courses
Map in hand, ridge ahead, and nobody telling you which way to go. That's the goal of these two courses.
Hill Skills
This is for people who are new to the hills, or who don't feel confident going beyond the routes they already know. You'll be out on hill and moorland across the UK and Ireland, learning to plan a great walk and find your way.
Mountain Skills
This is the step up into steep, rocky places. Mountain Training runs it in mountain areas such as Eryri (Snowdonia), the Lake District, the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons), the Scottish Highlands and the Mournes. You'll add simple scrambling and learn about mountain hazards.
Both courses come with a certificate of attendance and lifetime use of DLOG, Mountain Training's digital logbook. Our advice: start logging your days now. If you ever go for a leader award, you'll need them.
Source: Skills courses Hill Skills and Mountain Skills, Mountain Training, checked October 2026.
Governing body: British Mountaineering Council (BMC) for England and Wales. Leader and instructor awards come from Mountain Training, and coasteering standards come from the National Coasteering Charter, so these are the official places to find out more.
Typical prices, checked October 2026. The club or coach sets and bills the price.
The club map lists some of the UK clubs for this sport. It is a starting point, so check with the club before you travel. To have a coach found for you, use the enquiry form.
