Instructors & Qualifications
Adventure Residentials works hard to ensure that expeditions are as safe as possible without taking away from the unique experience of participants being self-sufficient in remote and beautiful places. We are firm believers in the benefits that these experiences can bring and are proud of the balance that we achieve in managing participants’ safety by virtue of the quality and experience of our staff team.
What qualifications do my instructors hold?
All AR instructors hold a relevant outdoor qualification to the programme they are working on. At Gold level this is normally the Summer Mountain Leader (ML) Award .
For non walking expeditions (cycling, kayaking, Canoeing) instructors will again hold a relevant outdoor qualification.
We occasionally mentor instructors who are working towards qualifications but they work alongside experienced, qualified mentors.
All instructors are personally known to Adventure Residentials and have a diverse base of experience and expertise. Many of our instructors hold higher qualifications and are among the top of their profession in the UK.
The quality of our instructors ensures an exceptional balance between safety and adventure: participants benefit from high quality training that comes from direct experience.
What is a Summer Mountain Leader? What do all of the instructor qualifications mean?
AR requires instructors to hold National Governing Body (NGB) award qualifications from Mountain Training. All awards require an instructor to attend a training course, gain further days to consolidate skills then attend and successfully pass an assessment course.
Camping Leader (CL): Camping Leaders supervise groups of novice or young campers, teaching them campcraft skills and creating a safe and enjoyable overnight experience.
Lowland Leader (LL): Lowland Leaders take groups of walkers into the countryside so they can experience the benefits of the great outdoors. The qualification is suitable for new or experienced hike leaders.
Hill and Moorland Leader (HML): Hill and Moorland Leaders enjoy introducing people to hiking in varied terrain, leading groups in the hills and exploring away from the path. Hill and moorland areas in the UK and Ireland have a different geology and history to the lowlands and mountains, offering an accessible feeling of wilderness to those who wander there.
Summer Mountain Leader (ML): An instructor who can lead groups hill-walking anywhere in the UK under Summer conditions;
Winter Mountain Leader (WML): An instructor who can lead groups hill-walking anywhere in the UK under Summer and Winter conditions;
International Mountain Leader (IML): An instructor who can lead groups worldwide on non-glaciated terrain. The IML is a legal requirement for anyone leading groups in France, Switzerland and Italy and is recommended for working worldwide. All Adventure Expeditions instructors working on expeditions overseas hold this qualification.
Mountaineering Instructor (MIA/MIC): The MIA is the highest award for working with groups in the UK in summer conditions. An MIA can take people hill-walking, scrambling, multi-pitch rock climbing and use ropes and technical equipment. An MIA can train and assess MLs and act as technical experts for groups and organisations. They are considered as the top of their profession in the UK. MIC can do all of this in Winter as well as Summer and so can work with clients ice climbing and Winter mountaineering for example as well.
Read more on Mountain Training’s website here.