Recommended Leader Skills

Leaders should have the following skills for a trip of the appropriate difficulty.

Easy: a leader should be comfortable with the following:

• Finding a safe campsite and water supply below the bush-line
• Navigation/map reading in order to follow a well marked track
• Hazard identification incl. swollen rivers/flooding, tree-fall/landslides
• Pre-trip planning and on-trip management of a group of up to 12.

Moderate: a leader should be comfortable with the following:

• Finding a safe campsite and water supply below or at the bush-line
• Navigation/map reading/compass in order to follow an unmarked route below the bush-line
• Hazard identification incl. swollen rivers/flooding, tree-fall/landslides, rock-fall
• Pre-trip planning and on-trip management of a group of up to 8.

Hard: a leader should be comfortable with the following:

• Finding a safe campsite/bivvy and water supply above the bush-line
• Navigation/map reading/compass (and possibly GPS) in order to find a safe route above the bush-line (possibly in poor visibility/under time pressure)
• Hazard identification incl. swollen rivers/flooding, rock-fall, avalanches, exposed terrain, weather
• Pre-trip planning incl. alternative routes, weather assessment

Alpine Technical: a leader should be comfortable with the following:

• Finding a safe bivvy and water supply in exposed alpine areas
• Navigation/map reading/compass (and possibly GPS) in order to find a safe route through exposed alpine terrain (possibly at night)
• Hazard identification incl. rock/ice-fall, avalanches, crevasses/shrunds/moulins etc. (glacial features), exposed terrain, weather
• Safe use of alpine equipment incl. crampons, ice axe/hammer, helmet, harness, rope, belay devices
• Setting safe anchors
• Pre-trip planning incl. alternative routes, weather assessment, snow/avalanche assessment