So Branwen who gained her Mountain Leader award a few years ago has drawn and written her advice for folk who are completing their Mountain Leader assessment in the near future. This is the last in this series, some SPA advice will be coming soon.....
PLAN
Buy a calendar
Plan what you’re going to focus on for your QMD’s’…eg “today I’m going to journey and work on distances and timings”
Don’t let a bit of rain stop you from getting out!
Try to plan some days when you’ll be travelling ‘solo’, then you are responsible for all the decision making and navigation.
Organise your evenings, especially in the weeks before the assessment - to practise night navigation and rope skills frequently.
DO
Get off the beaten track
Design routes which involve exploring new places and / or journeying. If you leave the well trodden paths you get more opportunity to practise navigating and usually have more decisions to make regarding route choice. It’s also much more fun than following the crowds up the mountains!
JOIN THE MOUNTAIN TRAINING ASSOCIATION
Being a member of the Mountain Training Association gives you more opportunities to practise / consolidate skills. With regular CPD days / evenings across the country it’s a great way to meet like minded people and keep skills fresh.
REVIEW
Enjoy completing your logbook
Assessors genuinely do read your logbook! Log each session as soon as you can while it’s fresh in your mind. Use it like a training diary to record where you’ve been and what you practised/saw/learnt.
Perfect Practise makes Perfect
Check the accuracy of your navigation with a GPS or mobile phone app when you’re out practising during the day or night.
If your rope work is rusty, book a refresher with a ML Provider or get out and practise with someone who is confident in those skills. Search online for a Mountain Training Association session in your area. Take photos of your rope skills and compare them with pictures in the Hillwalking book.