I first started climbing at my local wall in 2008 and it didn’t take me long to realise that it was something I quite enjoyed. After a few visits, I organised for one of the instructors to take me climbing outdoors.

We arranged to meet at a shop called ‘Outside’ in somewhere called ‘the Peak.’  I had obviously heard of the Peak District, however until that day had never been.

Driving over that morning, the weather wasn’t the best and it didn’t stop raining until I got past Chesterfield. I couldn’t see how we would possibly get anything done. However, I met the instructor and followed him to a crag called Yarncliffe. By then, the sky had started to clear and the weather improved. I watched how Paul, the instructor, setup a top-rope and then we went back down to the ground where he showed me a climbing rack and how all the shiny bits of metal worked. He then pointed me in the direction of a route. My first climb on real rock! With the safety of a top rope, I did a mock lead, placing (fumbling) gear in as I went up. The climb was still damp from the rain but that didn’t detract from the experience.

Climbing indoors had been fun, but nothing compared to climbing outdoors. Not realising at the time, this one route completely changed the direction of my life.

Fast forward nearly a year and I’d climbed over 250 routes, had made some good friends and had many adventures. It was safe to say that I’d caught the climbing bug hard.

A friend was interested in doing the ‘Single Pitch Award (SPA)’ and wanted me to join him. It’s a nationally recognised award that allows people to become qualified climbing instructors and teach at single pitch climbing venues. Although I kind of loved the idea that I could perhaps turn my new found love into a job, I don’t think I was ever seriously considering it. I was still trying to figure out how to manage my illness with climbing as well as the small matter of my shyness, which together with a lack of confidence and social anxiety thrown into the mix–  were possibly not the best qualities for an instructor.

I loved climbing and was always keen to learn as much as I could to become a better and safer climber. So booked in on the training course, hoping to learn some new skills.

Unfortunately, the training weekend left me feeling very uninspired and any enthusiasm I had quickly faded. I didn’t feel as if I had learned anything that I hadn’t already been doing for the past year other than the group abseil setup – and even that was taught with an “it’s not how you should do it, but this will do” attitude. The weekend definitely didn’t give me any confidence or inspire me to become an instructor and unfortunately really gave me a negative outlook on the SPA scheme.

Fast forward a few more years to 2018, 10 whole years later and my life was now purely focused around climbing. Without a doubt, it was helping with my illness, mental well-being and had a hugely positive impact on my life.

For the past year, I’d made a real effort to become more confident and was trying to battle my social anxiety which I recognised was holding me back from leaving my comfort zone. I always felt that my social skills had regressed over the years I was stuck at home with ME and then just ignored while I tried to deal with my illness. However, I was now seeing a positive outcome from my efforts.

Then a few things happened at once – my current freelance IT work was starting to slow down and I wasn’t really feeling the passion to get more work in. 

At the same sort of time, I’d read that the old SPA qualification was being updated and was changing to the RCI (Rock Climbing Instructor) and when a fellow Instagrammer and Mountain Training provider posted some dates for the new RCI training course, I found myself booking it. I couldn’t think of a better way to leave my comfort zone and start a new chapter in my life. The time had come for a change and a new challenge!

From visiting many crags over the years, I’ve witnessed a shocking number of questionable climbing instructors and sessions being run, from what I consider to be bad practices or just plain boring. I’ve also seen some brilliant instructors too, ones that not only know their stuff and are safe but also you could actually see them passing their passion for climbing onto to their clients. You can be the safest, most professional instructor possible but if you don’t deliver a fun session and share that passion, what’s the point? What makes you stand out from the hundreds of other instructors?

One instructor that I’d been following on social media after meeting a couple of times, is Jez Brown. His posts and photos are great and fun. You can see that he loves his job, loves climbing and is passionate about what he does. It was a no brainer to book my training with him.

The Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI) training is a three-day course. An indoor day, at a local climbing centre and two days out on the crag. I headed to Wales excited yet also slightly anxious as after my previous training weekend all those years ago, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect.

I needn’t have worried at all as it was a brilliant few days away. After climbing for 10 years, I considered myself to be an experienced and safe climber – the ropework and technical side of the RCI was very stress-free but I still managed to pick up loads of tips and it gave me plenty to think about. Jez provided excellent training. He has a very relaxed and fun attitude yet doesn’t seem to miss a trick, is full of useful tips, advice and experience. His love of climbing and his job is obvious to see and it really shows throughout his training.

The difference between Jez’s training course and my original one is night and day. In fact, it’s not fair to even try and compare them but just highlights the differences between instructors and how they can affect their clients.

I came back from Wales feeling really inspired for the next stage.

The safety and technical side is one thing, but the actual instructing and teaching side is another. The RCI syllabus now covers this more compared to the old SPA, however, I know this is definitely a weakness of mine and something that I’ll have to work on to build my confidence.

I’m fortunate that my local climbing centre is being very supportive and encouraging by letting me shadow and help out. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get some outdoor shadowing experience as well and then it’ll just be the matter of consolidation before booking my assessment.