Rock Climbing Development Instructor

Getting started

Registration for the Rock Climbing Development Instructor scheme is an application process and you need to meet the following prerequisites:

You must be a qualified Rock Climbing Instructor.
You must have delivered a minimum of 20 days as a Rock Climbing Instructor at a variety of venues and with a variety of groups, recorded in DLOG.
You must have led a minimum of 60 named single pitch routes using leader placed protection in three different climbing areas at VS 4c or above and logged them in DLOG. You may include full multi-pitch routes using leader placed protection (up to 50% of the requirement).
You must have led a minimum of 60 sport climbs in three different climbing areas at 6a or above and logged them in DLOG. Up to 50% of this experience can be outside the UK and Ireland.

If you can meet all of the above requirements, here's what to do next:

Log in to our Candidate Management System
Register for the Rock Climbing Development Instructor scheme (this costs £75) - please note it can take up to 30 days for your registration to be approved.
Notify Mountain Training (via the 'Send to Mountain Training' button on the 'Share' tab in DLOG) that your DLOG is ready to be reviewed

A technical officer will then review your experience in DLOG and if it meets the minimum requirements, you will be notified by email that your registration on the scheme has been approved.

Applications with less than the minimum experience cannot be approved.

If your application is not successful, you will receive feedback on how best to fulfil the experience requirements and your registration application will be held open until your successful registration.

Rock Climbing Development Instructor candidate handbook

Do you have additional needs?

Do you have a physical or mental impairment or disability which may require a provider to make reasonable adjustments so that you can take part in a training or assessment course? Find out more.

Not quite right?

If this doesn't sound like the right qualification for you, consider the following:

You could also read through our 'Which scheme is right for me?' page.

Training

Training course bookings must not be made until your Rock Climbing Development Instructor registration application has been approved by Mountain Training.

Rock Climbing Development Instructor training lasts for 4 days and will be run by one of our approved providers in the UK or Ireland.

A variety of cost packages are available depending on what's included; food, accommodation etc. so you can choose one that's right for you.

Use the Rock Climbing Development Instructor Skills Checklist

This document can be used during or shortly after your training course to help you identify areas of the syllabus that may require attention.

Rock Climbing Development Instructor Skills Checklist

The Syllabus

Rock Climbing Development Instructors should be competent in the following key areas, all of which will be covered, to a greater or lesser extent, during your training course.

Technical Competence (including equipment, anchors, belaying, personal skills and background knowledge)
Management and Decision Making (including planning, organising, managing participants, decision making, knowledge and demonstration of techniques, personal safety)
Teaching Skills
The Climbing Environment (including access, conservation, etiquitte and ethics)

Detailed information on each of the above topics can be found in the Rock Climbing Development Instructor handbook (below) and the onus is on you to be competent in all of them by the time you come to assessment - use the Skills Checklist to help with this.

Consolidation During the period between training and assessment you are expected to reflect upon and evaluate your skills and techniques in preparation for assessment. You should seek a wide variety of quality experiences to help you achieve this.

Undertaking or observing only similar sessions to those experienced before training is unlikely to be the best way to consolidate the new skills and techniques learnt.

See the next tab for the minimum requirements for assessment. It is expected that the consolidation period will take in excess of 12 months.

The Mountain Training Association

Join the Mountain Training Association and be part of a community of like-minded people on our schemes. The Association offers a range of workshops for trainee and qualified leaders and coaches across the disciplines, as well as a quarterly magazine, gear deals/discounts, a monthly newsletter and an insurance deal. You can join the Association at any point after you have registered on one of Mountain Training's leadership/coaching schemes.

MTA logo

Join now

The Book - Rock Climbing

Rock Climbing has been written specifically for people working their way through Mountain Training's climbing schemes and it's packed with colourful diagrams, photographs and simple language. It covers the full spectrum of modern climbing practice including movement skills, knots, bouldering, sport, trad and indoor climbing as well as risk management and problem solving.

Rock Climbing

Buy now

E-learning

E-learning modules can be accessed through the 'Awards & Training' tab of your CMS account.

Mountain weather

Created by the Met Office for Mountain Training, this free module is packed full of useful information about weather systems, forecasts and how to use this information as a leader to plan your journey. The module takes approximately 1 hour to complete and is available to anyone who has registered on one of our schemes.

Geology

These three modules are free for members of the Mountain Training Association - they have been developed in partnership with Paul Gannon, author of the Rock Trails series of books.

Mountain building
This module covers a basic understanding of mountain building and plate tectonics.

Mountain landscapes and rock types
This module covers a basic understanding of various rock types and how they appear in the landscape.

Mountain destruction
This module explores the ways in which weathering and erosion slowly dismantle mountain ranges and should help you spot signs of the on-going processes of mountain destruction. Assessment Post training and before presenting yourself for assessment:

You must have logged a minimum of 10 rock climbing teaching days with students at a variety of outdoor venues.
You must have led a minimum of 30 single pitch routes using leader placed protection in three different climbing areas at VS 4c or above and recorded them in DLOG. You may include full multi-pitch routes using leader placed protection (up to 50% of the requirement).
You must have led a minimum of 30 sport climbs in three different climbing areas at 6a or above and recorded them in DLOG. Up to 50% of this experience can be outside the UK and Ireland.
You must have physically attended and completed (i.e. not online) a first aid course which involved at least two full days or sixteen hours of instruction and included an element of assessment.

Rock Climbing Development Instructor assessment is 3 days long.

Assessments are run by one of our approved providers and a variety of cost packages are available, depending on what's included; food, accommodation etc. so you can choose one that's right for you.

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