UKC

Hello, Im just asking for advice really on how to become a climbing instructor. Ive been climbing for the past 6 years and love it. I'd like to share my passion with others and maybe use this as a gateway to working abroad. I like in West Yorkshire and I'm 22 years old too if this is of any use.
Thank you in advance.
Ellison

In reply to Ellison5690: depending on what climbing you have been doing, I would recommend with doing the Climbing wall Award (CWA) or the Single Pitch Award (SPA). both are nationally recgonised qualifications that allow you to work in climbing walls and the latter allows you to instruct climbing at single pitch crags outside. Take a look at mountain-training.org.

In reply to higherclimbingwales: Thank you. I'm mainly a trad climb and boulderer. Is there an award for multi-pitch?

In reply to Ellison5690: MIA (Mountain Instructor Award) will allow this but you first need your SPA, ML summer and a wealth of experience on your own and with groups in as many different scenarios as you can manage.

In reply to Ellison5690: Unfortunately there is no Multi-pitch award as said above, this is currently covered by the Mountain Instructor Award. the prerequisite experience for this qualification is, quite rightly, very high and can take many years of not earning very much money unless you can get involved with some volunteer groups who will, for your time and commitment provide some subsidy towards the foundation qualifications such as SPA, CWA or ML.

Hi, the best place to start is with the Association of Mountaineering Instructors website http://www.ami.org.uk . This will give you an idea of the experience and ability you will need to qualify for the Mountain Instructor Award which is the qualification you need to take people multi-pitch climbing in summer.

Thank you to you all for the advice. I will look further into the websites and awards mentioned.
Ellison.

In reply to Ellison5690: I once thought as you do... Then I thought about the length a commitment to training for these awards... Then I chatted to a few MIA/MIC guys about pay, job security etc... Then I started to look at the average level of weather abuse I'd endure taking people out all the time... And it didn't add up to that great a picture
But I would definitely recommend a CWA/SPA and working at an indoor wall to get a flavour of the industry, with your 6 years experience doing trad, you would have no trouble at all getting either award.

In reply to gg4419:


Partially true, ML summer is a prerequisite but SPA is not.

In reply to Ellison5690: One piece of advice which I wished I was given is: Log EVERYTHING you do to do with climbing, walking, volunteering/group work and anything else relevant to the awards. you don't need to provide hard evidence but a written log of your acheivements will help you no end!

In reply to Ellison5690:

As a first step I would recommend approaching a few of your local outdoor pursuits companies, find one where they're willing to have you along to observe/assist on some outdoor sessions. You can immediately begin to log these sessions as relevant experience, and if the instructors like you they may well help you towards becoming qualified. You will, of course, need to be willing to work for nothing to start with.

In reply to Ellison5690:

If you've got 6 years experience then you might as well go for the SPA rather than the CWA - you'll get it easily and it allows you to work outdoors.

ML would also be a good qualification to get. It will allow you to progress to MIA and make you much more attractive to outdoor activity centres.

If you want to work abroad then have a look at the IML