Mountain Skills Two Course
Mountain Skills Two Course Outline
Mountain Skills Two navigation courses suits a hiker with some experience. You may have already completed MS1 or a similar course and now you want to improve your skills. MS2 is typically suited to people who know a bit about using a map and compass to navigate. You may know how to use a compass to take a bearing and want to become more confident when reading a map.
Mountainsskills two is the second course in the Mountain Skills Scheme administered by Mountaineering Ireland.
What will I learn on a Mountain Skills Two course?
On the MS2 navigation course you will learn to assess safety in the mountains, plan for your hike and use your skills to navigate to safety in poor visibility. We spend more time reading a map working with contours and planning our route. Navigation techniques and mountain hiking tips are covered in more detail. Mountainskills 2 is a real confidence builder. MadeToMove.ie provides Mountain Skills 2 courses in the Wicklow National Park close to Glendalough Monastic Village and Laragh Village and the Comeragh Mountains in Waterford.
MS2 Day One
- We review the fundamental skills required for the course and practise them so everyone is comfortable that they know enough to enjoy themselves and learn lots of new skills.
- Observing where we are and working with simple techniques like estimating and measuring distances settles everyone down for the day
- We go for an easy hike along paths and trails discussing possible routes and identifying tick features along the way
- Pacing, distance and time estimation are revised and practised.
- Noticing what has changed and wondering what that might look like on the map is the next step
- We continue to observe shapes and lines on the map and then identify them on the landscape.
- We spend lots of time observing contours and estimating how steep the ground is.
- Compass bearings are revised and practised. There is lots of time to practise. 😁
- we spend lots of time practising skills and techniques we will need late on our night navigation or poor visibility navigation.
- We stop for food too!!🍌🥯🧀🥪🍰…often.
- We don’t go fast or very far so we can spend plenty of time taking care of ourselves, not getting too hot or too cold…not sweating up and getting chilly. The course is about learning to take care of ourselves.
- We chat about making decisions about where to go, what is the potential for danger, how do we deal with that.
- Emergency procedures and equipment are covered. Everyone shares their experiences and stories.
- Walking on a bearing as it begins to get dark is always fun, it’s a gradual process, confidence builds and we review how accurate we are by recording our route on a phone using the Hiiker App
MS2 Day Two
- Day two begins with a quick review of what we covered previously
- We spend some time looking at grid references in Ireland
- Taking bearings from the map to the landscape and from the landscape to the map.
- Lots of practise and discussion happens as everyone is buzzing from learning new skills.
- We chat about magnetic declination in Ireland and how to adjust our compass bearing
- We compare scales, colours and all the different symbols on different maps
- We have food…more food and a cup of tea if you want? 🥐🫖☕️
- Then I tell the group where I want to get to so we can get some more compass and contour work done…the group plans the route
- We set off with our plan and see how long it works for…I love it when things go wrong. We learn most then!
- At this stage of the course I’m usually a passanger, coming in with questions and suggestions but really the group is busy exploring and just enjoying gtheir confidence and ability to navigate.
- We might be close to some old buildings or mine entrances, the history of the area becomes obvious even if you have walked past it before without noticing
- More features like reentrants, spurs and obvious contours are covered
- We begin to deal with steep ground, how to stay safe, how to avoid it, how to deal with it if we are on it.
- What is steep ground anyway?.
- What time do we haver to be home at? make a plan to get home on time!!
Here are some helpful resources that you can review after the course
Mountain Skills Two
Official Mountaineering Ireland Course
MS2 Course Locations
MadeToMove.ie provides Mountain Skills Tne courses in the Wicklow Mountains and the Comeragh Mountains in Waterford. There are useful links to each course page below showing where we will meet, what maps we will use and lots more. There is also a link to the Mountain Skills Scheme Useful Information page and my Course booking page. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
Mountain Skills Two. Learning essential skills
Learning essential skills on Mountainskills 2
What you need for the Mountain Skills Two course
Map & Compass
I supply a map and compass for each participant on the Mountain Skills One course. I usually use EastWest Mapping maps on the course and the Silva Expedition 4 Compass.
Clothes & Equipment
You will find an equipment list on my Equipment List Page
The essentials will include boots, waterproof jacket and leggings, warm layers and a ruck sack with food and water. You will need a head torch for the poor visibility navigation. I suggest having a spare in your rucksack. You won’t need any special equipment other than what you might usually use on a hike. If you use walking poles bring walking poles but we will not be walking on very difficult ground