We Are Mountain Wise

You can attend your Peak Challenge in the comforting knowledge that all of our team are qualified Mountain Leaders.

So what does that mean I hear you say?

 

Well in short it means that we’re all pretty good at what we do and we love the mountains and working with people like you.

There are no shortcuts to becoming a qualified mountain leader.

 

To give you an insight…

 

The governing body that oversees everything for Mountain leaders and outdoor instructors is The Mountain Training Association, a membership organisation set up by Mountain Training in 2005 to support people working towards their qualifications and develop people who already have them. 

 

 http://www.mountain-training.org/

The prerequisites just for for registration on the scheme with the Mountain Training Association are as follows:

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You should have at least a year’s worth of experience of mountain walking
• You should have an interest in leading groups in the mountains
• You must be a member of a mountaineering council: BMC, Mountaineering Scotland or Mountaineering Ireland 

So that’s just to register your interest on the scheme.

 

Once registered and approved you can then apply to go on a six day training course…However…before you can book onto a Mountain Leader training course, you must have recorded a minimum of 20 Quality Mountain Days out in the mountains with groups.

 

A quality mountain day would be such that…

• the individual takes part in the planning and leadership
• navigation skills are required away from marked paths
• experience must be in terrain and weather comparable to that found in UK and Irish hills
• knowledge is increased and skills practised
• attention is paid to safety
• five hours or more journey time
• adverse conditions may be encountered
• ascent of a substantial peak would normally be included in the day

So then you can go on your six day training course, which covers the following topics.

• Group management
• Navigation
• Access and the environment
• Hazards (including steep ground and rivers) and emergency procedures
• Equipment
• Expedition skills
• Weather
• Background knowledge

Great, you’ve now done your training, now you have a years consolidation period…

This year is an opportunity to develop your skills further and to improve any weaknesses identified during the training course. 

 

But that’s not all…In this consolidation year you also have to:

• log a further 40 Quality Mountain Days in three different regions of the UK and Ireland
• You must have logged at least 8 nights camping, including at least 4 nights wild camping
• You must have physically attended and completed (i.e. not online) a first aid course which involved at least two full days or sixteen hours of instruction and included an element of assessment

So now you can apply to go on your five day Mountain Leader assessment….where hopefully you’ll fly through and become a qualified Summer Mountain Leader.

 

Hear I said Summer…yes? Well your qualification is just that, meaning you are now eligible to move up a level and do your Winter Mountain Leader Qualification…which takes at least 5 more years…

The Winter ML has the same ‘weighting’ as a degree and is respected as such.

 

Following on from the Winter ML you can also do you MIA (Mountain Instructor and finally your Mountaineering Instructor Certificate. Only another ten years of training and assessments…

 

So hopefully that’s given you a good comfort blanket wrap up, so that you can come and do your challenge in the knowledge that we’ve got your back.