Mountain Leader training – weekend 1

I’ve just spent the weekend in the Peak District for the first weekend (of three) on the Mountain Leader (ML) training course. This qualification is the UK’s main mountaineering course for those wishing to lead groups of any type over mountainous terrain. I have spent the last few years logging the necessary experience, at least 20 days in mountainous areas. Although living further away from the mountains has slowed down this progress.

The essence of the course is to confidently and safely take groups around mountains. The core areas are navigation, group management, climate considerations, first aid and emergency measures, and campsite organization. The navigation aspect is one of the most difficult to learn, but being able to get around the mountains (or off in an emergency) is probably the most important element of mountaineering.

The first day looked at the basics of navigation. Firstly what it is, then pacing and also how navigation can take in a range of techniques. Pacing is one of the most important parts of navigation. Maps are divided into 1 kilometre squares, then using a compass rules, you can measure 100 metres. Before leaving on a walk, you should pace and time yourself over 100 metres. These numbers will help you calculate how long it will take to walk over 100, 200, 300, etc metres. My pacing for 100 metres on the flat was 58 paces, in about 1 minute 5 seconds. We also paced ourselves walking uphill and downhill: 100 metres uphill took 78 paces and 1 minute 40 seconds. When pacing during a walk, a range of factors can affect the timing and pacing. These might include uneven terrain, wind, obstacles, size of backpack, energy levels.

Part of the day was getting to understand contours. This is one of the trickiest sides to navigation. The contours on a map are one of the best indicators of location. Fences and man-made markers can disappear, lakes and rivers could dry up, but contours are fairly permanent. Knowing the contours will affect calculations for pacing.

The other main technique in navigation is taking bearings. This involves placing the compass on the map between the current location and intended location, turning the red arrow to north on the map, and removing it then lining up the pointer and north. You need to add 2 degrees as the north on the map is not the same as magnetic north. When following a bearing, you need to hold the compass at waist level, but not too close to your body. A bearing should only be followed for not much more than 500 metres, as any slight inaccuracies in the direction will lead you further away from the intended point, the further you have to walk. You can also take a back-bearing where you turn around and check the bearing leads to where you originally started. Other techniques include aiming off, where if you want to find a fixed spot on a fence or a wall, you can aim to one side by enough margin so that you know you when you reach the fence, you can walk along it to get to the fixed spot.

We undertook several micro navigation tasks, moving from point to point on the map. Often these were small dots.

The second day was firstly a discussion on how to deal with different groups, whether young people or adults, but also difficult party members. This led to a discussion on the legal side of the qualification. How to ensure you were covered if something went wrong. The main point of preparation is to cover all aspects of a trip and to complete a risk assessment. The factors to consider would be ensuring each group member had the right kit and clothing, especially footwear. Also important is being aware of weather conditions, managing expectations, first aid and emergency options, and setting the timings for completing the journey.

The weather was quite bad up on the Peak, so this provided a tougher training environment. We navigated from spot to spot, whilst crossing quite difficult terrain of fast flowing rivers, bracken and steep hills. How to plot your route around tricky terrain is a quite important part of the ML. As the weather got worse, we discussed how to deal with group management in bad conditions.