Leader of the Month - September

After convening our panel of experts we are proud to announce...

September's leader of the month is:

Will Kilner

"I'd like to nominate Will Kilner for Leader of the Month. Will is a work colleague and friend of mine who this summer, particularly August and early September, mentored me through my SPA assessment. We climbed as often as our respective work calendars would allow and for no reward at all, other than that he enjoys sharing his knowledge, he coached me through both the climbing and technical aspects of the award. On one trip to the Peaks, Will refused to take his turns to lead allowing me to quickly rack up some leads. Each time he critiqued my gear and set ups. He also got me rigging top/bottom ropes and abseils and then told me to the finest detail how I could improve them. He improved my rope management, gear placement and speed no end. So much so that my rope management was complimented by the assessor.

Because of his help I was able to go to my assessment confident in my abilities and came out with a pass. I’m sure that without Will’s help my preparation would have been much harder and much less thorough and the result may have gone the other way. I'd like his efforts to be recognised by receiving this award."

Will is the Mountain Training Association (MTA) Regional Coodinator for South Wales. He holds the Climbing Wall Award (with Abseil Module), Climbing Wall Leading Award, Single Pitch Award and Mountain Leader award. He is also a provider of the Hill & Mountain Skills scheme, the Lowland Leader award and the Expedition Skills Module. He was nominated by his colleague Pete Surtees.