Leading in the stunning Torridon hills
Admiring the view of Glen Torridon
Wild Camping, part of the Mountain Leader Assessment
The Mountain Leader Assessment (or ML Assessment) takes place over 5 days. It provides you with the opportunity to show you have the knowledge and practical skills necessary to lead groups in the UK mountains in summer conditions. This assessment is nationally recognized and fully comprehensive. It includes 2 individual full days out in the mountains and a 3 day camping expedition. Throughout the assessment you will be asked to demonstrate your ability in navigation, group management, dealing with mountain hazards such as steep terrain, camp craft and show a good understanding and awareness of the mountain environment.
This assessment is perfect for anyone who wishes to take groups or individuals out in the mountains for work, volunteering or simply for personal enjoyment. You can find out more about the Mountain Leader Qualification here – The Mountain Leader Award Resources and Information.
We want everyone who attends our Mountain Leader Assessment to be able to fully concentrate on the assessment itself, without dealing with additional logistics. Therefore, we provide accommodation for the duration of the course and all maps throughout. Additionally, a comprehensive information pack will be sent to you when you book.
This is an official Mountain Training qualification course, as such you must complete the prerequisites below before booking onto a course.
During your assessment we will cover the full Mountain Leader Syllabus. You can download and read the fully comprehensive syllabus compiled by Mountain Training on the Resources (link) section of our website. Below is an brief overview of what you will be assessed on during the course:
All of our assessments are flexible and unique, however, to view an example day-to-day itinerary please click here
Our Mountain Leader Assessments all come with self catering accommodation located within easy access of The Torridon Mountains. The accommodation is spacious and contains a very well equipped kitchen, a washing machine and dryer within a utility room. The utility room is extremely useful for drying kit! There is also broadband Wifi throughout. The large, comfortable sitting room provides the perfect area for indoor presentations and briefings throughout the course.
Accommodation is provided from 18:00 on the evening before your course starts and is available until 9:00 in the morning after your course finishes. As standard, all rooms are provided on a twin share basis. Therefore, if you are booking the course by yourself, you will be paired with another person of the same sex to share a twin bedroom. Additionally, we do have limited availability to offer a single supplement for anyone who would prefer a single room. Please do get in contact for more details of this.
See our accommodation section for more information
How difficult you find the assessment will depend on how well prepared and experienced you are in the mountains. It is perfectly normal to feel nervous for this (or any other) assessment. Remember your assessor was once exactly where you are now and so they will understand. We want your assessment to be a positive and enjoyable experience. After all, it is an opportunity to come along and show us all the skills you have developed over the years of your love of the mountains! We encourage you to come as prepared and practised as you can, however, we are all still learning. Our aim, no matter whether your result is a pass, defer or fail, is to deepen your enthusiasm for the mountains. You will end your assessment as either a qualified Mountain Leader or with the enthusiasm to keep practising and learning, then come back to try again.
Our Mountain Leader Assessments are based in Torridon, in the Highlands of Scotland. It is a fantastic location for both ML Trainings and Assessments. We have access to some of the most incredible mountains in the whole of the UK. The terrain is of great variety, offering excellent locations to demonstrate the full range of navigation techniques. There is no shortage of steep ground and rivers that we can utilise to carefully explore the hazards of the mountain environment. Additionally, we have some of the best wildlife areas in the country, with The Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve right on our doorstep. Your three day expedition will be true wild camping; our wild camping locations can be further from the road than possible anywhere else in the UK.
Alongside the mountainous terrain being world-class, we are so fortunate to be in an area that remains blissfully quiet. Car parking is not a problem here and the hills remain peaceful. This is possibly due to having one of the lowest population densities in Europe, with just 1.6 people per km2! The Highlands are also well known for their hospitality. In fact, some of our clients include their ML Assessment as part of a longer holiday here. It’s such a special part of the UK that it is well worth exploring the area for as much time as you have available.
All the dates on our website are for open courses that any member of the public can book on to. However, we can also offer private courses for groups wishing to complete their Mountain Leader Assessment on a date to suit. Please get in contact if you are interested in arranging a private group course.
See our dates and pricing information on the link here to find out more about both our private and open coursesMountain Training is committed to ensuring that everyone has equal opportunity to attend its courses. We at Climb Torridon whole heartedly agree with this. Therefore, if you have a particular need that requires extra assistance, please discuss it with us before booking onto a course. All candidates must be able to meet the criteria of the syllabus independently to gain the qualification. However, reasonable adjustments can be made so that you can access courses and have the opportunity to demonstrate attainment.
Common examples of requirements which Mountain Training and Climb Torridon can accommodate include:
We aim to have a fair assessment process and to give you as much infomation as possible so that you can feel relaxed during the process. The below itinerary is our normal structure for the assessment however we may adjust this to make allowences for weather. In all cases we will let me know as soon as we can of any changes.
We will begin the day with an introduction to the assessment itself. Making sure you are comfortable and clear about what we will be assessing and the structure for the course. You will be introduced to your assessors and the other candidates. This will give everyone the opportunity to talk through their own level of experience. We will also look through logbooks and first aid certificates. After organising equipment, giving consideration to what is needed in both a group member and group leader rucksack, we will head out to the mountains. We will be out on the hill for a day of navigation, group management and discussing general knowledge of the mountain environment, including flora and fauna. The day will be a relaxed mountain journey, while providing the opportunity for everyone to demonstrate their abilities as a leader within the mountains.
Evening Session: Group discussion of home paper.
Today we will be focusing on steep ground and rope work. The Torridon Mountains have many fantastic locations to cover the full variety of steep terrain. You will have plenty of opportunity to demonstrate your route selection and management of steep ground. Choosing effective methods over steep terrain to safely and efficiently manage a group. This may include tying knots, selecting anchors, belaying and confidence roping. All while considering personal security and safety.
