Skye from the water
What a wonderful way to take in the beauty of Skye! 2 day kayak trip leaving Kyleakin. Overnight in a cozy tent. Andreas is a teacher, guide, outdoor expert, chef & all around great guy. His equipment is top notch, always making sure safety was top priority. I was in constant awe of the beauty we were immersed in!
Two day winter skills course
Two day winter skills course in Cairngorm. Really good fun, great people and learnt a lot.Everything explained really clearly and very professional. Felt safe at all times. Thoroughly recommended
Andreas too myself and four others through a intro to mountaineering course to learn how to have fun in the mountains, but be safe doiung so.
The 5 day course gave me great confidence to take on more peaks in the alps with confidence. We learnt a lot of great skills and Adreas was quite personable adapting to the needs of the weather and the other learners.
Would recommend
Monty Summers
Winter Skills in the Cairngorms
My partner and I did a two day winter skills course with Andreas in the Cairngorms in January. It was brilliant - informative, really interesting and great fun too. We learned loads of new skills with crampons and ice axes that we will put to good use in the mountains next winter! Thanks Andreas!
Winter skills course
I did a 2-day Winter Skills course with Andreas a few weeks ago. I learned a lot and enjoyed the whole experience. Highly recommended!
Great winter skills course!
I did a two day winter skills course with Unexplored Scotland earlier this year with my friend and we really enjoyed it. Andreas was a great instructor with a lot of local knowledge who tailored activities to the abilities and interests of the group. I'd never done anything similar before and he was very patient and clear. Andreas also provides plenty of equipment so that we didn't need to hire much ourselves. Thoroughly recommend!
Top Class Winter Skills
Booked onto the 5 day winter skills course in February, based out of Fort William, and had a brilliant time!Andreas knew good spots to practice the basics of crampon and ice axe use, and we put these to the test with bigger hills days in the latter half of the week.Unfortunately the weather had slightly different ideas, but our plan was fully adjustable and we made the short trip across to the Cairngorms to ensure good mountain days.Andreas is friendly, approachable and communicative. He has a clear lesson plan and structure and spent time to go into the theory of route planning and avalanche awareness. The peak was digging a massive snow cave on the side of Cairn Gorm!I would absolutely recommend Andreas for anyone wanting to learn the basics of winter mountaineering.
5 day winter skills course
Booked a 5 day winter skills course last winter, would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys summer hill walking but who isn't experienced with full winter conditions. Learned a lot of valuable information and skills from the highly knowledgeable Andreas, plus plenty of laughs and stunning scenery thrown in. What's not to like!
Winter skills course
Fantastic course run by an amazing guide. Andreas taught us all the skills required to tackle the mountains in winter. From navigation, using crampons/ice axe, to building a snow hole. Andreas was friendly and welcoming and i highly recommend booking a course with him.
Sea kayaking bliss
In Adreas’s words, my husband & I rocked up as a pair of silver foxes, but once we’d completed our training day he was able to take us on an exciting 2 day sea kayaking adventure, with many memorable moments. After 40+ years of mountaineering in Scotland it was fabulous to see the landscape from a different perspective, & enjoy all the wildlife - many seals with pups & many seabirds. A very experienced & highly competent instructor, Andreas gave us the confidence to then participate in another more local expedition, sea kayaking around the Fife coast.
Skye by Kayak - Highly recommended!
My partner and I had a fantastic 2 days sea kayaking and wild camping with Andreas. The excursion is a super way to see Skye from a different perspective, break from the norm and get fully immersed in the wildlife of Scotland's coast. Andreas was an excellent guide, with vast knowledge he's gathered from his years of Kayaking and outdoor pursuits. I'd highly recommend booking onto a trip with him.After loading up the boats with our kit and provisions for the trip, we had a quick safety briefing. Much needed as it had been a couple of years since we last paddled. Soon though we were pushing off to paddle around the islands and look for birds, seals and other wildlife. The weather was kind and the scenery breathtaking, with views across the water to Raasay and over to Skye and the Cuillin ridge (where we'd been a couple of days before). We stayed overnight near the Uags bothy, enjoyed an excellent Spag Bol cooked on the camping stove, and a beautifully clear night under the stars - only interrupted occasionally by the sound of rutting stags near by!The wind picked up quite considerably on day 2 but Andreas was always there to reassure us and guide us through the choppier sections. After a solid paddle we were rewarded with a Porpoise sighting, perhaps 20 of them calmly cruising past our kayaks.An amazing trip all round, thanks again!
