Six days in the Highland mountains without rain or midges is somewhat unprecedented but that was the card we were dealt as I joined a week-long training course for the Mountain Leader qualification.<\/p>\n
It made the challenge of practising bad weather navigation that bit trickier but we weren\u2019t complaining!<\/p>\n
The ML, or summer ML, as it is often referred to, is a leadership award that allows people to take groups in the hills and mountains of the UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n
Participants must have good experience even before taking part in the training course, which is followed by a lengthy consolidation period before a five-day assessment course. It\u2019s not for the feint-hearted!<\/p>\n
Our group of 12, led by Sandy Paterson and Dave Chapman of Scotch on the Rocks Guiding, were strangers when we met at the Kinlocheil Outdoor Centre in Lochaber the night before the course began.<\/p>\n
That was soon to change as we spent six days learning and sharing our experiences together from Glen Coe and Glen Nevis to our two-day expedition on Creag Meagaidh.<\/p>\n
Most of us were there thanks to High Life Highland because we are helping youngsters get involved in the outdoors, as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award or through the Scouts, but it is possible to use the qualification to take groups out commercially as well.<\/p>\n
The course involves a range of subject matters, from weather to negotiating steep terrain and river crossings, knowledge of flora and fauna to navigating in foul conditions. It\u2019s fair to say it\u2019s a varied award and now that I\u2019ve completed the training week there is plenty more to think about and put into practice.<\/p>\n
We began the week with a look at the ML award before getting out and about to do some basic navigation and look at group management, as well as talking about the mountain environment. We enjoyed an outing in the low hills above Fort William, getting to know each other as well as the remit of the course better.<\/p>\n