How do I become a Mountain Leader?

I regularly get emails that ask me the question – how do I become a Mountain Leader? The idea of this article is to answer that question as fully as possible to help you decide if becoming a Mountain Leader is for you and point you in the right direction to get started. 

What can a Mountain Leader Do?

The Mountain Leader scheme is designed for people who want to lead groups in the mountains, hills and moorlands of the UK and Ireland. If you love being out in the mountains and want to share your enthusiasm with others, become a Mountain Leader and you’ll never look back.

What experience do I need? 

The Mountain Leader Award is based on you having personal experience as a hill walker. To get started on the Mountain Leader qualification you need to meet the following prerequisites:

• 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 

I am new to hillwalking – how do I gain a years worth of experience? 

A great place to start is one of our Mountain Skills courses. We will teach you all the skills you need to gain experience in the mountains. Consider the following courses: 

• Our two day Mountain Skills course will teach you to plan and navigate routes safely on hillwalking ground in the mountains. This is a great option for people with limited time to start their journey in the mountains. 
• Our 6 day MountainCraft course is designed to teach you everything that is on the Mountain Leader syllabus. It covers navigation, grade 1 scrambling (steep ground), wild camping and night navigation plus much more. This is the ideal place to start your journey towards becoming a Mountain Leader. 

What happens after I have a years worth of experience? 

Mountain Leader training lasts for 6 days and we run these courses here in Snowdonia, North Wales. 

Before you book onto a Mountain Leader training course, make sure you have done the following:

• You must be registered on the scheme
• You must have recorded a minimum of 20 Quality Mountain Days (ideally on DLOG) which can have taken place at any point (pre- or post-registration)

The Syllabus

Mountain Leaders should be competent in the following key areas, all of which will be covered, to a greater or lesser extent, during your six day training course.

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

Detailed information on each of the above topics can be found in the Mountain Leader Handbook and the onus is on you to be competent in all of them by the time you come to assessment.

Consolidation

The period between training and assessment (often referred to as the consolidation period) varies in length for each person and is an opportunity to develop your skills, paying particular attention to any weaknesses identified during the training course. You can use the excuse ‘I’m preparing for assessment’ to have as many mountain adventures as you like, so get out there and explore this beautiful country of ours!

Assessment 

Before you book onto a Mountain Leader assessment, make sure you have done the following:

• You must have attended a Mountain Leader training course (or have been granted exemption)
• You must be familiar with the syllabus
• You must have logged a minimum of 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

The Mountain Leader assessment is 5 days long and includes a two night expedition. We run them throughout the year here in Snowdonia. 

What Next? 

Having qualified as a summer Mountain Leader you can then look to progress onto the Winter Mountain Leader and the International Mountain Leader Awards. These increase the scope of your work by allowing you to lead groups in snow and ice in the UK and overseas. You can read more about each of the awards on the following links. 

Winter Mountain Leader

International Mountain Leader 

If you are a climber and would like to move onto teaching multi pitch climbing and roped scrambling then you can undertake the Mountaineering & Climbing Instructor (MCI). The winter version of this award is the WMCI which builds on the MCI and the Winter ML to allow the holder to take clients winter mountaineering and climbing. (This is the award that Huw and I hold). 

What courses do we offer to help progression towards these awards? 

We run a range of winter skills courses in Scotland that will give you the personal skills to undertake your Winter Quality Mountain Days. This includes things like use of ice axe and crampons, winter navigation, avalanche avoidance etc. You can read all about these courses here.