On behalf of Mountain Training Scotland and Mountain Training UK and Ireland, we would like to thank all our providers and those who've staffed winter courses for all your hard work this season. In often tough conditions you showed commitment and unstinting professionalism in ensuring the provision and delivery of our winter qualifications, despite everything that nature could throw at you, it has been a success. We would also like to congratulate the 97 individuals who experienced those same challenging conditions, and managed the associated assessment nerves, to gain a qualification this winter!
Winter Mountain Leader - 54 passes
It was a season of very unsettled and challenging winter weather and conditions in the Scottish Highlands; very dynamic and unpredictable. Snow cover, with some notable exceptions, was generally patchy, though what was there was noted to be very useful especially for ‘hard snow’ techniques such as cramponing, step cutting etc.
A total of 25 courses were delivered, including 11 assessments and five reassessments. A massive 105 candidates completed a Winter Mountain Leader training course this season. We wish them all the best for their consolidation period.
'Lean, windy and bullet hard' - George McEwan on conditions in the Northern Cairngorms in mid-February
At assessment generally candidates were well prepared, perhaps a positive legacy of having course preparation disrupted due to COVID restrictions in 2020 and 2021?
On an equally very positive note, no training or assessment courses were cancelled due to conditions, though things looked uncertain earlier in the season.
International Mountain Leader - 34 passes
Winter training and assessment courses were delivered by Glenmore Lodge and Plas y Brenin in Switzerland and France, with snowfall shortly before the start of several courses providing sufficient, and occasionally lots of, snow cover in which to train and assess the candidates.
A total of 11 courses were delivered, including five assessments and two reassessments. In total 32 candidates completed the winter training element of the International Mountain Leader scheme this season.
Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor - 9 passes
The same Scottish conditions that affected Winter Mountain Leader courses took a similar toll on candidates and providers preparing for Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor training and assessment this season. Thankfully, the conditions experienced on all assessment and reassessment courses provided appropriate winter climbing and mountaineering opportunities in both the Cairngorms and West Highlands.
A total of 10 courses were delivered by Glenmore Lodge and Plas y Brenin, including four assessments and three reassessments. In addition, 14 candidates completed Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor training during the season.