In reply to john arran:
> Hopefully they will drop the requirement that you need to be good at taking kids backpacking in order to qualify to teach climbing. Always seemed absurd to me and needing the ML in advance stopped me even thinking about pursuing an instructor programme beyond the SPA.
The Swedish system is split into 3, sport, trad rock and ice. The problem is for those people who might work all environments in a year or even month, the number of courses and cost starts to spiral. Rather than a condensed system, where you can hire one person who will organise a variety of days, all to suited the weather on the day, the client's progression and within their remit.
The problem with having even more qualifications in the system, is the public who might want to pay for an instructor have no idea what the individual can do. It's bad enough now, with SPA crags, then mountain crags, I can't imagine how confusing it is to a punter new to the sport. Even the names of MIA and MIC don't really tell anyone what they actually do on the hill. It certainly needs it's current review. Winter / Summer Mountain Instructor to me is the only way ahead.
OP, 4c is probably a little low and most people on assessment have logbook experience much harder, so I don't know why the assessment is not a little tougher too, but see what the review brings. Certainly on mine we were climbing 5a/5b through choice, because that's the routes that were free and nearest on the crag, rather than trudging around to meet the syllabus precisely.
Post edited at 16:39