This month the Chief Officer helped out on the Mountaineering Council of Ireland Alpine Meet in the Bregalia. Work continues on various projects including a forthcoming publication, development plan for MLTA and further work on climbing wall modules. MLTUK hosted meetings and seminars of the Mountaineering Commission of the UIAA in North Wales in May, with delegates arriving from a wide range of mountaineering federations, including India, South Africa, Finland, Belgium, Hungary, France, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and Netherlands.

Have you ever wondered what MLTUK actually does, other than registrations?

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We are regularly getting asked for advice on this, so here's a statement from the chief officer. We don't police this, so it is up to the assessor (and candidate) to satisfy him or herself that the first aid course fits the criteria. Some people use the awards in more remote places than others so we just specify the minimum requirement. For the WGL, for example, the remit criterion is that the area is easily exited within a few hours, so prolonged casualty care is less likely than for an ML holder.  When there is any doubt they contact us and we simply go through the syllabus requirements, extracted below. So you can assure your participants that the course meets the criteria required by the Boards if you can go through the syllabus tick list (which is very open as you can see) and agree that it matches all points.

FIRST AID REQUIREMENTS

For any leader, First Aid is an essential skill and our assessments require a current first aid qualification. The minimum requirement for the outdoor schemes is that such a course must involve at least two full days or sixteen hours of instruction and include an element of assessment. Candidates are further expected to undertake such additional elements of first aid training as are consistent with their work in wild and remote country, including emergency assistance and evacuation techniques.  It is the responsibility of award holders and/or their employers to evaluate their likely work and the type of situations that they can reasonably expect to encounter and to maintain current appropriate first aid training and qualifications.

In addition, off the top of my head here are some specific items to be covered:

First aid training is about risk management, so the trainer needs to cover the sort of things that are more likely to go wrong on the hill. Given the restricted time available, incidents such as poisoning through industrial cleaning fluid, for example, would be a low priority topic for WGL candidates whereas environmental injuries such as heat or cold exhaustion, or even drowning, would be much higher up the list. This is the sort of thing that is sometimes best done by getting the candidates to brainstorm everything that could go wrong on an expedition, and write up the topics that require specific first aid training for the first aid course. In addition to primary and secondary care, casualty examination and basic “ABCDE” life support I would certainly expect the following to be covered (not an exhaustive list!):

• Calling for help
• Methods and limitations of evacuation
• Common conditions, e.g. asthma, epilepsy, angina and diabetes
• Cold injuries inc. hypothermia and frost nip/bite
• Heat injuries inc. burns, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, blisters, dehydration
• Drowning/near drowning
• Electric shock
• Bites and stings, inc. sheep ticks.
• Substance abuse and poisoning

Finally, I would recommend that the course should be as "hands on" in emphasis as possible, keeping lecture style to a minimum and group participation to a maximum. First aid training should be about building skills and confidence first, knowledge second.

The new BMC Climbing Wall and Competition Climbing Officers have been appointed.

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The CCW seminar at Plas y Brenin on April 9th 2008 was well attended and very well received.

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The MLTA continues to grow, with membership now in excess of 1600 (April 2008). The association is committed to providing ongoing development opportunities for its members. This year 2 major conferences will be run: May 24-25 in Buxton and November 8-9th at Plas y Brenin. Mark them in your diary, and check out the website.