MOUNTAIN TRAINING
Graeme Hill
Approved provider for Mountain Training’s Indoor Climbing Assistant qualification
I’ve been working in the disability sector for over 20 years including work at the Calvert Trust in Keswick, delivering Mountain Training’s Climbing for All course, developing the GB Paraclimbing Team in partnership with the BMC, managing the GB Paraclimbing team and working with the BMC Equity Steering Group. Despite all this work I felt there were areas where disabled people
weren’t holding representative positions; instructing being one of them. Substantial developments in a sport can’t be made until the people that are working to achieve equality are holding representative positions right across the board.
There have of course been great examples of disabled people gaining Mountain Training qualifications; Jamie Andrew, a quadriplegic amputee, holds the Mountain Leader qualification and John Churcher who is B2 blind is a Climbing Wall Instructor. However, these are quite big leaps for a lot of disabled people. On seeing the development of the Indoor Climbing Assistant qualification, I was keen to become involved. The qualification is an opportunity to start addressing some of the areas mentioned above. First and foremost, the qualification is an opportunity for a disabled person to fulfil any ambitions to become involved with the very enjoyable and rewarding role of instructing, and experiencing other people enjoying the sport, alongside a qualified instructor. Secondly, it enables disabled people to be seen in a much more responsible role, which encourages more disabled people to access the sport and also makes the sport much more representative. Thirdly, an instructor who is a wheelchair user can share invaluable knowledge with other chair users in preparation for attending a climbing session.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic I trained and assessed two people as Indoor Climbing Assistants: Laura May who at the time of the course had a spinal injury from the chest down and Jack Yare who is autistic and has a visual disability. Laura is an essential wheelchair user and due to the height of her spinal break did not have full functionality in her arms.
Because this was my first course, I provided some additional training to familiarise myself and the participants with the course content. They were trained and assessed in one day separately. Laura at Rockover in Manchester and Jack at Keswick Climbing Wall. Both the candidates did fantastically. Both had worked very hard on preparation. Rockover Climbing Wall worked well for Laura because large sections of the wall are accessible. On the day of Jack’s assessment, the Keswick Wall was quiet which reduced noise and distractions for Jack. Both walls were very supportive. I’ll be putting a series of courses on at the Rockover Climbing
Wall in Manchester and would really like to encourage people with a disability who are interested in instructing climbing to get in touch. Please send enquiries through Mountain Training.
46 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN.
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