So I’ve decided that this winter I’m going to try as hard as I can to get some decent winter days on my DLOG. I’ll be focusing on the Lake District and Snowdonia for these and I’ve also booked some time off work to head to Scotland for a few days in December. I think I have just three days left to gain, so the plan is to rack up as many as I can and then in March or April, submit my log to MT to check if I meet the entry requirements for training next season. Friends have advised I should just go for it this season but I just don’t feel that I’ve done all I can to be properly ready. I don’t want to go with the bare minimum and scrape the pass, I’d like to head over to Glenmore Lodge confident that I did everything I could to prepare for the course.

The thing with the advanced Mountain Training qualifications is that you need to be strategic and efficient with your time and money unless you’re lucky enough to live in the mountains (I’m not). This means planning thoroughly before the conditions arrive – they’ll usually be fleeting and fickle, requiring a quick pack, drive and hike. As with quite a number of candidates working toward their certificates, my work means that I’m only free on a weekend so there’s going to be some family and friends ‘dumped’ at the last minute. Luckily (definitely unluckily!!) I’m single so there’s no girlfriend to dump and chase the snow when it arrives, but you get the idea.

This is called type 2 fun. But it will be brilliant experience for the logbook and great prep for the ML Winter Training. Am I prepared in terms of kit? No.

Tomorrow I head to the Lake District to sort my winter gloves out and maybe even purchase a synthetic jacket as an extra warm layer. It’s vital to ‘sweat the small stuff’ in terms of detail and equipment before heading out. I’ve no plans to hike anywhere, just check out the best quality gear I can get and then drive back home again. This is also good prep for the mega long car journey to Scotland. I would have done this online but gloves need to be tried on ideally. Pictures to come in another blog post tomorrow all being well!