About Me

I generally enjoy all kinds of climbing from bouldering to Alpine mountaineering and everything in between but I have a particular love of climbing sea cliffs. Climbing has taken me to at least five continents and I have been to some great places and met some great people.

I have been teaching climbing for over 30 years to whoever wants to learn and I enjoy entertaining a bunch of kids as much as being on the sharp end of a rope with a couple of clients in the mountains.

I passed my Mountaineering Instructor Award in 2003 and I passed my Development Coach in 2016 and have been a Mountain Training NGB awards provider of the Coaching Scheme, SPA, CWA & CWLA award.

I am based in the Welsh Wye Valley and work freelance and run courses as a climbing instructor locally and sometimes further afield.

In 2008 I set up The Academy in Sheffield – the first elite youth climbing club, BMC affiliated and self sustaining and managed. Since then I have been actively involved in coaching young people, specifically looking at performance and injury avoidance in my role as a full-time physiotherapist. I was among the first tranche of Coaching Scheme providers from 2013-2016 and was actively involved in shaping the scheme and developing specialist injury prevention protocols for climbing coaching.

I previously ran my own activity centre (Fresh Adventure) in Pembrokeshire for a while and have been a mountaineer and expedition leader in the UK and abroad (previous expeditions include Mongolia, Madagascar, Venezuela and the Himchal Pradesh – max altitude 5100m) as well as providing technical advice and writing articles for climbing magazines. I have been a representative of the Mountain Training Association for the South West and I also sat on the NICAS (National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme) Screening Committee where I assessed new and updated applications from climbing walls for their safety and compliance. I have worked with regional competition squads to maximise performance and minimise injury as well as delivering lectures on injury avoidance. I have worked with the ABCTT to develop strategies of working and standards of practice across the industry as well as coaching individuals across the UK.

I have previously been a highly qualified multi-discipline canoeist working in the UK and also as a river guide in the Alps (L4 IK, L3 Sea & OC & Surf) and I am a competent sailor, windsurfer and horse rider – among other things.

I am now mainly a physiotherapist in the NHS and at a private clinic.

I like to spend time with my labrador, Ben as well as cycling hither and yon.