UKC

Does anyone (apart from Adrian Berry) do trad coaching in the Peak District?

And has anyone been on any of the improver leader courses at PyB(or any of the other leader courses there)? http://www.pyb.co.uk/courses/rock-climbing.php

In reply to james oswald: I don't know about trad courses, I get similar stuff for free off my school. If you ever want leading up some harder routes I'd be happy to do that (means I get few more leads )

In reply to james oswald:

http://www.expeditionguide.com/rockimprovers.htm

Not sure about Peak District, but I can vouch for this chap, absolutely excellent!

In reply to james oswald:

John Arran

http://www.thefreeclimber.com/coachingCourses.htm#personalCoaching

In reply to james oswald:

Ben Bransby

http://www.benbransby.co.uk/masterclasses.htm

In reply to james oswald:

James Thacker may well do, google him for web address.

In reply to james oswald:

Any particular reason you're looking for someone else? The Berry is really good.

In reply to Eagle River: So is Ben Bransby

In reply to james oswald: John and Anne Arran did a great Job for our club.

In reply to james oswald:

Hi James

do you mean coaching or teaching?

James Pearson is one of our coaches and we are working on a trad workshop at the moment for The Peak (also one in Spain when it gets too cold and wet here in the UK!)

If you cant climb trad then maybe our level will be too much for you.

You can email me anyway if you have any questions.

sam@theorangehouse.net

Sam Orange

In reply to Orange House Climbing:

i meant coaching.

In reply to james oswald:

I did the Lead Improver course at pyb earlier this year.

2 days with well known instructors at a ratio of 2 climbers per instructor. Was generally good though mostly concetrated on improving gear placement and belay setup rather than coaching. All done on the sharp end with instructors hanging about on a rope next to you.

Hi James, I had a great time doing an intermediate course in the peaks with Paul Lewis from Peak Mountaineering. Address may be www.peakmountaineering.com or type it into google. He does advanced stuff as well. Very flexible with what I wanted from the few days climbing in the peaks and I came away with bags more confidence. Recommended.
Hope this was useful. Neil.

In reply to james oswald: A second vote for Peak Mountaineering. He was great with me on an introductory course.

In reply to hairynortherner:
Thanks for your kind words hairynortherner and neily. I hope you guys are keeping up the climbing and I hope we will catch up with each other again sometime in the future.

Cheers,
Paul

In reply to james oswald: Any competent and active Mountaineering Instructor will be able to do a great job at improving your all round trad climbing over a couple of days. A good few names have already been mentioned.

Additionally there are a dozen plus 'top climbers' who also instruct/coach and will be able to offer their own brands of advice and guidance. Again, the names are pretty obvious.

For trad climbing in 90% of cases I'd say go with one of the active and fully qualified professional instructors. Rigor and consistency in ensuring that your technical skills are up to scratch matter more than the fact they might only climb E3/4 rather the E8+.

Conversely, all things being equally you may get more benefit from going bouldering or sport climbing with one of the 'top climbers'. Their generally higher levels of climbing ability are much more relevant to coaching in these 'safer' and less complicated environments.

That is having climbing and worked with fair number of both types.

Equally, I'm preparing for my MIA assessment currently so would be happy to arrange a more informal day out...

In reply to Mark Stevenson:
"Equally, I'm preparing for my MIA assessment currently so would be happy to arrange a more informal day out..."

That would be good i'm up for that.

In reply to Mark Stevenson:

Question of emphasis isnt it. If you want to boost your technical skills you would seek out an Instructor if you want to boost your performance you would get a Coach.

In reply to Simon Lee:
This is Just a question to all.... how do you tell the difference between a coach and an instructor.

people seem to call themselves "coaches" but as far as I know there is no "coaching" qualification in climbing....

I thought everyone "coached" people, just in different things....

I

In reply to james oswald:

I just had a day yesterday with Adrian. He is superb, I really recommend him.

In reply to ourkid: It is partly about 'specialisation' - what does that 'coach' or 'instructor' do most of?

Their roles do overlap 'instructors' certainly all coach and even the self proclaimed 'coaches' often end up instructing basic gear placement. However, they will generally be best at whatever they do most of.

Also as you'd expect professional instructors and coaches all have strengths and weaknesses.

I have watched in awe as a famous 'boulderer' demonstrated the best gear placement and rope work I've ever seen on a classic sea-cliff traverse, far above what most professional instructors ever achieve, conversely I know of another famous climber making a complete hash of delivering a basic training session.

Probably the best two hours of instruction and coaching I've ever witnessed was delivered by an MIA who probably hasn't climbed harder than VS this year. Equally I know of other instructors who've ticked 'hard sport routes' who aren't up to guiding on multi-pitch routes over 6 grades easier.

The good news is that there aren't really any bad instructors/coaches, it's more a case of good and very good. If you are a beginner/improver, almost any instructor/coach will be able to help you. However, what this does mean is that almost every instructor/coach around therefore seems to get rave reviews.

Just because someone else had a 'good weekend' with 'Instructor A' doesn't mean they are best placed to offer what YOU want.

Anyone, thinking about using an instructor/coach, should speak to them in advance about what they want out of it. Everyone I know would be very upfront and honest about exactly what they are best placed to deliver.

In reply to Mark Stevenson:
thanks mark.

In reply to Mark Stevenson: Nicely put Mark.

Al

In reply to kareylarey:
You get trad courses of your school!?!?

In reply to james oswald: Yeah we get to go out every wednesday afternoon to do outdoor education. It's great! There is also a gifted and talented rock climbing budget so we go to different venues for climbing weekends. Latest trip we went to Gogarth. There is an MIA qualified, very experienced teacher who runs it.

In reply to kareylarey:
I am very very jealous.

In reply to james oswald: Hey well, as I said before, if you ever want your grade pushing (millage in the low Es is want I'm after so I want loads of leading) then give me a call (by call I mean email)!

In reply to kareylarey:
Lol. Sounds like fun. I may do.

In reply to james oswald:
I may push my grade abit then lead with you too.

In reply to Mark Stevenson: If there is no coaching qualification system in place, how do all these climbers offering coaching/masterclass courses get idemnity insurance, without any qualifications at all? Surely it must cost them a fortune?

In reply to vicci: Not 100% sure, although there probably isn't any legal no requirement for them to actually be insured. They may be working on the premise that since they only coach experienced climbers, it would be almost impossible to be successfully sued for any remotely conceivable incident. Any adult who is fully aware of the risks they take has no grounds for a claim, barring gross negligence.

Equally, there are plenty of insurance companies out there...