Evening Session – Planning and preparing for the expedition
Today will be the first day of your three day expedition. We are based in the wildest and most remote area of the UK, so your expedition will give you the opportunity to explore an incredibly special area. As we journey around there will be plenty of time for you to demonstrate your skills as a Mountain Leader. We will be covering navigation, group management and environmental knowledge as we head to our wild camping location. Once there, you will have the chance to pitch your tent and put into practice your camp craft experience and knowledge, before having a bit of time to relax and enjoy the mountain scenery.
Evening Session – Night Navigation. Once dark we will head out of our tents to give you the chance to show off your night navigation skills.
Today we will continue with our second day of the expedition. Packing away all our camping equipment, ensuring we have checked our camping site properly, before heading off. We will have a greater emphasis on micro navigation today, as well as using a different scale of map. We will also consider using relocation techniques. Once at our second wild camping site we will spend more time discussing camp craft as a group. Looking at the equipment of each candidate and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different tents, stoves, sleeping bags etc. We will also consider how we manage camping with a group, considering water and cooking management as well as sanitation.
Evening Session – Whether or not we head out for a second night of navigation will depend upon the group size, weather and a variety of other factors tonight.
Today will be our final day of assessment. After packing away and checking the camping site carefully, we will begin. This is your last opportunity to demonstrate your ability as a mountain leader and we will ensure we have completed everything within the syllabus. Just before the end of the day, we will tackle a river crossing. Discussing everything from avoidance and risk assessment through to understanding the flow, hazards, tactics and route choice as well as briefing a group. We will aim to be back at our base by mid afternoon to sort out kit and some well earned tea and cake!
Individual Debrief – You will receive your assessment results as well as general feedback and advice. No matter your overall result, we want everyone to feel positive about their assessment with us. You will either leave us as a qualified Mountain Leader or with a clear action plan of how to keep motivated and what to practise to make this achievable for you in the future.
We offer courses with accommodation so you can concentrate on the assessment and not have to worry about anything else.
The accommodation included with this course is on a self catering, single room basis in Thrail House situated at the head of Glen Torridon. This location provides the perfect base for our Mountain Leader Assessment courses, being close to the hills and in a beautiful relaxing location.
The accommodation includes shared cooking facilities and lounge for you to relax in after your hill days. There is also a private carpark onsite so travel is simple.
The Mountain Leader Award (or ML Award) is a nationally recognised qualification that is ideal for people who want to take groups into the mountains for single or multi-day hikes.
Minimum age: 18
Pathway to Assessment:
To register for the award you must have the following:
Next you will need to complete 20 Quality Mountain Days (or QMDs). These days can take place at any time; before your registration, after your registration or a bit of both. For a day to qualify as a Quality Mountain Day it must fulfil the following criteria as defined by Mountain Training:
A ‘Quality Mountain Day’ for the Mountain Leader should take place in mountainous terrain in the UK or Ireland.
The quality element lies in such things as the conditions experienced both overhead and underfoot, the exploration of new areas, the terrain covered, the skills deployed and the physical and mental challenge. The experience of a quality day should contribute to knowledge, personal development and associated skill acquisition.
All the following criteria should be fulfilled:
These criteria mean that days as a course member under instruction, a member of a group practising skills, or days spent repeating familiar routes are very unlikely to meet the requirements of a quality day.
Source: https://www.mountain-training.org/help/frequently-asked-questions/what-is-a-quality-day/
Complete a Mountain Leader Training Course. These are six days long and include a two day/one night expedition, covering the full Mountain Leader Training Syllabus. You can find out more and book on to our ML Training Courses here.
After your training course, take the time to put into practice everything you have learnt. The average time between training and assessment is 3.3 years. Use these years to build upon your knowledge of the mountains and gain valuable experience. In addition to gaining personal experience many ML candidates will also gain excellent experience of leading groups. This can be done by contacting guiding companies for opportunities to shadow already qualified Mountain Leaders.
The Mountain Leader assessment is five days long and includes a three day/two night expedition. You can find out more and book onto our ML Assessment here. You will be assessed against the full syllabus which can be found in the candidate handbook. At the end of the assessment you will receive one of three results: Pass, defer (requires a partial reassessment) or fail (requires a full reassessment).
In order to provide the highest level of learning and safety we maintain low ratios for our courses. For our Mountain Leader Assessment courses we never go beyond a ratio of 1 instructor to 4 clients. These small numbers allow us to make sure you get the time to show us your knowledge and skills to pass the assessment.
Open course are where you can book onto a date and join other like minded people. These are great for individuals looking to share an experience with others and make new friends. Our open courses are run to a maximum of four individual spaces (with one instructor) on each open course to give the perfect balance between a social experience and effective assessment in the mountains.
Our five day Mountain Leader Assessment course is the complete package, covering all elements of the syllabus needed to lead groups in the mountains.
| Date | Price |
|---|---|
| 5 Oct 2025 to 9 Oct 2025 (Accommodation Included) | £1050 |
Prices shown are all per person.
Private courses are aimed at groups, clubs and organisations who are looking to run an Mountain Leader course. These can be run on any dates during the season and will be restricted to those that you want on the course. If you’re an organisation looking to get your staff qualified to lead groups in mountainous terrain then get in touch. Noe a minimum number of candidates are needed for a private assessment course to run.
| Ratio | Price |
|---|---|
| 1:3 | £1300 per person |
| 1:4 | £1000 per person |
| Date | Price |
|---|---|
| 5 Oct 2025 to 9 Oct 2025 (Accommodation Included) | £1050 |
Prices shown are all per person.