I attended the AMC Mountain Leadership School (MLS) on June 21-25, sponsored by the Maine Chapter. It was a great experience for me, helping to confirm those aspects of leadership and outdoors skills I do well and helping me identify some areas to work on to continuously improve my outdoor and leadership skills. MLS is largely an experiential based program, centered around a multi-day backpacking trip in which participants each get a turn as leader and co-leader of the group. Our group of 9 headed into the Great Gulf Wilderness for our first day on the trail. It was a good opportunity to review what wilderness designation is all about and what rules govern use of Wilderness Areas in the White Mountain National Forest. For example, our group size could be no more than 10 people and we needed to camp either 200 feet from any trail or at a designated camp site nor could we have a wood fire within the Great Gulf Wilderness. We also had an opportunity to practice Leave No Trace (LNT) techniques that are good practice anywhere, not just Wilderness Areas.

After a moderate hike in to where we planned to camp we set up camp. It was amazing to see how many different opinions there were about where to place tents and where our kitchen and eating areas should be. Using the "consulting" leadership model we learned about at our first day of MLS, input from all members of the group were gathered and since there was not unanimous agreement, the leader made the final decision about how to set up camp. This leadership model was one of several discussed. While many individuals tend to gravitate towards one type of leadership style (directing, consulting, facilitating, etc), we were each encouraged to try an approach that we might not normally use, as a good leader should be able to draw on different styles or approaches to suit differing circumstances.

Perhaps the highlight of the program was the mock disaster in which a member of the group role-played an injury victim. In this case I was the one to discover our injured group member, lying on the ground, semi-conscious with a heavily bleeding wound in her abdomen. Even though I knew it was a simulation, it was still a shock to see her. Calling for help from the rest of the group, we eventually were able to stabilize her and set out to get outside help. It was "only" 23 minutes from the time we discovered her until she was stabilized and we were ready to send for outside help. It seemed much longer and had it been a real emergency we still responded too slowly in treating her injuries, which would have been life threatening had they been real. I think we all would be quicker to respond appropriately to an emergency in the future as a result of our experiences and being able to walk through it afterwards to review what we did well and wheat we could have improved on. It is clear though that facing a situation in the field is quite different from those presented in many first aid courses.

I am glad I had the chance to attend MLS and recommend the program to others wanting to improve their skills and confidence in leading group or to just be better prepared when heading out with friends for a hike.

Nancy Houlihan