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Five volunteers from Climb have successfully gained their Indoor Climbing Assistant (ICA) qualification. This award qualifies them to support instructors on indoor climbing walls and is the first time it has been run in Guernsey. A specialist trainer from Mountain Training, Graeme Hill, was brought over to Guernsey by Climb and ran a day of training with rolling assessment on Saturday 11 June.
‘This is a fantastic achievement for our volunteers’ says Chris Harvey, Climb’s Senior Instructor. ‘It gives formal recognition to the skills our volunteers have been learnt and use with us, some of them for the last 2 years. What we do wouldn’t be possible without them, so the opportunity to gain this qualification is also a thank you from Climb. The ICA has been incorporated into our volunteer pathway and the intention is to run the training and assessment each year for those volunteers aged 16 or over.’
One of the volunteers, Michael Ellis, started climbing with Climb in September 2021, following a GP referral to Bailiwick Social Prescribing. He is registered as severe sight impaired/blind and has autism, and has always been an active and adventurous person. ‘I was pleased at being able to take part in the ICA. Whilst there is no reason that disability should stop anybody being able to assist, it feels particularly empowering that other people have their trust in me and that I can prove I can safely assist in others’ climbing. So far in my climbing, I have been grateful to the time and effort put in by a number of other people but it will be good in the future to be able to be one of those volunteering to help and be sure that I am safe to do so.
Within the course itself, I was able to look at the course outline online beforehand (with a screen reader). During the course, I was able to feel any pieces of equipment, knots and so on, as this is how I would recognise them when using them, but I did not feel awkward doing so. I was also able to talk through what I would do if it was an environment which is more difficult for me, to ensure that I could still be involved but ensure safety. It was a long day and at lunchtime, I needed to go off by myself with noise cancelling headphones and just have a break, and this was absolutely fine to do. Overall, I may do things slightly differently but this does not mean that the standards I need to reach are any different – safety is paramount. The fact that I was able to complete this course and meet those same standards just shows that perceived barriers can be broken down and how many possibilities there are.
Climbing has had an incredibly positive impact on me. I started as a complete beginner, and feel such achievement at so many things that I have been able to do in such a short time and the hopes of what I would like to do next. I know that the environment is safe and I am learning the correct techniques and terminology. I have never felt disability holding me back and have felt a natural affinity to it – and more than anything it is fun and I enjoy it!’
Photos to be credited to Nick Despres.
