Mountain Skills Training

Stuart was absolutely fantastic trainer for NNAS Silver. Everything is very clearly explained with plenty of time to practice and varied terrain to practice in. He spent extra time to discuss further skills with those interested. We had very challenging conditions as it was cloudy / misty / raining with very poor visibility, but with Stuart’s excellent guidance, everyone was confident to navigate around and find all target locations. Would highly recommend the course to anyone heading into fells / munros.

Just come back from a week away in the Lake District with Stuart on the Navigation Silver Award. It was a fantastic weekend alongside a really great group, which made the weekend that much better, too. Stuart was an excellent instructor with his expanse of knowledge of the outdoors. He knew how to read individuals in the group and help them individually as well as teaching us as a group. I can not recommend Stuart enough. I have learnt so much on this course that will be helping me in the mountains, such as taking a compass bearing and reading the contour lines to planning a hike properly, not just using an app. This has made me feel so much more confident, and I will be putting this to the test over the next few months. I'm looking forward to enlisting on for the Gold award, and I may even book on for the winter skills too!

I took part in the 4 day Mountain Skills Course in the Lakes lead by Stu. The whole course was structured so well, ensuring people of all different abilities were able to get out of the course what they wanted. The amount of extra confidence gained in being in the hills and ability to effectively navigate with a map has given me the confidence to start climbing munros, 3 completed and even a bit of scrambling done :D

I finished the Winter mountaineering 3 day course a few weeks back led by Stuart and it was without a doubt the best outdoor course I’ve ever done. It was intense, fun and rewarding. I was quite surprised just by how much content we worked through; with each day neatly focusing on a particular area, such as navigation or moving around treacherous terrain. The course leader Stuart was an absolutely joy to learn from. Any questions I had (there was many!) he would enthusiastically answer. I can see why he does what he does, he’s a natural teacher and easy to get on with. This course and Stuart gets a massive thumbs up from me and I look forward to hopefully more adventures with him in the future.

I went on the winter mountain skills course in Jan 2024 and had no previous winter hiking experience. I had previously read the reviews before deciding which course to book and the course exceeded my expectations. Stuart is a very experienced guide and made the learning fun and kept building on it progressively. We spent most of the time on the mountains and on the second day we had a full winter day with -22°C feel on the top because of the windchill and low visibility, but he ensured we were safe and in particular took great care of me (I've got very poor circulation). Great experience overall, would definitely recommend.

I really had 3 very good days in the Cairngorm Mountains. This three days mountaineering skills course was very instructive and I feel much more secure now to go hiking on my own or with my friends during the winter months! Thank you again Stuart to have shared your knowledge with us.

I attended the Mountain Skills 2 day course in November and had an absolute brilliant time. Stuart was the instructor this weekend and he was incredibly knowledgeable and was able to tailor the learning to each of our abilities/prior experience. The course is very practical and the information is taught, practiced and then built on in a staged, step-by-step way that really helps embed the skills learnt. Somehow the weather in the Cairngorms was incredibly calm and dry, I’m not sure if this can be guaranteed for future students but I’m sure MST will try their best…. Looking forward to booking my Winter Skills course with them. Thank you :)