Hill and Moorland Leader Award Training

In order to attend this course you must first register on the Hill & Moorland Leader Award with Mountain Training Ireland

The prerequisites for registration are as follows:

• You must be at least 18 years old
• You should have at least a year’s worth of experience of hill walking
• You should have an interest in leading groups in the hills
• You must be a member of a mountaineering council

If you can tick all of the above boxes, here’s what to do next:

1. Create an account on MTBI or log in if you already have one.
2. Register for the Hill and Moorland Leader scheme.

You must also ensure you have fulfilled any of the pre-requisites as indicated in the Syllabus. This includes a minimum of 15 personal quality mountain days on the hills and moors of the UK and Ireland.

For candidates who have completed WGL training:

The major change from the WGL will be that the ‘overnight experience’ section of the syllabus has been removed and a separate Expedition Skills Module has been designed to act as an optional ‘extra’ for those gaining the leadership award. As someone who has completed WGL training you have obviously undertaken some training to prepare you for this module.
Mountain Training Board Ireland will automatically convert your current registration for WGL to a registration for the Hill and Moorland Leader Award. Your training course will also automatically be recognised as completion of training for Hill and Moorland Leader. Any assessment course that you undertake will now be run using the new syllabus and guidance notes and will mean that a successful assessment will result in you becoming a Hill and Moorland Leader.

Students should be reasonably fit and prepared for three days on the hill and a number of evening sessions.

This qualification is ideal for walkers who want to learn the skills required for effective group leadership in the hill and moorland areas of the UK and Ireland. It is used extensively by those involved with delivering the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award as well as many walk leaders and outdoor instructors. Hill and Moorland Leaders operate in terrain that is generally more remote than that used by Lowland Leaders and not as steep or rocky as ground covered by Mountain Leaders.

In a previous life this award was called the Walking Group Leader, and we think the new name better describes the award and makes more sense. The ‘overnight experience’ element of the WGL has been removed and we’ve created a separate Expedition Skills Module which can be ‘bolted on’ to the Hill and Moorland Leader (or indeed the Lowland Leader) if you want to increase the scope of your award to include multi-day expeditions

• Hill and Moorland Leader Award Preparation for Assessment
• Lowland Leader Award Training

Bring any of your own personal outdoor clothing and kit such as, waterproof jacket and trousers, boots, fleece jacket, hat and gloves, flask, water bottle, Mourne map (1:25,000), compass Silva type 4 or similar and spare clothes. It’s best to bring plenty of lighter layers and avoid cotton if possible as it offers little heat and takes ages to dry out if wet or sweaty.

Please ensure you bring along a device which will allow you to ‘stopwatch’ your time.

Tollymore can supply most of the equipment you require for this course but as an aspirant Hill and Moorland Leader, it is assumed you will be fairly self-sufficient in terms of kit

The course fee includes kit, equipment, in course transport, coaching, food and accommodation.

Course accommodation will be in shared twin ensuite rooms. If you would prefer not to share a room, single occupancy may be available for an additional charge.

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