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Rock Climbing Instructor Courses in the Lake District
The Rock Climbing Instructor qualification is a national qualification administered by Mountain Training which enables experienced rock climbers to instruct climbing on single pitch crags and artificial climbing walls and towers. It is valid throughout the UK and Ireland. Chris is approved by Mountain Training as a course provider for the Rock Climbing Instructor scheme. You can read more about it below, and you can check out the Rock Climbing Instructor page on the Mountain Training website.
Why book with us?
There are a huge number of Rock Climbing Instructor course providers throughout Britain, so why should you book with us?
We present the course syllabus in a relaxed, fun atmosphere, with the emphasis on interactive learning to encourage you to ask questions and get the most out of your time with us.
We view the assessment course as an opportunity for extending your learning and competence.
We offer a 5% discount to all returning clients.
Our clients think we do a great job! Check out some of their comments towards the bottom of the page.
What are the pre-requisites for the Rock Climbing Instructor?
Before you book onto a Rock Climbing Instructor training course, you need to register on the scheme at Mountain Training. Before registration you need to:
be at least 18 years old
be an experienced indoor and outdoor rock climber
have a genuine interest in climbing and the supervision of groups
join a Mountaineering Council (the British Mountaineering Council, Mountaineering Council of Scotland or Mountaineering Ireland). Find out why here.
Before you underake a Rock Climbing Instructor training course, you need to:
have led at least 15 graded rock climbs with traditional protection
have led at least 15 climbing wall routes
have led at least 5 outdoor bolt protected sport climbs
enter your climbing experience in your DLOG (digital logbook)
The above experience can be at any point before or after registration.
The period between training and assessment varies in length for each person. It is an opportunity to develop your skills, paying particular attention to any weaknesses identified during the training course. All but the most experienced candidates should allow a minimum of six months between training and assessment, but there is no time limit. You should focus on climbing at a wide range of venues and on a variety of rock types, both as an individual and when assisting with the supervision of others.
Before you do a Rock Climbing Instructor assessment course, you need to:
attend a Rock Climbing Instructor or Single Pitch Award training course or been granted exemption from training.
be competently leading Severe grade climbs on outdoor crags with leader-placed protection.
have led and logged a minimum of 40 graded rock climbs with traditional protection at a variety of venues (of which at least 20 must be at Severe grade or above).
be proficient in the use of climbing walls and have a minimum of 30 climbing wall leads graded at F4 or above.
be proficient in outdoor bolt protected sport climbing and have a minimum of 10 sport climb leads graded at F4 or above.
have assisted in the supervision of 20 instructed sessions.. These sessions should be at a variety of different venues with 10 being on indoor climbing walls and the other 10 on outdoor crags. A session is a half day or evening. At least five of these sessions must have personal reflective comments recorded on DLOG.
physically attend and complete (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.
You can book your place on an assessment before you have done the above, and we will ask you to have your DLOG ready for us to check through three weeks before the start of the course.
What is the course content and scope of the scheme?
Rock Climbing Instructors should be competent in the following key areas, all of which will be covered, to a greater or lesser extent, during your training and assessment course.
Technical Competence (including equipment, anchors, belaying, personal skills, abseiling, background knowledge)
Management and Decision Making (including planning, organising, managing other staff, managing participants, knowledge and demonstration of techniques)
Teaching Skills
The Climbing Environment (including access, conservation, etiquette and ethics)
You will be able to operate on:
single pitch trad and sport crags
indoor and outdoor bouldering venues
climbing walls & towers
The scheme does not cover:
general mountaineering
multi-pitch rock climbing.
teaching lead climbing skills.
access to tidal sea cliffs or any other location where retreat is not easily possible.
Rock Climbing Instructor training courses are two days or three days. Anyone who has completed the Climbing Wall Award training or Climbing Wall Instructor training can do the two-day course, whilst everyone else does the three-day course which includes a full day at a climbing wall. The Rock Climbing Instructor assessment course is two days for everyone.
When and where are the courses?
Check out the online calendar for availability on these courses.
Training courses
February 17th-19th 2025 (based at Abernethy Barcaple, Castle Douglas)
April 23rd-25th 2025
September 3rd-5th 2025
Assessment courses
April 1st-2nd 2025
October 20th-21st 2025
If you have a group of two or more, we may be able to put on a bespoke training or assessment course on a date to suit you.
