After flying around for a while in the Outland, you begin to take flying for granted. But players who venture into the new continent of Northrend may be surprised to discover that they’re unable to fly, and start asking, “wait, why can’t I fly in Northrend!?”. That’s because you need learn a new skill in order to fly in Northrend: Cold Weather Flying.
Your first character to venture into Northrend will only learn this skill at level 77, so prepare to use your ground mount for a while! Subsequent characters will start Northrend with this skill, as they can learn it at level 68 — read the Tome of Cold Weather Flight section for more information.
How to learn Cold Weather Flying
The most obvious question to ask here is “how and where do I learn Cold Weather Flying then?”
There are 3 trainers that can teach you: Hira Snowdawn in Dalaran, Roxi Ramrocketin the Storm Peaks, and Pilot Vic in Sholazar Basin.
It doesn’t really matter which trainer you pick, because they all charge the same prize, 1000 gold, and can only teach you at level 77. Hira Snowdawn tends to be the most convenient for most players, but Roxi Ramrocketin the Storm Peaks is also very useful, as you need a flying mount in order to advance the Storm Peaks quest chain. Advancing the Storm Peaks quest chain is a requirement for gaining reputation with the Sons of Hodir, a faction that you must reach Exalted with in order to unlock shoulder enchants, an important part of boosting your character’s power in WotLK.
Bear in mind that Cold Weather Flying does nothing for your mount’s speed, it only allows you to fly in Northrend. 160% flying mounts will still fly at 160% speed, while the expensive 280% mounts will still fly at 280% speed. If you don’t have the Artisan Riding skill, you still won’t be able to fly any faster than 160%.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you ONLY learn Cold Weather Flying from these trainers! Do not learn Expert Riding or Artisan Riding from them! They do not get a reputation discount that other trainers get, meaning that you always pay the full price of the skill. Alliance players should learn their Riding skill from Hargen Bronzewing (Honor Hold, Hellfire Peninsula) or Maigra Keenfeather (Valiance Keep, Borean Tundra). Horde players should learn their Riding skill from Wind Rider Jahubo (Thrallmar, Hellfire Peninsula) or Wind Rider Sabamba (Warsong Hold, Borean Tundra). Doing so can save you up to 1050 gold!
Hira Snowdawn, Dalaran
Most players will learn Cold Weather Flying from Hira Snowdawn, as she is located at a very accessible point — right next to the flight path of Dalaran, the main city & activity hub of Northrend, specifically at Krasus’ Landing.
Roxi Ramrocket, The Storm Peaks
Roxi Ramrocketwill be the 2nd most common Cold Weather Flying trainer, and for good reason. She is located at K3, the introduction point to the Storm Peaks zone — specifically, she’s always tweaking her flying machine, next to the K3 flight path.
If you cannot afford Cold Weather Flying, Roxi’s friend “Honest” Max, standing just a few steps away from her, will let you borrow a flying mount: Loaned Gryphon Reins for Alliance players, or Loaned Wind Rider Reins for Horde players. This mount functions almost identically to a regular flying mount, and Max will loan them to you for free, but only if you don’t have Cold Weather Flying. However, you can only use it within the Storm Peaks, Sholazar Basin or Icecrown — moving to a different zone will cause you to dismount.
The reason for all this: as the name suggests, the Storm Peaks is a mountainous region and the bulk of the quests there are located atop the higher cliffs, which you cannot get to without a mount. The Sons of Hodir faction is also located there; you must reach Exalted status with them in order to buy shoulder enchants, which are an important part of boosting your character’s power in WotLK. You must do quests in the Storm Peaks in order to be able to interact with the Sons of Hodir at all, hence Blizzard ensured that you can do so even if you lack the gold to fly. Check out our Sons of Hodir reputation guide for more information.
Pilot Vic, Sholazar Basin
Pilot Vic is the last and least popular Cold Weather Flying trainer. He is located right by the flight path of the River’s Heart, by the basin where the 4 great rivers of the zone meet.
A flying mount isn’t strictly required in order to quest in the Sholazar Basin. However, the quest was clearly designed with flying in mind, with many different levels of elevation that are a pain to traverse without the ability to fly around. Pilot Vic can thus help make your life a bit easier, but there’s an unfortunate problem with him: he’s not located at the introduction point of the zone, like Roxi Ramrocketis for the Storm Peaks. In fact, you aren’t likely to run into him for a little while if you’re just following the zone’s quest chain, so many players will elect to learn Cold Weather Flying before coming to the Sholazar Basin.
Tome of Cold Weather Flight
So you got to level 80, and you’re now thinking of levelling up a second character. However, having to go until level 77 before you can fly all over again might be causing you not feel like doing so. There’s good news: Blizzard agrees, it feels bad to have to go back to running around on a ground mount for 7 levels, after having unlocked Cold Weather Flying on your main character. To that end, they added a 2nd method of obtaining the skill: Tome of Cold Weather Flight.
You can buy the Tome of Cold Weather Flight from Hira Snowdawn in Dalaran, for 1000 gold, the same as what Cold Weather Flying would normally cost. To purchase it, simply speak to her and select her second dialogue option, “Let me browse your goods.“
The tome binds to your account rather than to your character, meaning you can now send it to your other characters, allowing them to fly. Even better, it only requires level 68 to use, which means that your alts can fly in Northrend the moment they get there. This is particularly useful in the Howling Fjord starting area, which is a lot harder to navigate without the ability to fly.
