UKC

Either be indoor or outdoor...what is the fastest way? in a year or two, i'll be on a "permanent" travel around the world, working for charities as such or something similar. I am already a certified TEFL (english teacher) and would like to also arm myself with some skills or be certified on climbing instructing? Any ideas how I go about this. I've read somewhere it takes 12 months to get certified on SPA?

In reply to virginrock: the SPA award only certifies you for single pitch climbs and indoor climbing in the UK, unsure as to how it stands abroad. It could take less than 12 months if you were already a particularly experienced climber. probably best off contactint MLTUK (mountain leader training UK) and asking them for info on qualifactions abroad.


hth, Pete.

In reply to virginrock:
SPA can take a while but if you can commit your life to it then it takes a lot less than 12months. you need to do the training then get so many climbs of grade such and such (cent remember now) or higher in your log book and get them signed off by someone.

but SPA is quickest internationally recognised qualification

In reply to virginrock:

VIDEO: Single Pitch Award (SPA)

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1898

VIDEO: Mountain Instructor Certificate (MIC)

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1914

In reply to virginrock:

I may be wrong but I believe the only international climbing instructors award is Guide. I also believe there is a scheme that allows suitably experienced holders of the UK Mountain Instructors Award to obtain a limited European liscence.

See this link for more details of UK mountaineering awards.

http://www.mltuk.org/docs/documents/NationalGuidelines2009internet_colour_0...

Cheers, Paul

In reply to jon:
Or one of these jackets:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9lBbpKjxgio/SuPDBTNGhEI/AAAAAAAABG8/b-2J-CP2onY/s...
Or would that make you a certifiable instuctor?

In reply to Gandalf: SPA isn't internationally recognised.

As someone else said, you need to be a Guide for that.

In reply to virginrock: There are a variety of countries where a qualification is not required (its not a legal requirement in Britain), but something such as the SPA would definatley help in showing your competence. New Zealand recognises the SPA as an equivalent in its own scheme. SPA does not qualify you to teach leading though. The fastest British qualification to get would be the Climbing Wall Award (CWA) but it only qualifies you to instruct indoors, excluding teaching leading.
John

In reply to virginrock:
If you know or have an idea of which charities you might work for I'd have a word with them. As others have said an SPA will probably help.

In reply to virginrock: Any reliable Psychiatrist will certify you if you try really hard: as for the instructor bit well, you need to be certified first if you want to go all the way.
Must end, Matron's doin' the rounds and I don't want to miss my medication or suffer another bedbath as he's got blood rough hands!

aye, Andy (MIC)

In reply to virginrock:

The fastest way? not too sure that there is a quick fix it depends how hard you work. I may be misteken but on the spa scheme there is a consolodation period between training and assesment, I also believe that they (the spa assesors) like to see some actual intrest in climbing from the candidate which is generally evidenced with a log book over a period of time.

In reply to virginrock: Thank you so much for the replies. This log book you guys talk about, is this me climbing myself on all different types i.e. bouldering/lead indoor/outdoor? or is this me teaching someone?

Will take all your comments in and definitely contact the right people.

In reply to virginrock:

Hi again. Download the SPA handbook from http://www.mltuk.org/docs/documents/SPAHandbook08.pdf

Page 6 spells the requirements out clearly.

Cheers, Paul

In reply to virginrock:

If you've lots of experience then it shouldn't take long at all. I don't know if it's changed nowadays but when I did my SPA I'd already been climbing twenty years and instructing on and off for fifteen of that and it was a only month or so between training and assessment (the soonest I could get on an assessment basically). It's a personal thing, but I do have a slight problem with what happens on outdoor ed courses etc these days with people getting into climbing then rushing to get qualifications without the experience to back it up. To me it should all be about depth/breadth of experience with some new technical skills specific to groups then added on by the courses.

In reply to virginrock: Both!

In reply to virginrock:
Hi

Dont know where you are based, but I have some courses running over the next couple of months here :

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=390545

Cheers

David