All our scheduled courses are based in the southern and central Lake District. We use single pitch crags in the Langdale Valley, Little Langdale, Tilberthwaite, Lower Eskdale and near to Kendal. Our choice of crag varies with each course, depending on the weather conditions and the participants. We occasionally have to travel to North Yorkshire and Lancashire to escape the Lake District weather. The climbing wall day is done at Kendal Climbing Wall. We can also provide courses in other parts of the country on request (there is a 50p/mile charge for any courses outside Cumbria).
How much will it cost?
All the following course fees are non-residential.
2024 prices:
Training: three-day course including the climbing wall day: £240
Assessment: two-day course: £190
2025 prices:
Training: three-day course including the climbing wall day: £247
Assessment: two-day course: £196
5% off to any returning client.
Entry to the climbing wall is included.
Booking information
When you have sent in your booking form and made your payment, please download the following documents:
Please see the Essential Information for Qualification Courses page for information about accommodation and transport.
What can I do to prepare?
Please see the Essential Information for Qualification Courses page for useful blog posts and resources.
What do our clients say about us?
For older testimonials, please see the Testimonials Archive page.
Best instructor I've ever had. Approachable and infectiously enthusiastic. Encouraged questions and explained reasoning behind the answers. Absolutely excellent. I came away feeling very positive and looking forward to putting what I learned into practice and then progressing to my assesment.
Anna Studholme, Rock Climbing Instructor training, April 2019
Great communication from Anne, and very detailed and helpful information on what equipment was needed, what the course would entail etc. Chris was an excellent instructor, obviously very knowledgeable and experienced but what stood out for me most was his way of teaching. He put me at ease immediately and made the three days a relaxed and enjoyable experience.
Charlie Starley, Rock Climbing Instructor training, April 2019
An excellent assessment. Chris was very knowledgeable and a good emphasis was placed on continued learning.
Rob McGurk, Rock Climbing Instructor assessment, August 2019
I can’t fault anything throughout the whole process. I have recommended you to a friend considering the same course.
Nathan Gibson, Rock Climbing Instructor training, September 2019
Chris is an absolute wealth of knowledge and his thought-provoking guidance inspires enjoyable self discovery of personal and group related skills.
Benjamin Puddicombe, Rock Climbing Instructor training, September 2019
As I work with instructors who are RCI qualified I thought I'd have seen most of it before, but I hadn't. Chris used every opportunity to teach us something new, even the walks to and from the crag. He is friendly, easy to talk to and welcoming of questions. There is a lot of knowledge and wisdom there, but Chris has a great way of making things as simple as they can be. He had been highly recommended to me by people I know who have been in the outdoor business for many years and I trust their opinion. They were correct!
Katie Bones, Rock Climbing Instructor training, September 2019
My thanks to you both for an excellent training course over the last few days. I couldn't praise the teaching highly enough, I learnt a great deal over the three days and it has definitely changed my attitude to many aspects of my climbing. I'm also grateful you managed to organise running the course with only a few days to spare!
Nathan Gibson, Rock Climbing Instructor training, September 2019
Simple booking process and swift replies/updates from Anne. Lots of content to the course, but not too much squeezed into the time. Good balance of learning/feedback as a group and individually. Chris was excellent - supportive, easy-going and knows exactly how to make you feel at easy on an assessment - thanks! I had a great experience with my ML assessment with Chris earlier in the year, and lots of recommendations from others for this particular assessment. It was slightly more expensive than other assessment courses offered around the same time and location (the 5% off for returning customers helps), but it's the great instruction, assessment delivery, course booking etc that makes me book with you. Thanks again for another constructive (and successful - yay!) assessment! Chris, your support and help makes all the difference - can't thank you enough!
Tess Shipton, Rock Climbing Instructor assessment, October 2019
Having seen quite a number of outdoor instructors delivering training and coaching sessions in kayaking, climbing, mountain biking, I realise that I have been influenced (negatively) in some cases by others who are more prescriptive and judgmental than inquisitive and questioning, and have built some of those traits into my approach with others I have given advice and instruction to. Working with Chris reminded me to question and challenge everything (especially my own preconceptions and habits) and to have a flexible approach to problem solving without constantly seeking a "one size fits all generic best practice"; refreshingly honest. Chris and Alex were good humoured, supportive, serious when required, creating a supportive and nurturing environment, encouraging questions and observations rather than trying to catch people out. Great.
Adrian Wilson, Rock Climbing Instructor training, September 2021
The course was fantastic, only wish it didn't go so fast! Great content with a personal approach, felt like all bases were covered and more. Chris and Al were both absolutely fantastic. Their enthusiasm for climbing and the outdoors shone through, they were so encouraging and really supportive, happy to answer any questions we had. They really help you to think about alternative ways to problem solve and not just sticking with the "textbook answer", which I think is great. I also liked that at the end of each session they asked everyone what they thought they did well, and what they thought they could improve on. Also great debriefing from Chris at the end of the course, setting specific and achievable targets to prepare ourselves for assessment.
