Training to be an International Mountain Leader

Sophie Nicholson    ash, trekkingholidays     Adventure Sports, IML, International Mountain Leader, Mountain, scotland, trekking

Well it’s been a wee whiley since my last post but an absence of information certainly is not an indication of a lack of activity! Since I last blogged, I’ve started something that is shaping up to absorb my life for the next couple of years. What I’m talking about is working towards my International Mountain Leader qualification.

I started the process 2 weeks ago at Glenmore Lodge in Scotland. I completed the first of many stages that will be required to gaining the qualification that I hope will enable me to share my love of the mountains with other wannabe mountain goats.  It was an amazing and intense week of learning but perhaps the biggest revelation of all was the realization of exactly just how much commitment this is all going to require.

Groupwork is everything

The journey to becoming an IML requires that first you get your Mountain Leader qualification. This involves the week of training that I’ve just finished, then a year of consolidation of the necessary skills and experience, and after that a week long assessment. Should you be successful you are then eligible to join the IML scheme which is structured in the same way – a week of training, a year of consolidation and only then can you put yourself forward for the assessment week which takes place here in the Alps.

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