Page 17 - Cadet Review Spring 2021

On the Cairngorm Plateau, left to right; David Fuller
with Buster, Lennie Cowieson and John Keenan
(the latter two being members of 1 Highlanders ACF)
QUALITY MOUNTAIN DAYS
By The Editor
For those readers not in the know you are probably wondering where this is going, so hang on in there. To define what a Quality Mountain Day (QMD) is would be a start.
“In terms of experience, the quality of a mountain day lies in such things as the conditions experienced from the weather and the nature of the ground
and terrain, together with the physical and mental challenges, in addition to the exploration of new areas. Such days make a positive contribution towards a person’s development and maturity as an all-round mountaineer.”
So what? What it means in reality is that to keep up to date and continue to develop mountain skills new areas of mountains or hills are essential to
a Mountain, or Hill and Moorland, Leader. What happens when the country is in lockdown or different states of ability to get on the hills? That does get a bit more difficult. However, below is an example of being able to take advantage of a situation which presented itself at fairly short notice with the result that a week’s worth of QMDs were gained.
At the beginning of the first lockdown the Editor had planned to be in Snowdonia in April 2020, sadly that didn’t happen so another option was looked
for especially after opportunities such as Annual Camps also fell by the wayside, and when Scotland was open to visitors in September a site was booked, the caravan was hitched up and an eight hour drive to Inverness was planned. Having attended several
Such days make a positive contribution towards a person’s development and maturity as an all- round mountaineer
Did anyone bring the Gin and Tonic?
Cairngorm Summit and Weather Station
CADET REVIEW SPRING 2021 17