Lorna Ligema, Rock Climbing Instructor training, October 2022
As a UIAGM guide I believe Chris can draw on much deeper and broader knowledge of climbing and mountaineering. This is very evident when being assessed as the knowledge gained by Chris enables him to give a deep insight into process, technique, and method so that you go away, hopefully qualified, but far wiser and much better equipped to develop and take your climbing to the next level. You can teach an old dog new tricks :)
Nick Phillips, Rock Climbing Instructor assessment, October 2022
I have booked with Chris previously and each time the process has been faultless and friendly. From the information I had been sent and my research on the internet I was expecting and hoping to use the experience to improve as well as, hopefully, pass the assessment. I was not disappointed. Chris clearly enjoys passing on his experience but is not overly prescriptive unless safety is an issue. He was encouraging throughout and gave every opportunity to perform well. I enjoyed the support from Chris and the other candidates, all of whom were climbing at a higher grade than myself. This didn't seem to matter. I chose Chris for the RCI Assessment because he is an out and out climber. I don't think I would have learned as much had I returned to my training provider.
Dave Elson, Rock CIimbing Instructor assessment February 2023
I had no idea a year ago i'd be doing my RCI! I wanted to do the training 'out of interest', learnt to lead climb three weeks before, and wasn't sure if or when I'd do the assessment... but Chris inspired me to crack on! I've really enjoyed this process and learnt so much from it and I’m excited to use what I’ve learnt going forward. I always love learning from Chris, and taking those skills and knowledge back into my day to day life. I've now done my ML assessment, Winter Mountaineering course, multiple masterclasses and my RCI with Chris and I learn so much with each session, and yet theres still so much more to learn. I will continue to recommend Chris to other people for anything from runners or walkers learning to move better, navigate with more confidence to ML/RCI aspirants, confident in the knowledge they will learn alot and have a good time doing it! Five days learning about climbing with Chris and Bobby, what could be better?!
Jo Shelmerdine, Rock Climbing Instructor training October 2022 and assessment May 2023
Anne was great in facilitating two changes of dates required due to injury/recovery. All information was provided in a timely and comprehensive way (as usual). Everyone was made to feel welcome and at their ease from the outset; delivery was relaxed, Chris transitioned seamlessly between roles of assessor, mentor, coach and climber. Many learning points were identified and explored in a highly supportive and constructive way. Have been on a number of courses with Chris and value his delivery style, no flannel delivery and very much focusing on hands on skills, techniques and problem solving approach. Consistently exceeds expectations.
Adrian Wilson, Rock Climbing Instructor assessment, May 2023
From the moment I booked I was given all the information I needed. Anne helped me a great deal with sorting out my DLOG and preparing me for my assessment. She was kind, compassionate, and went completely above and beyond what she needed to. I don’t think I would have been able to make the courage to turn up without her. I felt empowered being assessed and coached by another female, Esther - it’s hard to find in this industry. She was calm, so knowledgable and it was incredible to listen to her! If there was Chris’s Ensoll fan club I would be in it! The nerves and anxiety I had going into assessment was at an all time high. His comment of ‘you’ve turned up so you’re winning’ will stay with me forever. Chris was able to give me individual attention and learning even though there were 6 candidates in total. Although he was my assessor it was like having conversations with a friend- that’s how at ease I felt. I don’t think he realises how much of a positive effect he has had on my personal, professional and mental performance. Genuinely, you have no idea how much it all means to me. Thank you x
Jen Mcloughlin, Rock Climbing Instructor assessment, October 2023
It was a really great two days. As I said to Chris at one point, it felt like we spent at least as much time learning from the wealth of experience he had to share as actually being assessed, and it was great that we had the time and he was happy to do that. I also liked how after each part of the day he'd ask us all what was most useful / what had we learnt the most from, and then at the end of each day asked us what one thing we were happy with or had got better at, and what one thing we found we needed to work on, and the wrap up over coffee at the end. Those discussions all really helped solidify the learning and actions to take forward.
Duncan Archer, Rock Climbing Instructor assessment, March 2024
After previous classes and days out, it was clear that Chris' manner and style of teaching just worked for me. I'd not had a day with Alex before this, but would be happy to attend other courses delivered by him for the same reasons.
Adrian Swift, Rock Climbing Instructor training, April 2024
