Climbing instructor training – The Single Pitch Award

There are several routes to becoming a climbing instructor. The route you take largely depends upon the type of mountaineering or climbing instruction you aspire to be involved with:

• Supervising at an indoor climbing wall
• Supervising at a single pitch outdoor venues
• Leading walking groups
• Supervising multi-pitch mountain climbs
• Mountain guiding

My favourite climbing is outdoor climbing on single and multi-pitch crags. I would love to able to supervise groups in that environment, so I opted to start my training with the Single Pitch Award (SPA). If I qualify, I’ll be able to supervise groups in a single pitch outdoor climbing environment.

Costs

Let me start by saying this is not a cheap endeavor! There are quite a few costs you need to consider:

1. You need to be a member of a mountaineering Council.

If you’re in England or Wales, that’s the BMC (British Mountaineering Council).
If you opt to pay by direct debit, this will cost you £14.97 per annum.

If you’re in Scotland, you’ll want the MCofS (Mountaineering Council of Scotland).
The standard annual fee is £27.30, if you opt to pay by direct debit, you get your first year for £13.65

There’s a whole bunch of additional benefits for joining either council, so it’s by no means a waste of money.

2. You then need to register for the Single Pitch Award (SPA) to get your log book and hand book.

If you’re in England you need to register with MLTE (Mountain Leader Training England).

In Scotland you need to register with MLTS (Mountain Leader Training Scotland).

If you’re in Wales you’ll need MLTW (Mountain Leader Training Wales) (MLTW).

Registration costs £35, and they send you your log book and handbook in a nice ring binder.

3. Book onto an SPA training course.

There are providers all over the country offering SPA training. You can find their details on the MLTE, MLTS or MLTW web sites.

I opted to go with Peak Mountain Training, located at Edale in the Peak District.
Their 2 day SPA course costs: £150
I can wholeheartedly recommend them. Friendly, professional and very knowledgeable. I thoroughly enjoyed the training from start to finish.

4. Assessment

After a period of consolidation, you’ll probably want to take an assessment to gain your SPA qualification. This is a 2 day practical assessment. With Peak Mountain Training, this costs £150

5. First Aid Certificate

You will need to gain an outdoor first aid certificate. This needs to be a full 2 day (or 16 hours) minimum, course with some kind of assessment: £100+

Experience required

Before you register you need to:

• Have at least 12 months climbing experience
• Have led at least 15 routes on leader placed protection

This is really the absolute bare minimum. I would recommend that you climb double the number of routes before registering for the award, so that you can comfortably contribute while you’re on the course. It is very interactive.

Once you do register, you need to fill in your log book. When I got mine, I had to look back through my training diary for the previous 2 years and a selection of guide books to remind myself what I had climbed. It’s a good idea to start recording all your climbs now if you plan to do any climbing instructor training.

The SPA course is a packed 2 days of practical coaching. It’s a lot of fun but there’s loads to take in. I was full of cold when I did mine which was less than ideal, but I still really enjoyed it. Even if you never end up taking an assessment, the practical knowledge gained from the course is super valuable.

Once you have completed the SPA training you have a period of consolidation. This can be as long as you need. Really experienced climbers may only take a couple of months, others may take a couple of years. I’m hoping to be in a position to take mine around September this year.

Taking the assessment

Before taking your assessment, you’ll need to:

• Log at least 40 lead climbs, with a good few at the severe adjective grade. Once again, this is the bare minimum. I hope to log maybe double that before I apply for assessment.
• Log 20 sessions of supervision (or assisting someone with supervision). Note: If you are going to be supervising or assisting with any group that has children or vulnerable adults you’ll need a CRB (criminal Records Bureau) check. That’ll be another £50 then! I have just completed the forms for my CRB check. I’m going to be helping out at my local climbing wall to log some experience.
• Gain an outdoor first aid certificate

My brother David lent me his book “Rock Climbing – Essential Skills and Techniques” before I took my SPA training. I found it to be extremely useful. It’s actually the official handbook for both the Mountaineering Instructor and Single Pitch Award schemes. It’s available to buy from The Climbing Book Shop for just £16.99. A real bargain. It’s like the rock climber’s bible!