A book changed my life. I was brought up in the Southeast of England and enjoyed being outdoors but had no experience of the mountain environment. While I was at law college in Surrey I read Chris Bonnington's book, "Everest the Hard Way" and, inspired by the story and photos, booked a climbing course in Langdale and have been hooked ever since. A few years later I moved to the Lake District and have been here ever since.
At the time I was working as a Solicitor, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was not to be my long term career. I met friends who worked in outdoor pursuits which seemed a great way to combine my love of the mountains with a career.. My wife and I took a year out to travel in India, Nepal and Thailand and before spending the French Alps. We decided I should have a career change and I set about gaining the Summer Mountain Leader Award which involved a wonderful year collecting quality mountain days..This helped me get a job at the YMCA Centre at Lakeside as Deputy Head of Mountaineering. Mountain Training were adding to the awards available and I was one of the first Rock Climbing Instructors (then the Single Pitch Supervisors Award). I went on to gain the Winter Mountain Leader Award and the Mountaineering Instructors Award (now Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor). The awards allowed me to run climbing and hillwalking courses, train staff and monitor safety at the Centre. I became a provider for Mountain Training to deliver the training and assessment courses for the Rock Climbing Instructor award and worked on Summer Mountain Leader Courses.
I developed an interest in teams and leadership and moved into work involving team and leadership development, which is now my main focus. However I still deliver Mountain Training courses on my own account and spend as much time as I can in the hills and climbing. It is interesting the impact a book can have!