About the Skye Guides team.
Over the past 30 years Skye Guides has developed an unrivalled reputation for high-quality mountain guiding in the Cuillin. We pride ourselves in upholding the very highest standards including our staff selection and training program. The team has over 20 active members with some of the most highly respected freelance guides and instructors in Scotland.
Why work with Skye Guides?
The Skye Cuillin are the only Alpine mountains in Britain. The work gives intense opportunities to learn, practice and fine tune techniques that will fast-track your guiding and instructing to the very highest levels. A high number of our team are already on the BMG scheme or actively working towards it.
Joining the Skye Guides team.
Job applications are welcome from guides and instructors with appropriate qualifications and experience. Shadowing and Cuillin training is an essential part of the process. To allow time for this, applications must be received the season before you want to work.
Apply in writing to mike@skyeguides.co.uk with a CV and covering letter focusing on your Cuillin experience in particular.
We’ll get in touch for a conversation initially. Assuming that goes well the format is simple- the sooner you can get here to shadow the sooner we can take bookings for your diary. In return for the high level of mentoring that the company invests, we ask that new team members dedicate their time on Skye to working for Skye Guides rather than competing guiding companies.
The Process
Here is a recent account from Cameron Wood MCI
“Working anywhere as a newly qualified Mountaineering Instructor can be a daunting process but particularly on Skye. I passed my MCI in early September 2024 and tentatively approached Skye Guides to join their in-house training a few weeks later.
The feedback was clear about what was needed in order to become part of the team and secure work. Learning the terrain more intimately, and in poor weather took a few trips but confidence grew each time over that next 6 months.
At the start of the 2025 season more shadowing days were gradually blended with work contracts that were suited to my knowledge and strengths. Mike always took the time to fully talk through each job with me. He has good dialogue with guests to make sure ambitions are realistic and that they have a good understanding of what to expect.
I worked alongside more experienced guides with groups initially and then was given 1:1 work on routes I knew well. By the end of the season I had done a total of 5 different stints and over 40 days of work.
Working on Skye can be fatiguing both physically and mentally, Having Basecamp hostel to go back massively helps with this. I was surrounded by other experienced guides who know the Cuillin well and I could ask advice regarding things like route finding and what days worked well on certain weather forecasts etc. The use of a kitchen, drying room, showers, wi-fi and other guides to hang out/climb with in the evenings is a big positive.”
The Cuillin environment and guiding market throw up unique challenges for instructors, and it is well documented that specific training should be undertaken in order to deliver a safe high quality product.
Benefits-
- Largest provider of Skye work with high demand for guides year round
- High quality work; private guiding and low ratio only
- Minimum admin, advertising and negotiations required
- High rates of pay including pay for cancelled days
- Full back-up from the team; lifts, sick days and beta
- Use of Skye Basecamp facilities.
- Best mountains in Britain
- Annual training week
- Multiple partners for personal climbing and development
“Having worked regularly for Skye Guides for over a decade now, it still makes a lot of sense for me as a travelling freelancer. In comparison to working for other companies, the benefits of a shower, drying room and kitchen are simply a no-brainer during inevitable stints of bad weather. Basecamp also acts as a social hub for sharing evening craic and guiding knowledge. Mike has always been generous and supportive to work for. He does a great job of managing clients’ expectations at first contact and puts a welcome emphasis on quality of experience for both client and guide.”
Andy Moles WMCI.
How we work.
We advertise our guiding as the very highest quality available and with an intimate level of local knowledge. As a company we only take bookings when we know that we have guides to cover the work. Once guides demonstrate a suitable level of knowledge they provide availability for the season ahead. We appreciate there will be some gaps in familiarity and early contracts will be for peaks and routes that you know and are happy to undertake.
Learning the Cuillin.
The majority of applicants need to commit time to learning the Cuillin in detail which is achieved with a mix of shadowing and solo outings. To reach the level of knowledge required takes time and dedication. Applicants are strongly recommended to complete this process in the season before as the terrain is not easy to learn in winter conditions.
Contracts and protected incomes
Our booking systems have been established for over 20 years. Clients pay a deposit at the stage of booking and full balance is paid 8 weeks before the course. This allows us to guarantee your work and income well in advance. Cancellations do happen but we have clauses in our terms that protect the guide’s income.
Choose how much work.
As sub-contractors our guides ultimately choose how much and how long to work for. Cuillin work is brutal; the physical demands of ascending over 6000m in a 4-day Munro course are obvious but the mental fatigue is at least as draining. Weekly the aim is to have no more than 5 consecutive days and 2 days off before the next contract, but there are no hard and fast rules. Equally significant is the length of time spent working on Skye. We are quite used to working with guides who have “real jobs”, family commitments, overseas expeditions, assessments and other guiding commitments. Doing stints of 4 to 8 weeks is most common but some stay all season while others just make a guest appearance of a few days a year. Guides offered their own personal work contracts on the island are asked to be open with us and check that it doesn’t clash with Skye Guides work.
About Basecamp
The guides kitchen area at Basecamp operates as a social hub for the Skye Guides team with facilities making for a hugely improved standard of living while on the island. In addition to the cooking facilities there is access to the drying room, power showers, washing machines, dryers and free wifi. A high percentage of the clients stay at the hostel so discussing plans etc is done in comfort as opposed to a layby or carpark at the start of the days walk. Client kit is increasingly kept here for collection and distribution.
Most guides live out of their own vans while on the island and pay £12 for nights that facilities are used (2026). Use is not compulsory given practicalities of fuel costs & travel time but the ability to dry out and cook at the hostel proves very popular. Undoubtedly the biggest attraction is a chance to meet and talk through climbing and work ideas with the many other experienced members of the team.
Facilities are only available whilst working for Skye Guides.
