Sometime over the past few years the hills and mountains have gone from being my hobby to becoming my life. My journey into hill walking began as a method to manage a bad back and shortly after this, hill walking became a big part of who I am. The mountains became my comfort zone, my happy place, my playground and my ‘reset button’.
I think the real turning point for me was when I found the confidence to go off and explore on my own, picking my own routes in ‘new to me’ areas of the Lake District. Being independent in the outdoors meant that I could go hill walking whenever I wanted to… Excellent! The more I got outside, the more I realised the true extent of the health benefits of hill walking. My mind was clearer, I was more focused at work, I was more resilient to stress, I was happier… adventure became a way of life.
Experiencing firsthand the benefits of the outdoors for my physical and mental health made me want to share these experiences with others and so in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic I started organising group walks (keeping to the rule of 6 of course!). Introducing people to the outdoors was extremely rewarding and it was then that I decided I wanted to complete the Mountain Leader qualification.
After reading the qualification handbook and registering one evening in July 2020, I was given access to my DLOG (digital logbook) which I began to fill in with my more recent hill days and I signed up to complete the 6 day Mountain Leader training in the Lake District the following month!
Navigation, as one would expect, is a major theme throughout each day of the Mountain Leader training. In fact, my course director expertly weaved almost all aspects of the syllabus seamlessly into each day. Taking us on a mountain journey each day where we would come across various hazards… Rocky terrain – walking techniques! Scrambles – dynamic risk assessment! Rivers – river crossings and dynamic risk assessment!
Other conversations throughout the day addressed the environmental aspect of the syllabus. We looked for and identified various flora, fauna and wildlife and I found something incredibly soothing about this part of the syllabus. I became obsessed with looking at where I was walking and I became more in tune with my surroundings, I was expertly practising mindfulness on every single walk I went on and I didn’t even realise!
The more you learn, the more you look, and the more you look the deeper and richer your senses become; where there is knowledge there is familiarity and, above all, connection. Once I started to be able to identify certain creatures or flora and fauna, I became more curious, and more interested. Each time I looked, I looked a little closer, knew a little more and became more familiar with my wild surroundings!
After completing the training, I entered into my consolidation period where I took time to further develop the skills and knowledge acquired through my training. Working my way through the various skills and slowly gaining the knowledge needed felt extremely rewarding; heading out for a full day in the mountains whatever the weather and navigating my way through the clag or the darkness gave me a huge sense of achievement. Going out alone and proving to myself that I could navigate across hostile terrains in adverse weather to such small features on a map gave me a huge boost in confidence of my own competence and capability.
Planning routes off-piste, reading the map and the contours to find safe and accessible routes became a game to play on each outing! Lots of ‘what if’ scenarios to figure my way though, and some scrambling and exploring on steep terrain!
It didn’t always go well though… On one walk I decided to re-route to drop into a valley over in the West Lakes after a very long and tough mountain day. It was a new area to me, so the terrain was unfamiliar, perfect for a Quality Mountain Day (QMD)! What later ensued can only be described as a desperate fight for escape in a valley of rushes and deep hidden bogs! Mistakes and mishaps are all great learning opportunities though!
Every trip to the mountains was an opportunity to learn something new about the places I was visiting, about the geology of the rocks I was stomping over, the wildlife around me, about myself. The more I learnt the more I wanted to learn and as the knowledge began to develop it was extremely rewarding. The process of learning was mindful, I began training my eyes to spot sundews, butterworts, lichens, lizards. Learning about the nature and environment gave me a new perspective of our wild places.
I’m fortunate enough to have the Lake District on my doorstep and with some scheduled annual leave for some trips further afield, it wasn’t very long for me before I had a bumper packed DLOG of almost 100 QMD’s. I sat my assessment in November 2020, in lockdown 2… and lo and behold… it was an all-girl gang! Three to be precise as we were still on covid numbers.
Despite the cooler temperatures, or perhaps because of them, the assessment week went great! A wet start for day one of our navigation and rope work assessment but the rain soon cleared in time for our three day expedition! Our course director made us feel at ease on the assessment and after the initial nerves wore off, it really just felt as though I was out in the mountains on a grand adventure with friends.
The navigation was fun; being tested over the course of the three days was enjoyable and when I kept hitting my targets, it was really rewarding. We had our night navigation assessment on Seathwaite Fell, and much the same as the daytime navigation assessment, this consisted of us each taking a lead on navigation legs; once the leader reached their target the others then had to relocate themselves on the map!
Having a goal to work towards was a great motivation to get outdoors and the autonomy and personal development gained working though the qualification was invaluable for me as a hill walker. Completing the qualification has opened up new opportunities for me and I have since enjoyed working many mountain days from group hikes and navigation training to organising and hosting corporate events.
I thoroughly enjoyed my Mountain Leader training and assessment, and at no point did I feel under pressure or scrutiny. It was a really pleasant atmosphere conductive to learning and this continued through to the final day of assessment where I was still learning!
My training and assessment were split between my course director and two other Mountain Leaders, both of whom were women. This was an incredibly pleasant surprise for me as there are not many female course directors; in fact, there is a huge imbalance between men and women when it comes to working in the outdoors, something that organisations such as Mountain Training and the BMC are working to address. I have heard many stories about women feeling inadequate in the outdoors environment, or feeling as though they ‘don’t belong’, I think for many women this can be a deterrent when it comes to completing the Mountain Training schemes. I am fortunate to have never had this experience on my Mountain Leader journey and each person who I have met, spoken to and learnt from has been helpful, welcoming and supportive. I have also found over the years that there are more and more female Mountain Leaders in particular, in fact there’s a whole community of us!
Now I that I am qualified as a Mountain Leader, I have had many enjoyable days leading social walks and wellbeing walks out in the mountainous areas of the UK. I have introduced people to the mountains, and I have brought people together; this is everything I wanted, and it is everything it was cracked up to be!
I find the vastness and beauty of the landscape healing. Being on top of a hill brings with it a sense of possibility. There is so much out there to explore, and I feel privileged to be able to access these wild places and to share these experiences with others.
Rose is a Mountain Leader and registered mental health nurse based in the Lake District. She is also the BMC Hillwalking ambassador and 2024 Rehan Siddiqui volunteer award winner.
