Mountaineering Instructor Award

Everything you need to know...

Fancy a life taking people rock climbing? The Mountaineering Instructor Award may be the qualification for you.

Who’s it for?

People looking to teach, coach or guide multi-pitch climbing and general mountaineering, in summer conditions, throughout the UK and Ireland. This includes all mountain and sea cliff venues.

What’s it all about?

The award covers quite a range of topics including teaching multi-pitch climbing and mountaineering, looking after people on steep ground, improvised multi-pitch rescue techniques, navigation and a thorough understanding of access and environmental issues.

How does it work?

Gain the Mountain Leader award, get personal multi-pitch climbing experience and experience leading groups in the mountains, register for the award, do a training course, consolidate your learning, go for assessment, continue developing as a Mountaineering Instructor Award holder. Once you have undertaken your training course you can join the Association of Mountaineering Instructors, one of the associations that will assist you both as a trainee and a qualified award holder.

The process from registration to completion will greatly depend on the time available for consolidation but it is generally recommended that you leave at least a year between training and assessment, but not more than 2-3 years.

Where can I use it?

The award is fundamentally designed for use within the mountainous and coastal climbing areas of the United Kingdom and Ireland. People have used the qualification as a measure of competence in many different areas worldwide, but the scheme is not specifically designed for this purpose.

Why do it?

Because you love climbing and want to operate at a higher level within mountain education. For some, it’s seen an opportunity to deliver other Mountain Training schemes such as the Mountain Leader or Single Pitch Award.