Fancy a career in the outdoors…?

Outdoor headlines

05 October 2010 10:23

Trail’s November issue contains a comprehensive guide to finding your perfect job – but if you’re looking to become an instructor or expedition leader then the first step could be an outdoor award. Here, Mal Creasey of Mountain Leader Training England (MLTE) answers our questions on the Walking Group Leader (WGL), Mountain Leader (ML), Single Pitch (SP) and International Mountain Leader (IML) awards.

How experienced do I need to be to take an outdoor award?

All of our qualifications require plenty of walking or climbing experience, meaning that every day you spend on the hill can be described to parents, partners or the taxman as career development! Anyone wishing to do one of the awards should have basic personal skills and be a regular and committed walker/climber, depending on which award the person wishes to do. Ideally at least 12 months personal experience with an absolute minimum of 20 Quality Mountain Days (QMDs) in appropriate terrain or a minimum or 15 leads on leader placed protection. Appropriate terrain for the WGL would be Dartmoor, Derbyshire or th North York Moors. ML terrain would be North Wales, the central fells of the Lakes and the Highlands - although Dartmoor and some areas of the Peaks would be acceptable here also. You should also have a genuine desire to take novices out. The International Mountain Leader is a “further” award, meaning that the Summer ML is a pre-requisite, along with plenty of overseas trekking experience as well as winter experience anywhere in the world.

How much it will cost on average to achieve a qualification?

Registration cost for the UK-focused awards is £35. This is a one-off fee per award and for that you will receive a log book, and handbook (syllabus) along with lifelong support through our database. If you are not a member of a mountaineering/hill walking club affiliated to the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) you will also need to join, and this is currently just under £15. The actual courses vary in price, depending on the length of the course involved. Summer ML involves a training and assessment course of just under a week long, so a typical total price is around £1000 including accommodation. Single Pitch Award courses are normally two days in length, so the total price for training plus assessment is about £400 at current prices. The IML requires more commitment financially: it includes 4 courses, totalling about £3000, but you also need to budget for travel, as three of these are held in mainland Europe.

Is it possible to do the awards part-time, alongside a full-time job?

Yes  - all of the awards can be undertaken whilst holding down a full-time job, but you might have to sacrifice a holiday or two in order to attend the longer courses. The longest course is the ML training course, which is six days. However if you don’t want to use precious holiday time courses are available over weekends. The WGL and SPA course are more often than not delivered at weekends. The International Mountain Leader scheme will necessitate four one-week courses away from home, spread over two or three years and in addition to your personal trekking experience.

What careers could the awards potentially lead on to?

Lots of folk use these awards on a voluntary basis so that they can help out with local Scout or youth groups for example. However, for anyone contemplating working in an outdoor education centre or as a teacher regularly taking kids from the school outdoors then some of the awards would be essential, depending on what the activities are and where the centre is based. The Mountain Leader Award is generally perceived as an “industry essential” qualification for anybody wishing to work in hiking or mountain activities, partly because it is a pre-requisite for the winter ML, IML, and Mountaineering Instructor schemes. The IML is also popular as a vocational qualification: the relatively high outlay in time and finance to gain the qualification and entry thereby to the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML) is offset by the ability to work with like-minded people in beautiful mountain settings around the world. It’s particularly popular with people contemplating a mid-life career change as it offers the opportunity to get the work-life balance right the second time around!

Visit www.mlte.org to find out more