UKC

Anyone know of a good intensive instructor course out there. Good value for money and good future career prospects. Seems that most of them advertised gets you at a trained level but not assessed which doesn't really get you a job at the end. I'm predominantly looking in south UK.

In reply to will moy:

Dont waste your money, get a job as a trainee instrcutor at a centre, they will get you through the same awards if its a good one, without you spending £8000.

Generally there isnt time on these courses to go from nothing to assessment due to the consolidation periods required. I recommend not rushing through awards, the process of learning the skills will make you a better, more employable instructor in the long run.

p.s.there are no mountains in the south so any trainee course would be unlikely to get you any mountain days needed for ML. Move north, without experience in many mountain areas, your ml will be harder.

In reply to peas65:

Totally agree, they're a waste of money IMO. Get a trainee job, and slowly start working your way through the awards.

In reply to JayPee630: Agreed, get a trainee job.

In reply to will moy: I am not really sure if I would like to be instructed by someone who fast tracked their qualification. Good instructing is all about experience and not so much about the piece of paper.

As others have said - get the experience on the job under the supervision of someone else.

In reply to EeeByGum:

I fully agree with this. I've met a few people who have the relevant bit of paper with the appropriate Mountain Training stickers but are sadly lacking in knowledge and experience.

If someone thinks they have the relevant skills and experience they can of course bypass the training part of the qualification and go straight to assessment.

In reply to will moy:

Hey Will. Doing some research...?!

Most will qualify to lev 1, 2/3*, first aid, perhaps beach lifeguard, mountain biking but there isn't the time to get people SPA/ML/WGL assessed due to the consolidation periods.

MT are much hotter, and rightly so, on the clients having the correct number of climbs/QMDs for trainings / assessments. It was a lot slacker in years gone by.

In reply to peas65: I agree fully with you...

I started my career on a personal training course (SPA and Summer ML) to make sure that what I was doing in the hills was the right way of going about things. I thought I might as well get the Assessments done, and ended up gaining loads of time with different centres, and people, making the overall experience well rounded.

Be careful staying at one centre to get the group time as they tend to stick to the same venue, and your experience of rigging, sessions, etc could end up quite limited (No variety), which does show up on Assessment.Maybe do a few months at one then go to another. It's even more useful if you can get in one near a natural environment, like N Wales or the Lakes, much more use than any manufactured fast moving river or concrete climbing wall with bolts. Move North, it will be worth it.

As you said Peas, about not rushing through the awards, gain all the QMD's and time you want, enjoy it, it's the best excuse you'll ever have to get out and play...
Savour the whole thing, you'll talk about it for years, don't blitz it and scrape through it.

I'm coming up for Winter ML Assessment in Feb and I'm having a whale of a time getting out, meeting new and different people, worth every moment.

Rich

In reply to will moy: As others have said, please avoid the Zero to Hero in a weekend courses. Do lots of climbing and, when you are good at it, that is the time for an instructor course.