Page 31 - 2019 AMA Summer

aware that I find myself further developing those who have some knowledge, have a genuine interest and want to seek out more information. There is another group of hillwalkers, mountaineers and Mountain Leaders who are not quite so enamoured with learning about flowers. I was once this person. As a youth the mountains were about adventure, a day of fewer than 15 miles was weak, a week without climbing hard was wasted, adventure and physical challenge trumped all else. This isn’t to say I didn’t care about the environment I did, I appreciated it, I just didn’t need to know the details, I just wanted to worship it through my physical activity. I’ve changed, the world has changed and Mountain Leaders have a responsibility these days to raise awareness of how precious our countryside is, of how interdependent upon it we are and of how delicate it is. We have to raise difficult issues of how land is managed, the conflicts which arise from that and introduce the fact that some land uses could be considered incompat- ible with others.
I know learning about the environment can be a bit daunting for those who feel limited in their knowledge to start with. I know it looks like an enormous challenge to learn all about it, so where do you start? This is something I have been thinking about for a while hence this new concept of ‘need to know; nice to know’. This isn’t a tight fixed concept but, it is designed to give you a start to help you to know where to begin. How many flowers do you need to be able to identify? What should you know about Geology? Who does own
the land and how is it managed? It can seem overwhelming. ‘Nice to know, need to know’ is a new concept that I hope will help those with little or no knowledge of the environment and help them towards some achievable goals. So, what are those goals? Here’s my first stab at suggesting what you need to know.
To be able to ‘inspire and enthuse their groups in the mountains and continuously expand their knowledge and understand- ing of the environment
A Mountain Leader should:
1. Be able to explain why the geology of Snowdonia or the Lakes District is complex in comparison to Dartmoor, the Brecon Beacons or the Pennines
2. Be able to describe and explain the processes of glacial erosion and transportation. Identify features of erosion and deposition.
3. Be able to describe the lives of around 12 key mammal, bird or other living species in your area of operation.
4. Be able to recognise and describe, including some uses medicinally, historical and current, around 12 plant species, including some upland specialists.
5. Be able to explain how land use has, over time, contributed to how the uplands look the way they do and how this may continue to change including some of the choices currently being discussed.
BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN WHY THE GEOLOGY OF SNOWDONIA OR THE LAKES DISTRICT IS COMPLEX IN COMPARISON TO DARTMOOR, THE BRECON BEACONS OR THE PENNINES.
It can be frustrating, as an assessor, when candidates show complete ignorance of geology. Geology underpins everything. It helps us to explain why these places are hills, the character of these hills, the fauna and flora of places and how the land has been used and is being used. It is fair however, to say that the geology of Snowdonia or the Lake District is complicated. It’s fair to say there is great variation across the highlands of Scotland. The approach I’ve begun to teach people is not to explain the geology but, to understand why it’s complex. For example, it can be old, at least 450 million years old in the Lakes and Snowdonia but, up to a couple of billion years old in some parts of Scotland. It may have featured volcanoes and volcanoes can produce different results depending on the type of lava, the areas in which they erupt and how they erupt. Rocks have then been folded to form mountains. These mountains have then been eroded to leave todays landscape with weathering exposed rock now being colonised and hidden by lichen and vegetation succession. Whereas, on the other hand, the Beacons and the Pennines have fewer rock types, folded in a similar structure and with clearer differences on the land surface.
Mike Raine – getting close to nature
Glaciation – just one of many erratic’s spread across our uplands, where has it come from? How far has it travelled?
Geology – every rock tells a story unravelling this one could be fascinating
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