Mountain Leadership Training - Aberfeldy

Seriously, where do I start? The Mountain Leadership Training was simply brilliant. I can safely say that I knew NOTHING when I started the course. I thought I did. But I didn't. However... 350 quid, a torn set of waterproofs and a lost sleepingbag later, I can quite confidently micro-navigate my way out of any (not too scary) mountain range. I was taught how to survive on cowberries, saurrel and thistlenuts (should I ever find myself with dire cravings) and I learned how to safely lower myself off a cliff "south-african" style (should there ever be a need to impress).

Personal favorite was undoubtedly the "river crossing" practice. Temperatures were just about low enough to make even the burliest bloke in our group squeal a whole octave higher than one would voluntarily chose to. High entertainment value.


I also discovered that I must be about the ONLY person in the world still relying on 15-year old gear: sleeping bag the size of a zeppelin, compass as useful as the millenium dome and a PETZL headtorch with a battery-compartment the size of a watercooler. But at -4C, I slept like a baby and although I persistently walked off my bearing by a degree or two, my watercooler-sized headtorch enabled me to spot my correct location from miles away ;-)


All in all the week's been a massive boost to my system... if only for the priceless views that construed our daily classrooms (see pics). So I've decided to start prepping for the Mountain Leadership Assessment. That means clocking up a good 40 quality mountain days in Solo or Leadership roles, practicing mountain skills and studying up on fauna&flora as well as history&geology.

Slight strategic problem tho: How am I meant to clock up those quality days whilst temporarily residing in a country that has NO features above 2 meters (apart from my cousin)? ... Guess I'll HAVE TO resign to the fact that I'll regularly have to fly out to Scotland/Austria/France in the next 4 months to practice ;-)