Moderate level of fitness
Navigation
We’ve taught navigation courses to total beginners, Godzone adventure racers, SAS candidates, transalpine trampers, hunters, even reality TV participants! They all appreciate our simple, easily-repeatable techniques, our patient teaching style, and the ability to put the skills into practice on real overland trips during our courses. Keep Reading
Have you ever found yourself accidentally off-track in the forest or thick mist? Or you know a thing or two about navigation, but want to become more confident or efficient with your route-finding? Our navigation courses can help you improve your route-finding no matter what level you’re currently at.
On our introductory navigation courses, we help you translate what the map means so you can learn how it relates to the landscape around you. We also introduce a few ways that a compass can help you, using a very simple method (no more remembering “do I add or subtract?”). We’ll also go over some tips and tricks around route planning to make navigating your proposed trip even simpler.
Many navigation courses try to cram everything into a single day. Well, that’s long enough to learn the basics, but most people end up confused because they haven’t had enough time to put it all into practice. On our overnight courses, we’ll practice navigating in the dark, then on the second day we’ll do a proper off-track journey with you all taking turns to navigate extended sections.
If all of the above sounds easy to you, then we can help you up your game on a longer trip. Learn what makes Mountain Journeys the best in the business at backcountry navigation. Drop us a line and let us know where you’re at and what you’d like to learn.
Alpine Skills
Do you want to learn how to safely travel in snowy or glaciated environments? Join a small group on one of our Alpine Courses, which all have excellent instructors, top quality equipment, and great food. Keep Reading
The 3-day Basic Alpine Course is great if you’re completely new to travelling in the snow, or if you want to brush up on the fundamental skills of movement, avalanche safety, and snow camping.
The 5-day Advanced Alpine Course, for people who are already confident using ice axe and crampons, covers skills for glacier travel, crevasse rescue, snow anchors, abseiling, and dealing with short tricky steps.
We also run private courses which can be tailored to suit, depending on what specific areas you’d like to concentrate on.
How our alpine courses are different:
• We provide all alpine equipment so you won’t need to hire it
• We provide high quality dinners and breakfasts
• Our aim is to give you plenty of time on your feet – the more practice the better!
• We aim to spend a night camped in the snow in our 4-season tents, giving you a proper alpine experience.
Transalpine Skills
For those of you who want everything that’s on offer, this is where you can find it. We’ll undertake an actual multi-day journey in the Southern Alps so that you can put the skills into practice in a real setting. Keep Reading
The Standard 6-day course in October, for those with very little previous off-track experience, covers snow skills, off-track navigation, route selection, campsite selection, and river crossing.
The Advanced 7-day course in December is for those with experience at moving over uneven ground, very good fitness, and prior snow skills. It covers the above skills and also includes glacier travel, basic anchors, and dealing with short tricky steps.
These are great courses for a small group of friends wanting to do more trips together. Each of our Transalpine Skills Courses are different – they’re heavily influenced by the experience levels and future ambitions of you and your fellow participants.
“Not used to such care being taken over food requirements and even discussing sensitive ‘women’s issues’ seemed like just another chat – this is an awesome skill which most guys never master. I loved the fact that Rob obviously has sooo much more skill and experience than any of us but never made us feel inferior or silly with the way he guided and explained things. He just took us where we were at and showed us what the next step looked like. I can’t think of anything he could have done better.”
“We did a Navigation course with Rob Frost at Mountain Journeys and it was excellent. We wanted to improve our navigation knowledge and confidence when out in the mountains. Happy to say we left the course achieving this and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We’re looking forward getting out there and testing our skills. Rob’s cooking and food choices were also excellent!”
“The course was way better than my pre-trip expectations. I was very grateful for Rob’s patience and thorough teachings. I felt comfortable asking questions and clarification on things we had already been taught. I really enjoyed all the practical work. I really had a great trip and appreciated the opportunity to join this course. Thank you Rob! I hope to join another course in the near future!”
Our courses are designed to give you the skills to undertake trips off the beaten track confidently on your own.
UPCOMING COURSES:
(All based at Arthurs Pass unless noted otherwise)
8-9 February 2025: 2-day Navigation
18-21 April 2025 (Easter): 4-day Navigation
3-4 May 2025: 2-day Navigation
16-18 May 2025: 3-day Navigation
24-25 May 2025: 2-day Navigation
7-8 June 2025: 2-day Navigation
11-13 July 2025: 3-day Basic Alpine
25-27 July 2025: 3-day Basic Alpine
8-10 August 2025: 3-day Basic Alpine
16-17 August 2025: 2-day Navigation
25-29 August 2025: 5-day Advanced Alpine
8-12 September 2025: 5-day Advanced Alpine
19-21 September 2025: 3-day Basic Alpine
22-27 October 2025 (Labour Weekend): Standard 6-day Transalpine
14-20 December 2025: Advanced 7-day Transalpine (location TBC – West Coast, Aspiring, Queenstown or Aoraki)
