Hill and Moorland Leader Award
The Hill and Moorland Leader award is designed for people who want to lead groups in the hill and moorland areas of the UK and Ireland. This award is a wonderful opportunity to learn the leadership skills required to feel confident about taking people out walking. As you may have guessed from the descriptive title of this award, it focuses on non-mountainous terrain.
In a previous life the Hill and Moorland Leader award was called the Walking Group Leader, and Mountain Training says that the new name better describes the award and makes more sense. (This way, everyone knows where they [can] stand.) The ‘overnight experience’ element of the WGL has been removed and there is 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.
Is it for me?
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: BMC, Mountaineering Scotland or Mountaineering Ireland
You must also:
- Have an account with the Mountain Training Candidate Management System
- Have registered for the Hill and Moorland Leader scheme (this costs £44)
Training
Before you book onto a Hill and Moorland 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 Hillwalking Days on appropriate terrain (ideally on DLOG) which can have taken place at any point (pre- or post-registration)
Hill and Moorland Leader training lasts for 3 days.
The Syllabus
Hill and Moorland Leaders should be competent in the following key areas, all of which will be covered, to a greater or lesser extent, during your three day training course.
- Walking and Route Finding
- Navigation
- Hazards and Emergency Procedures
- Equipment
- Responsibilities of the Leader
- Group Management
- Access, Conservation and Environmental Knowledge
- Weather
Detailed information on each of the above topics can be found in the Hill and Moorland 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 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 adventures as you like; logging days has never been so much fun!
Assessment
Before you book onto a Hill and Moorland Leader assessment, make sure you have done the following:
- You must have attended a Hill and Moorland Leader training course (or have been granted exemption)
- You must be familiar with the syllabus
- You must have logged a minimum of 40 Quality Hillwalking Days in at least three different upland areas of the UK and Ireland
- You must hold a current first aid certificate, minimum 16 hours and relevant to your work as a Hill and Moorland Leader
The Hill and Moorland Leader assessment is 3 days long.
