Lovely day for a walk

John Cousins (MLT Executive Officer) and myself had a day off while in Scotland so we went for a walk over to the Shelter Stone. We took a small rack and rope in case conditions the temperature dropped, but it was clear that the snow wasn't frozen as we strolled over the Cairngorm plateau, although crampons were desirable in places on the approach.

We soloed the first couple of pitches of Route Major up the snowy ramp, but at the step rightward onto a steeper ramp we found bare rock and grass. It was clearly climbable in these conditions and not very difficult but we decided that we would cause too much damage to the turf and therefore climbed carefully back down the ramp. So we continued up the gully, enjoying the rock architecture and then made good use of the good visibility to enjoy the walk back over the plateau, passing the usual cluster of snow holes in Coire Domhain.

John Cousins apporaching the summit of the Shelterstone crag

Moderation visit to an MIA training course

Today I accompanied an MIA training course into the Ogwen valley for Day 7 of an MIA training course - these courses are 9 days long, providing an intensive week by anybody's standards! The candidates were bearing up well and all of them stated a preference for a single long installment of this nature rather than dividing the course into seperate weeks.

Three of the teams tackled scrambles on Glyder Fach, so I followed a team part way up Main Gully Ridge and then traversed across to Shark Buttress before taking a downward traverse back to Llyn Bochlwyd and back down to the A5 for an afternoon of paper work.

This weekend has a good forecast: see you at Gogarth?

 

MLT making progress with coaching qualification pathway

Mountain Leader Training was formally tasked by the Mountaineering Councils with developing a coaching system over the next two years to complement the existing leader and instructor schemes. To date a lot of information gathering has taken place and this article summarises the work done so far and also what is
involved in the UK Coaching Certificate.

This spring and summer we held several meetings with staff from sports coach UK including our coach development advisor, Dr. Gillian Mara (The UK Coaching Framework is explained here http://www.sportscoachuk.org/index.php?PageID=2&sc=5&uid=)
This research was contextualised by the annual coaching summit in Cardiff (June 29-30th) and provided sufficient background information to allow a tentative mapping exercise of the Climbing Wall Award syllabus and assessment methodology against the National Standard recommended for Level 1 (assistant coach) and level 2 (coach) in the UKCC framework.

The UKCC is not a qualification but rather a standard. If we develop coaching qualifications that match or exceed the UKCC standard it makes sense to consider seeking endorsement of them as UKCC qualifications. This is because the UKCC is a recognised national standard that can be used by coaches to clearly demonstrate their coaching competencies. Also, those working within the outdoor industry often coach other sports, such as orienteering, mountain biking, paddlesport and sailing. Therefore, if the various awarding bodies follow common standards it can be easier for prior learning to be recognized.
This can allow a coach in one sport to move more easily into another sport, as they will hopefully not have to repeat generic coach training that they already possess. UKCC awards can attract funding, which is an obvious benefit for coaches wishing to become qualified.

A UKCC ‘qualification’ is an endorsement process, whereby a qualification meets set criteria, and is then endorsed. The preliminary mapping process demonstrated how our existing schemes meet many of the risk management criteria, but are lacking in common coaching skills. Regardless of whether or not our coaching qualifications pathway fulfils the UKCC framework, an audit of the existing coaching workforce and employers’ needs is desirable; this is something that Mountain Leader Training has always done before introducing any new awards. The difference here is that participant needs should also be assessed. This will enable us to gauge the level of demand for coaches at various levels, including assistant coach. It will provide a snapshot of where we are now, so provide a benchmark for monitoring the success of future coaching qualifications supporting both participant and coach pathways.

Lecture tour of Japan

P1010637
Originally uploaded by SteveMLT

Right now I'm engaged in a series of meetings and lectures as the guest of the JWAF. I've lectured in Tokyo, Sapporo and Osaka about the work of Mountain Leader Training and also the work of the UIAA Training Standards Working Group. The meetings have included an advisory consultancy meeting today with the Osaka branch of JWAF as well as the Search and Rescue Committee. I've also been interviewed by TV and met the presidents of various Asian federations and the Nepalese Ambassador as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations. The Japanese are very interested in learning from the lessons learned in standardising qualifications across the UK and are investigating the possibility of working towards UIAA accredition, though these are early days, with a politically complex background.


We managed to slip in a day's hill walking in Japan's Northern Alps and I had a brief play this afternoon on the ex-competition wall at Kobe University, Osaka. After the lectures I stayed on for a few days and joined the JWAF's General Secretary Mr Takashi and translator Ms Owada for some climbing at Mitsutoge, a stunning location with Mount Fuji as a backdrop.

You can see a report from the lecture at Sapporo at: http://hkdrenmei.exblog.jp/i14/

You can see my other photos on Flickr.