Full Circle is the story of Paul’s journey from novice climber to Mountaineering Instructor. We hope you enjoy it….
The Epiphany
A door to another world; an epiphany; a light turned on. I’ve used all the clichés over the years. My lightbulb moment was being taken climbing with the scouts when I was 12. For someone who’d never had anything in particular to focus on climbing was the full package – adventure, glamour, inclusivity and the physical and mental challenge I’d failed to find with traditional team sports.
My world was widened by tales of adventures in remote places. I began to dream even if my initial explorations were rather closer to home. My circle of climbing friends gradually grew and, as birthday presents widened our gear selection, we persuaded parents to take us further afield. They would drop us off at local crags on Saturday and Sunday mornings and pick us up in the evenings. What happened in between was in the lap of the gods. On sunny days we’d fill every moment but we also had a lot of time in the rain huddled under plastic sheets waiting hours for the parent cavalry.
We had our epics and we had our mellow days but we loved it all. In those formative years I developed a long term relationship with both wild places and my friends. We missed a lot of what other teenagers did but didn’t care. We were driven and we were our own self-contained support network. It’s only when I look back years later that I realise how special those times were.
As my group of climbing mates grew we also, ironically, became more exclusive. We’d meet at lunchtimes in school or at each other’s houses to share epic tales from climbing magazines and sometimes our own epic tales. We’d also pour over guidebooks to make over ambitious plans for the coming weekend. Things got easier as our age increased and we were able to travel under our own steam.
Soon we were hitching to outlying Peak District crags, Snowdonia or the Lake District. The Peak still gave the best opportunities for the least amount of effort. We regularly dossed in the Stanage caves or at Stoney Middleton with food taken from our home kitchens. We carried climbing gear in our school bags so we could get on the road as soon as the end of day bell rang. The challenge was to be the first to Stoney with the fire lit.
Dirtbag Climbers
All this leisure time didn’t leave much time for school work and it came as no surprise, despite being a great disappointment to my parents, when I left school with minimal qualifications. I couldn’t care less as climbing was my only agenda. Now I had freedom and soon I was leading a life similar to what Yvon Chouinard termed the ‘dirtbag climbers’. Hitching the motorway network was my pathway to Snowdonia summers, Scottish winters and the Peak for the in betweens. The seasons dictated the rhythm. Occasionally the need for money raised its head but a short stint in climbing shops or outdoor centres sorted it.
It was an idyllic life but in the back of my mind I knew it wasn’t sustainable long term. Many of the original gritstone dirtbags had pulled it together and were sitting pretty on apprenticeships or having the times of their lives at university. A few times I leafed through university prospectuses’ but there was always new blood to swell the dirtbag ranks.
Eventually we realised we were allowed off this island. The BMC Chamonix coach service (sadly no longer running) was our Trojan horse and the woods near Montenvers our new home away from home. The Cheshire plains boys should have eased in gradually but day 2 of alpine season 1 saw us up at the Gouter Hut ready to summit Mont Blanc. We got up and back somehow but after that calmed down and started a proper alpine apprenticeship.
One foreign trip then led to another and we clocked up the visa stamps. No continent was off the radar but every trip had the key features of cheap camping, a great scene and quality climbing. Arapiles was a great example – free camping, really welcoming local climbers and the chance to earn your potatoes and swedes at the local organic farm. There’s even a bit of rock to climb there too!
The journey into teaching
After one disastrous expedition left me owing more than I’d earned in the last few years, I reluctantly decided I better back up my climbing activities with some sustainable employment. Several friends had become teachers and they seemed to have a good blend of work and play. Thankfully it worked for me too and soon a new pattern emerged. The only difference was that the next school holiday dictated the bigger trips. I still raced out of school every day with my school bag. It was just that it now got thrown in the back of the van to blast to the weekend’s climbing venue.
My headteacher was a wise person who could see untapped potential in me that I failed to see in myself. She planted the seed of a climbing club and, with only one climber on the staff, asked for volunteers. Soon my little team of ten year olds were visiting local climbing walls and crags. No one was more surprised than me at the impact it had.
Teachers started pointing out the children’s attitude change in class and I saw the biggest attitude change in myself. Maybe if I just tweaked the focus of this teaching thing I’d find a job I had a true passion for. Maybe giving people climbing as a means of self-exploration and discovery would allow me to learn more about myself.
My real graduation
Becoming a mountaineering instructor is a reassuringly rigorous process. My wall was soon dotted with planning schedules. Logbook pages full of climbs was my goal. I spent my weekends stacking up client teaching days and learning new skills. Through the eyes of others I was seeing the mountain environment in a completely different way and it felt great.
I never went to my degree graduation. After all, it interfered with a climbing trip to Pembroke. It didn’t matter. The day the pass stamp was put in my Mountaineering Instructor logbook was my real graduation.
People say climbing with beginners every day must erode my own passion but don’t you believe it. Every time I can inspire or educate others about this sport that has given me so much it just reaffirms how much I love every single thing about it.
Please also read my article ‘What Does Success Look Like?‘ which explains why instructing means everything to me.