ABOUT AMI
This year was the 24th annual November Smart weekend, the student safety seminar weekend at Glenmore Lodge. A yearly highlight of the student mountaineering clubs calendar, it brings together 65 student representatives from the 15 largest Scottish university clubs for a weekend focused on club safety and training.
The multiple sessions on offer covered everything from an intro to navigation, casualty and incident management, through to scrambling and beginner/intermediate rock climbing. This is only possible due to some very generous offerings: Logistical, financial, and kit support from Glenmore Lodge National Outdoor Training Centre, funding from Braemar Mountain Rescue team, and 25 volunteer instructors/MRT members giving their time for free, most of whom are members of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI).
But its far more than a training weekend for individuals. The weekend is based around the challenges presenting clubs full of young mountaineers: how to ensure clubs run as safely as possible, how to ensure newer members understand the risks, are able to ask questions, and are able to choose the level of adventure to suit them. This filters down from committee level and its brilliant to see clubs taking this side of safety seriously, as well as the hard-skills of map-reading and knot-tying.
Case studies of historical club incidents are discussed, and clubs share with each other how they manage their trips and activities to avoid the same accidents re-occurring.
The atmosphere was one of mutual support and encouragement, from students who had been in the clubs for years, through to freshers who only joined a couple of months ago.
The reason why so many volunteer instructors return year-on-year is partly due to the fact that most of them came through the university club "scene" and want to give something back. But also due to the fact it's fantastic to see that the future of Scottish Mountaineering is in responsible, adventurous, supportive hands.
Thanks again to all the volunteers and sponsors, and to the Mountain Safety team at Mountaineering Scotland for another successful event!
