Hire a private mountain guide & benefit from the years of experience of our qualified mountain professionals. Everything from summer hillwalking to advanced winter mountaineering.
West Coast Mountain Guides provide private mountain guides in the Scottish Highlands around Lochaber and the Glencoe Ridges, and on the Isle of Skye. If you’ve been looking for an alternative to an existing mountaineering course or guided mountain walk, hiring a private guide could be for you.
Engaging a private mountain guide provides you with greatest flexibility, as we will arrange an itinerary, date and location that suits you and matches your goals. West Coast Mountain Guides, Scotland will take the time to talk to you about your aspirations, your current level of ability and your previous mountaineering experience and develop a bespoke programme that allows you to develop your skills progressively and at a suitable pace.
All the mountain guides, instructors and leaders that we employ for all of our courses are all very active mountaineers and climbers. All have climbed and walked extensively throughout the UK, and many have been on adventurous expeditions around the world. With such a wealth of experience, we will make sure that we find the right professional for you.
Private mountain guiding and instruction ratios will depend on the type of activity requested. We keep group sizes small, and there will be no more than 4 people on mountaineering and climbing activities involving ropework. These small group sizes ensure that everyone receives the support and instruction they need to reach their goals safely and confidently. We are of course more than happy to private mountain guiding on a one-to-one basis
Prices will reflect the location, duration and number of people who want to participate. Please see below for our pricing structure. If you would like some help with your request or wish to discuss ideas and options with an experienced instructor, please get in touch.
One of the most popular options for private mountain guiding in winter is the magnificent Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis. The below video features Alan Kimber, former owner and founder of West Cost Mountain Guides, climbing and describing the ascent of Tower Ridge.
Private guiding is available in a range of locations for anyone wanting to walk, hike or climb in Scotland. We are focussed around the Scottish Highlands mountains and also provide Skye mountain guides.
Two of our most popular routes offer the opportunity to reach the Ben Nevis summit in winter or to climb the Inaccessible Pinnacle , but we have many other examples of the services provided by our Scottish mountain guides.
Examples of previous private mountain guiding experiences include
Winter Cimb of Ben Nevis Great experience with a great guide (Will). I appreciated his skill, patience, kindness, knowledge, flexibility, and passion for the hills. Would highly recommend this guide and company for Ben Nevis.
Great winter climbing course with Sally We had an amazing day with Sally from West Coast on the winter climbing course. From initial contact to finals plans the night before we felt like we were in good hands. She provided the gear and took three of us up the hill and had great patter. Once we reached the snow we were led through the training with the ice axes and crampons before tackling the climb full... read more
Great Mountain Guides - Recommended Fantastic experience with West Coast, from the initial booking and correspondence through to the guiding from Simon. Everything was brilliant. Highly recommended.
5 day intro winter climbing Alex is genuinely the best instructor I've had the pleasure of learning from. I wasn't sure what to expect from the 5 days, but would have been happy coming away from it feeling I'd learnt something and having ticked off a few routes. I ended up having the most enjoyable and educational experience I've had since getting back into climbing. I feel Alex perfectly balanced getting us up the routes... read more
Introductory winter climbing course I completed the 5 day intro to winter climbing course with west coast mountain guides Our guide Alex Kay did a great job, he tailored each day to suit the groups aims and we learnt a lot in the short space of time whilst still keeping it really enjoyable. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who's thinking about it, just get it booked in, you won't regret it!
Winterising climbing skills Our guide David Whiteley was fantastic, fantastic teacher and made a great effort to find good routes in less than ideal ground conditions.
Awesome intro to winter climbing Awesome intro to winter climbing over three days with David and Dave. Learnt the basic safety and technical skills and managed to do some challenging climbs as early as the second day
Winter summit of Ben Nevis Awesome day with guide Craig who was knowledgeable, friendly and good fun. In great conditions we made it to the summit with some expert nav from our guide!
Most common enquiries are dealt with in our FAQs – try there first.
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The prices indicated above are daily rates per group for mountain guiding/instruction only, in and around Lochaber (Fort William, Glencoe, Creag Meagaidh, Southern Highlands, Glen Shiel) and on the Isle of Skye.
We regularly work with mountain guides and mountaineering instructors throughout the UK and are more than happy to arrange guiding throughout the country, so if you have any specific requests please get in touch.
The guide/client ratio will vary depending on the technical difficulty of the activity:
Please contact us if you have any questions regarding the above ratios.
