Welcome to the new Mountain Leader Training Wales website. We do hope that you like the look of the new site and will bear with us while we get it fully up to speed. Some areas of the site are as yet incomplete and new Welsh translations of the texts of the awards booklets are underway but will take some time to complete.

Newsworthy items, particularly if they are related to training mountaineering or leadership skills are welcomed, even more so if they are related to Wales.

BMC Cymru/Wales Interim News

Bwlch y Moch Tree work

Tree surgeons will be operating below Bwlch y Moch form January 5th for a couple of weeks. They will be taking out the invasive sycamore species. We need volunteers on the weekend 10/11th to use the timber to line the footpath edges so creating ‘wild’ areas and reducing the amount of trampling in the woods.

Eric is opening specially and the BMC will pay for the bunkhouse if you wish to stay over. Please meet at 9.30 at Eric’s there will be opportunities for pruning, path building and moving logs around so please come equipped. Any questions contact Mike at bmccymruwales@live.co.uk

Craig y Forwyn

Excellent news that this crag is open again. Guy Keating continues to work hard with the landowners. Please make sure you park in the correct place (at the top of the crag) and keep quiet!

National Eisteddford

Ym mis Awst mae BMC Cymru Wales yn rhannu stondyn ar faes yr Eisteddfod Cenhedlaethol yn y Bala. Gyda ni ar y stondyn bydd Clwb Mynydda Cymru, Mountain Training Trust a Mountain Leader Training Wales. Rydym yn gobeithio dod o hyd i noddwyr hefyd.Mae angen help arna ni o Gymry Cymraeg. Mae angen dringwyr a mynyddwyr i roi ychydig o'u hamser i fod ar y stondyn. Yn ogystal buasai'n defnyddiol iawn petasai rhywyn yn fodlon trefnu pethau o'r rhan BMC Cymru/Wales.Mae gen i gormod ar y plât ar y foment!

Dwi'n edrych ymlaen at glywed ohonoch bmccymruwales@live.co.uk

In august BMC Cymru/Wales will be part of a team with a stand at the National Eisteddford in Bala. The stand will be jointly supported by Clwb Mynedda Cymru, Mountain Training Trust and Mountain Leader Training Wales. We are hoping to get some sponsorship too. We need help from Welsh language speakers. We need climbers and hillwalkers to give some time to be on the stand. It would also be very helpful if someone could step forward to help co-ordinate the organisation from the BMC Cymru/Wales end.

I’m afraid I have enough irons in the fire at the moment!

Looking forward to hearing from you bmccymruwales@live.co.uk

Mike Raine

Chair BMC Cymru/Wales

First Aid Course - Places still available.

This is a 16 hour First Aid Course, suitable for all instructors requiring the appropriate 1st Aid Qualification to validate your Canoe / Kayak; Climbing; Hill Walking; Caving & other such outdoor qualifications.

We still have a few places left.

Monday 16th & Tuesday 17th February 2009.

Open Course: “1st Aid for the Outdoors”

Venue: High Adventure OEC, Nr Skipton

Availability: 5 places

Cost = £120 PP

For a booking form please email info@highadventureoec.co.uk requesting a booking form for this course.

MLT Conference 2009

Venue – Plas y Brenin

Date – Saturday 18th April 2009

Welcoming address – Alan Pritchard, Snowdonia National Park

Who for? - Everyone involved in the delivery of mountain training.

Cost – £70

The programme:

• Teaching navigation – introductory strategies
• Teaching basic climbing movement skills
• The Indoor Leading Award – development and content
• The Law and the Technical Advisor
• The role of the Technical Advisor; an AALS perspective
• Disability awareness in mountaineering
• How do we assess? Skill demonstration vs problem solving
• River crossing. What do we teach? How do we assess?
• The use and abuse of GPS in ML and WGL
• The work of the Technical Advisor – Case Studies and discussion
• Adapted strategies for the disabled climber
• Climbing wall design and construction

The final programme will be created according to demand expressed through the booking form – the more people that want a particular session the more likely we will be able to put in on! Any sessions that have no or few takers can make way for further sessions. There will be a mix of indoor discussion and extended practical sessions throughout the day.

For further information contact MLTW:

Book Reviews

New books that are of interest to mountaineers and outdoor people are constantly being produced. Below are a couple reviewed by Dave Brown. If you would like to review any new publications that you have recieved we would be glad to consider publishing your reviews. Click on the photos for Dave's reviews.

MLTA Update