A view of Skye from another perspective, in a safe pair of hands
My partner and I had a wonderful - and much needed - trip to the Isle of Skye last month. This included signing up for 2 days sea kayaking and wild camping with Andreas. I'd highly recommend the trip; it's a great way to explore the area and see local wildlife. All in the safe hands of Andreas, with his vast knowledge on Isle of Skye, Scotland and everything in between.Andreas met us at Kyleakin with everything prepared for a 2 day sea kayak. From food, to high quality camping equipment, to wellies, Andreas provides everything - all we had to do was turn up. We also appreciated the thorough safety walk-through as it had been a while since our last sea kayak. We kayaked from Kyleakin and explored the Inner Sound / the edge of Loch Carron. During our trip we saw various birds, porposies and curious harbour seals - and the surrounding hills and islands looked beautiful from the sea. Andreas had many stories and information to share along the way too.On the first day the weather was kind and we enjoyed a memorable sunset. The return was a little windier than expected, yes Andreas was always there by our side as we navigated some choppier waters on the headland.Thank you Andreas for a lovely end to September.
Great time on a 2 day kayaking trip with Andreas, who gave us exactly the trip we were after and went out of his way to make sure it was memorable. Sharing photos was a nice touch. Would recommend.
Fantastic Winter Mountian skills course with Great trainer
Hi all adventurersI had a fantastic training weekend doing a Winter Mountain Walking skills training at the Cairngorm Mountains with Unexplored Scotland.Our guide and trainer, Andreas, was highly professional, yet warm and welcoming, making our small group (who turned out to be all women) feel confident and calm at what might have seems a somewhat daunting experience! He really knows these mountains and used his local knowledge to take us to a safe, accessible and sheltered place to learn how to slide and fall down a snowy mountain and to use an ice axe (and other techniques) to stop a fall. This skill is essential for safe winter walking in the mountains! (It was also fun, if a bit scary at first! Andreas was very supportive and gave us confidence try this new skill. While other groups reported nearly being blown off the hills, we were snug in a sheltered valley for our training!He balanced the training with the weather conditions and later in the day when rain approached we took to a cafe and hot food for our technical information on avalanche awareness, also part of the course. The second day was a great (and sunny) walk around the lower reaches of Cairngorm Mountain, and Andreas skilfully incorporated some micro- navigation skills essential if you encounter poor visibility (which we didn't), avalanche risk assessment, as well as putting on crampons while on a slope (a special skill!) and several different techniques for walking up snowy and icy mountains both with and without crampons. He balanced the training with our fitness levels, so at the end of each day we still had energy to go for dinner and local live music in AviemoreAndreas was very patient and very generous with sharing his rich knowledge of both the Caringorms and winter walking/climbing. We ended up have a really strong sense of camaraderie in our small group! It left me much more confident to do more, while also aware of my limitations and the risks involvedGreat course with a terrific trainer!!!He also runs sea kayaking course, so I'll be up in Scotland for that over the summer - lockdown permitting!!!
Winter Skills Course
I signed up to this course having very little experience on high level mountaineering, with the view that I would be given a base level skillset and knowledge required to kick-start my ambitions to become a skilled mountaineer. This course duly delivered on my aims and will open doors to sumitting snowy mountains or more skills, be it summer/winter climbing, ice climbing, avalanche safety or ski touring. This is the course to give you a very good base understanding of all of those.Andreas is a very experienced local guide who has great knowledge of the mountains, which is important for making your trip safe and effective. He is a good teacher too and points out both a good and bad job so you can take the feedback on. Best of all, I had an incredible (also very cold) experience of a night in a snowhole we dug, culminating in a stunning sunrise summit of Cairn Gorm. Unreal.Thanks Andreas - take it easy 🤜
Some Serious Snow Fun!
