Well after I have read the UKC articles about possibly the only ten decent jobs in climbing I thought that I would add an air of reality to the preceedings by pointing out what the ‘real’ world offers climbers. Whilst know how good the Senior Instructor of Plas Y Brenin will make for better reading than my particular experience of teh outdoor industry, there is only one post like Tim Neil’s, similar there are only two climbing magazine editors in the UK, so what are the odds your gonna land any of those jobs! The chances are for the majority of climbers your going to be at the shallow end of the employment pool. Anyway I hope I don’t put you off becoming an instructor.
So, do you really want that job?
Name: Mark Reeves
Age:33
Job Title: Freelance Instructor (Meant to be full-time but in reality is part-time)
Relevant Qualifications:
SPA, MIA, ML
BA (Hons) Environmental Planning and Management
Working towards a MSc in Applied Sport Science
Salary: Under £10000.
Perks and Holidays/time off:
Well I have had one holiday in about four years, and that was a week in Fontainbleau. Although many people would describe my life as one big holiday, but they don’t have to live with my bank account! I do get a lot of time off though sometimes 5 days a week, but mostly 7. Unfortunately when I get that time off it is often never my choice, as if I am offered work I have to take it. So weekends off are rare event, that means my social life poor to non-exsistent.
Describe your job:
Typically I am found on either a crag or mountain around North Wales mainly teaching adults how to climb, mountaineer or navigate. Its an amazing job when the weather good, however given that I live in North Wales then good weather isn’t exactly a a regular occurrence. Given enough waterproof clothing though even the most dire days out on the hill can be great fun, especially with the variety of clients I get to meet. Although teaching climbing is one of the highlights of my work, you’d be amazed at how quickly teaching people to tie clove hitches can develop into a 9 to 5 habit, albeit half way up a classic route.
How did you get this job? How long did it take? Any hardships? Did you always want it or did it just happen?
In 2005 I had been working part-time in a climbing wall for over five years when I suddenly realised my life had gone nowhere, so I got the Barclaycard out and paid for my MIA training, the best £750 I have spent (although I have only just paid the balance off!), and manage to get onto Plas Y Brenin Instructor Scheme, where they take on a few qualified and experience instructors and turn them into PYB instructor clones. Most people take a pay cut to get onto the PYB scheme, I had a pay rise! At the end of the course I was thrown out into the real world where I now fight a rising tide to stay afloat.
What attracted you to the job in the first place?
I have to admit that a few years ago (1995) when I was first getting qualified I was taught by a much younger Libby Peters, if only it had been a fat hairy arsed mountaineer, perhaps I’d have become an accountant!
How long have you been in the job now? How long do you see yourself continuing?
I have been in and out of instruction for too long and I see myself continuing for a while longer. Until either I get a better offer of work or my body falls apart, and given a bad back, dodgy knees and a host of other body aches might not be that long!
Describe your average day at work? And the average week?
The average day involves getting to the centre that I am working for a morning meeting, getting enough caffine inside me before that meeting to actually wake me up. We then meet up with the clients and go out for the day. Often this is multi-pitch climbing, so we take in the easy classics around north wales, much to many climbers despair. However I think that the guys instructors teach have just as much right to be there as any of the ‘regular’ climbers I see. Just because they choose to be taught some safe practice, rather than learn it organically through experience and other climbers, why does that make us anything other than a group of climbers out for the day. I can almost guarentee getting two clients up a route quicker than the average climbers who are tackling the route.
If I am working for Plas Y brenin then its back to the centre for Tea and Cakes at five. If you pull the shortest straw in the morning meeting then you have to do a 5.30 or sometimes even later session. At times it can include camping out over night (ML Mini Breaks) and going on ‘night time strolls’.
My average week is split with about two days spent working and the other 5 complaining that I don’t have enough work. I am also spending some time each week doing my school work, which is currently designing an experiment that looks at how to improve imagery interventions. The MSc work has kept me from getting too bored, and kept my brain working. As a couple of years ago I found that the job wasn’t mentally challenging enough anymore. So now I put the theories on sport psychology, effective coaching and physiology into practice when I work.
Although I didn’t get paid for it I also volunteered as the BMC Wales representative on a National Source Group that look at coaching in mountaineering, and as part of my MSc helped write the report that has now lead to the a process that will eventually see additional qualification in coaching climbing and mountaineering
Is it how you/other people imagine it to be?
I am sure that most people think freelance instructing is great, well paid and allows you to be your own boss. However they forget to tell you, that you need to pay for your own insurance, pay your own holiday pay, never ever be sick or injured unless you’ve paid for loss of earning insurance, pay for all you own equipment (waterproof’s aren’t cheap, and you’ll need at least one set a year maybe more), not to mention trying to keep current by paying for your own Continuing Professional Development (My 2 year MSc is costing £3200!)
You always think there will be lots of work out there, however the reality in North Wales at least is that there are too many freelancer chasing too little work. You need to be on the phone hassling the programmer if you want work, which is something that I don’t excell at.
The best day? The worst day?
The best day was being paid to guide Dream of White Horse, I worked it out at about 50p ever move I made!
The worse day was prolapsing a disc in my back when lifting a disabled person into an open boat, I didn’t earn any money for about 6 months, and the effects lasted for around two years.
Do you ‘love’ your job? Why? Why not?
Don’t get me wrong I really love doing my job, but hate the lack of any real sercurity, the next three months (Nov, Dec, Jan) will see me struggling to survive, and with the current economic downturn the future really isn’t at all bright.
Getting full time work as an instructor is difficult for mountaineering specialist, and without it you are often left uncertain at what next month will bring. You’ll also need to be willing to move to Scotland for a few months a year if you want to work year round, and get you winter tickets. Again something I have not been willing or financially able to do.
If a teenager said to you ‘I want to be an instructor like you’ – what would you say? Recommend it? Warn them off? Laugh?!
I’d say get a proper job and money and keep the climbing as a hobby. Failing that remember centres like rounded instructors, which means yes you are going to have to get into a boat and go paddling. I guess the simple answer to someone is whether they choose to live to climb or climb to live.
For the right person willing to sacrifice a lot, and if your lucky enough to land a full time contract somewhere then the job would be excellent. However be wary of becoming a freelancer, as unless your on the case all the time, or have a degree in online marketing and Search Engine Optimisation then your probably just be another one of the many instructor dot coms out there (Try googling climbing instructor).