International Mountain Leader Assessment

Overview

You’ll be assessed on your practical application of leadership, environmental knowledge, route choice, group care, navigation and many other skills, as well as your fitness.

You’ll also complete a home paper, prepare two 10-minute ‘on the hill’ environmental presentations, a route planning exercise and present your Leader’s resource file.

You’ll need to be at the top of your game for this expedition-based assessment – fit, acclimatised and familiar with all aspects of the Mountain Training accredited syllabus. Please come with a packed rucksack, food and drink, and dressed for a day walk in the local area.

You’ll also need with you your logbook/DLog, first aid certificate, leader’s resource pack, home preparation paper, and travel insurance.

The Objectives

The International Mountain Leader scheme (IML) provides comprehensive training and assessment for individuals who aspire to work as leaders in Europe and further afield. It integrates training, experience and assessment in a variety of realistic situations. The scheme provides training and assessment in the skills required for leading and educating groups worldwide in summer conditions and also on easy snow-covered, rolling, Nordic-type terrain in the “middle mountains” in winter conditions.

What to Expect

There’ll be a course welcome and full briefing at 9.00am . The assessment is based in Switzerland – Villars sur Ollon – Vaud. Please arrive with your logbook/Dlog, leader’s resource pack, home preparation paper and travel insurance

Experience Required

You must have;

• Completed an IML Summer training course and successfully passed your TIMED NAVIGATION TEST
• Gained further experience as required before assessment
• You should be 18 years old to attend this course.
• You also need to be familiar with, and prepared to demonstrate all aspects of the International Mountain Leader syllabus.
• A copy of the syllabus can be downloaded from the Mountain Training website.

How Should I Prepare?

You should be physically fit for four days walking. As a guide to the level of fitness required, the syllabus states that candidates ‘must be capable of sustained physical effort over approximately six hours, whilst carrying a 10kg rucksack and gaining between 1300 and 1600m of ascent at the rate of 400 to 500m per hour’. The assessment will take place at altitude so you need to be suitably acclimatised to operate at approximately 3000m.