Highland Rock Trips

Select the week you want to book on to and book online. A £100 deposit is required to secure your place, payable online via card or PayPal. You will then receive an invoice for the remainder which is payable four weeks prior to the course start date.

Minimum age is 16. We are one of a small number of climbing providers in the Highlands licensed by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority. We are very experienced at looking after young people on our courses. This is an ideal opportunity for a teenage climber who is ready to spread their wings, perhaps moving on from indoor walls or a sport climber wanting to lead on trad gear. We think the social environment is important too: the freedom of a road trip, good craic at the campsite, chats in front of the fire, evening walks along the beach...

The Highland Rock Trips are open to anyone with an interest who is reasonably fit and in good health. Any previous experience will be beneficial but is not essential. We can cater for all technical abilities.

These courses are ideal for beginners or those who have climbed a fair bit at the wall and want to get outside. If you're ready to lead routes that's great, we can cover all aspects of basic ropework, belaying, gear placing, abseiling etc. If you're a keen boulderer who's never used a rope before that's great too - and we do normally try to build in some bouldering during the evenings too. If you have done literally no climbing before it would be worth doing a few sessions at a local wall in preparation.

With a flexible approach we will start by looking at the basics of belaying and actual climbing in a group of up to 4 people for two days. During this period we will also aim to cover simple anchor arrangement and the use of the technical equipment. This will all take place on crags local to Inverness, the weather and individuals previous experience being taken into consideration when making final crag choices.

Following this we will divide into two smaller parties, with an extra instructor allowing a 1:2 ratio for the remaining three days. We will travel to one of Scotland's more adventurous areas and tackle some more challenging climbs, places like Glencoe, Torridon, Reiff and the Cairngorms are all options and the best one will be chosen after considering weather forecasts and people's aspirations etc. During this phase of the course there will be the opportunity to lead climbs, perhaps tackle some multi pitch classics, learn and practice some more advanced ropework techniques as well as relax and enjoy evenings around camp.

The general aim of the course is first and foremost to enjoy the climbing itself, to learn the techniques you will need with friendly and very experienced instructors and to enjoy the beauty of the Scottish Highlands at the best time of year.

You can travel to Inverness with hand luggage. You literally just need a pair of climbing shoes, your clothes & personal items for the week . We provide everything else from our comprehensive stores:

• All technical climbing equipment
• All camping equipment incl. sleeping bags, stoves, rollmats, tents
• Rucksacks, spare waterproofs

The first two nights we use Inverness Youth Hostel as our base, included in the price. Thereafter we'll be camping, using a mix of serviced campsites and wild camping as needed. You could be bivviing at the foot of a mountain crag, sleeping in a bothy, or using a fancy campsite with showers - it's all part of the adventure!

Food - We want to welcome you after your travels, so we do provide a home-cooked two course meal for everyone on the first night. After that, we've found it's best to let folks cater for themselves. Tastes and budgets vary: we will build in time to drive to food shops. As a small Highland organisation ourselves we do prefer locally owned independent shops over supermarkets! Some nights there might be a chance to eat out, and that's totally up to yourself. Other nights you might be eating boil-in-the-bag camping meals in readiness for a big multi-pitch mountain day.

We use a comfortable modern 9-seater vehicle throughout the week. You just need to get yourself to the meeting point at Inverness Youth Hostel by 5pm on the Sunday evening. At the end of the week we can drop you off at Inverness Airport, train station or city centre.

We're expert at finding the good weather and dry crags. It would be very rare to be rained off for a whole week. We haven't picked late April by accident - this really is the best time of year in the Highlands. Poor weather options might include a lower-grade mountain route or one of our countless classic scrambles. We are all keen hillwalkers and mountaineers, so would generally prefer a bracing but adventurous wet hill day to going indoors. As a last resort we do have some excellent small indoor walls dotted around the Highlands.

This is highly recommended. Your policy should cover cancellation as well as personal injury and loss of equipment. Many climbers are members of Mountaineering Scotland and/or the British Mountaineering Council, This gives you access to a range of member benefits including cheaper insurance.

Àban's friendly office team is happy to help at any time. We can talk you through all the details of this course: please enquire by phone (01463 830386) or email info@aban.scot