Felt incredibly fortunate to spend two days with Andreas and a small group of fellow outdoor enthusiasts as we immersed in all things winter walking. Storm Dennis didn’t stop us from cramming in a full weekend of learning from navigation and avalanche reports to ice-ace arrests and using crampons. There really is so much to learn! Fortunately, Andreas’ real and extensive knowledge and experience made sure no question was left unanswered which, mixed with his great sense of humour, made sure we all had fun! I can’t wait to get back out in the snow to put my new skills to the test!
Winter Mountain Skills
I made a 5 days Winter Mountain Skills with Andreas few weeks ago.I had a long experience in hill walking but not in winter conditions.In five days Andreas gave us the tools to start with confidence the journey of Mountaineering, covering navigation, types of snow, avalanche awareness, use of crampons and ice axe, roping, and finishing with an overnight in a snow hole. I would certainly recommend Unexplored Scotland!
Winter Skills course
I’ve been hill walking for about 30 years now and I have read books and watched you tube clips here and there about the practice of mountaineering and climbing. When my girlfriend told me that she wanted to do a winter skills course, I honestly thought I would be wasting a little bit of my time, and that I would know the majority of what this course had to offer....I was wrong! This course filled in lots of gaps in my knowledge, Andreas helped me in places where my technique was incorrect or inefficient. We covered movement across various surface types and self arrest with and without gear, areas where I thought I was mostly fine, but with his critical eye he was able to help me improve. I had never practiced head first arrest, I had merely saw it on you tube, which does not compare to being shown and then reflected upon while practising. We covered navigation, I have plenty of experience of this from the military and yet again, I picked up new elements that I don’t ever remember being taught, as well as refreshing many skills that were rusty. We spent a good chunk of time covering avalanche awareness, assessing the risk using the avalanche report followed by testing the snow condition on the ground, I swear I have have watched videos on the latter and yet, now it makes sense having put it into practice with instruction. I feel far more aware of how to stay safe in the winter hills than ever before and I find myself wondering, how on earth after 30 years of winter fun, have I not fallen prey to the hazards of avalanche? Those moments when you think back and realise, that maybe wasn’t the best approach! This course was excellent, it was fun and informative, Andreas shared a ton of information, hints, tips and laughs. I very much recommend this course to everyone that takes to the mountains in the winter, whether your new to it or not!
Sea Kayaking and Wild Camping from Skye
We recently returned from our trip to Scotland, the highlight was a two day sea kayaking trip with Andreas from Unexplored Scotland. This was our first time sea kayaking and Andreas provided all the necessary equipment, local knowledge and instruction required to facilitate a fantastic trip.We turned up at the scheduled meeting point and met Andreas, after a short drive to our launch point, we were soon kitted out and learning about the best ways to load a kayak. After a quick run through some safety points and basic paddling techniques, we were into the kayaks and paddling away from shore to meet some seals.Throughout the trip Andreas proved himself to be great company and a fountain of knowledge about the area, the history and the local wildlife. Thanks to this knowledge Andreas had planned a very manageable route for us that provided the test we were looking for, but never felt overwhelming. It also ensured a spectacular venue for our camp site. By the time we'd got changed and pitched our tent, Andreas had changed, pitched his tent and was pretty close to putting the finishing touches to a very tasty smoked salmon carbonara. The only downside was that I was beginning to feel prettty inadequate by this time, the tasty food and good company more than made up for it though.fire chef
Sea kayaking Summer Isles
We have just returned from a 2 day sea kayaking trip around the Summer Isles. It was a fantastic experience which we would certainly recommend. Our guide Andreas was a brilliant professional who was really organized, super skilled and had great local knowledge, he is a true gentleman. All of the kit he provides is to the highest standard and it was a really good experience learning to use it. We are already planning our next adventure with Andreas, either kayaking around Skye or perhaps some learning some mountain skills. Thank you for an unforgettable experience! SV
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