Mountain Guide Course

I have just completed an intensive 8-day Mountain Guide Course. This has been a fantastic, thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Run by the outfit VentureForth who I recently undertook an excellent 2-day Sport Climbing course with, I was confident that it would be of high quality. However, I was still slightly unsure as to exactly what to expect. Starting in the classroom to begin with we studied topics that included navigation, route planning, mountain weather, emergency procedures and other various aspects a mountain leader should know about. Some of this acted as a refresher of my knowledge, some of it was new ground. Either way it was all good!

The course culminated with an overnight hike up in the Matroosberg Reserve. For those unaware, Matroosberg is the highest peak in the Western Cape of South Africa. This was the real highlight of the program. In particular, it was when I took the lead to successfully guide our group of ten on a steep climb over difficult terrain with tricky navigation to our 2,000m summit. My overriding thought at the time was that this is where my true passion lies, in leading. That has been a conscious thought for a long time, but it is always good to be able to get out into the field to put it into practise.