UKC

Hi, over the next year i am goin to be doin my trainin and buildin up my experience for both my SPA and my summer ML, I wondered is it worth buying the Rock Climbing: Essential Skills & Techniques and the Hill Walking: The Official Handbook of the Mountain Leader and Walking Group Leader Schemes or to save the money and just use the online handbooks and youtube. I know they teach you it on the training but its so i have something to refer to thats up to date, relevant and helpful. thanks for your help

In reply to andymil13:

As someone who works on SPA & ML courses I'd say they are really useful.
Both are clearly written with good diagrams.

They're great as a reference book used in conjunction with the appropriate syllabus.

In reply to andymil13:

I personally didn't use them. I don't learn practical skills well from a book. I guess it depends on your learning style to an extent. I have very experienced friends that I spend lots of time in the hills with, so before I went for either ticket I had spent lots of time in the mountains with them picking their brains. The training then allowed me to ask lots of questions and establish if any practice had changed.
I don't think there's right or wrongs in this front. The info is there for you on paper if that is what you prefer, as long as you turn up to assessment with the right skills and knowledge it doesn't matter what you have and haven't read.

In reply to andymil13:

Get them and read them!

In reply to andymil13:

Given that the books will probably be the cheapest thing that you pay for, I'd get them, they are pretty much required reading IMO. You will be expected to be quite well read for both assessments, not just on technique but on the history of climbing, mountain plants, animals and geography/geology.

Steve D

In reply to andymil13:

I'd agree it's down to how you learn best - I quite like having a book you can scribble in or turn over the corners of pages. The books are excellent, well written and clear, so if you think they might be useful I wouldn't hesitate to buy them.... But I'm sure they're not essential.

In reply to andymil13:

I got them all.. the Libby and Neil's DVD makes a useful refresher on rain fast days.. ie practicing ropework off the the kitchen cupboard door handles etc

I'd use online stuff too - I find Glenmore videos more comprehensive/better than PYB/others

I find the the Hill Walking and Rock Climbing book formats appalling. They're probably the most disjointed ill-formatted, illogically structured books I've read. A shame since the content is top notch/excellent - again, I'd buy them (second hand) for reference/refresher only. The new Langmuir is worth seeking out - the old ones are good too, just the new one has the latest thinking. There is a stack of geology/fauna/hostile habitats books out there you're likely to want to delve into also.

I had one for Mountain Leader and touched it maybe twice..

I would suggest to learn out where in the wild from someone who is better than you. And we live in digital age. YouTube alone is amazing learning tool. Video is much better than a book for learning. Especially for a rope work! Plus you can ask questions and participate in discussions.

In reply to andymil13:

Here's an SPA booklet I put together for people who have done their training with me, may be of use...

http://www.jbmountainskills.co.uk/news/single-pitch-award-review-document