Training assessment programme sees large demand

Mountaineering

The UIAA’s Mountaineering Commission is reviewing its international training assessment and accreditation programme, due to the large demand from national federations.

The work of the Training Standards Working Group (TSWG) was in the spotlight at a recent meeting of the Mountaineering Commission in Montserrat, near Barcelona, Spain.

The meeting was hosted by the Spanish federation, Federación Española de Deportes de Montaña y Escalada (FEDME), and was very well attended by 21 delegates and guests from 14 different countries.

Steve Long, Chairman of the TSWG, proposed a new, more structured process, with a professionalized moderation and assessment process and a system of regularly re-evaluating national schemes. Long and his colleagues are discussing these plans with the IFMGA (also known as the UIAGM) to ensure that the two schemes continue to complement each other.

Strategic Plan

Commission members also discussed a new Strategic Plan for the Mountaineering Commission. A revised set of goals and objectives were agreed, and a modern Mission statement was adopted:
‘To promote best practice by identifying and addressing ethical, technical & training, and legal issues of international importance.’

The Mountaineering Commission’s collaboration with the charity Petzl Foundation was also on the meeting agenda. Following its success in Nepal, the foundation is now working with the Mountaineering Commission to develop mountain training in India. At the end of the summer (2010) two training sessions will be held in India, and it is hoped that this partnership will lead to the creation of a UIAA-accredited mountain training scheme.

Issues: bolting, legal, accident statistics

The Montserrat meeting saw the creation of a Bolting Working Group to review the bolting policy in different federations, from which a UIAA bolting policy will be developed.

The meeting also heard from the Legal Experts Working Group which now has 54 cases in its Mountain Legal Database.

Finally, the Mountaineering Commission is continuing its work to create a system for collating international mountain accidents statistics, and to review its international climbing grade comparison table.

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