Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module Training

Overview

The Abseil Module Training is a bolt-on for the Climbing Wall Instructor Training course. Anyone who is booked on to our CWI Training can book this Abseil module with a £20 discount (see joining instructions for details). The separate scheme registration with Mountain Training is currently free. It is possible to book this course if you have completed your CWI Training elsewhere also.

The majority of people book both the CWI Training and the abseil module together, but if you’re unsure there is a blogpost here to help you decide if it’s right for you. These courses run consecutively with the abseil module taking place in the afternoon immediately after the CWI Training has completed on it’s second morning.

The Abseil Module Training covers the additional skills required of a Climbing Wall Instructor, to run abseiling activities safely on artificial structures and prevent and solve common problems.

Please note you must either be booked with us to attend a Climbing Wall Instructor Training course or have attended a CWI Training course previously to book on this Abseil Module Training.

Syllabus

The Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module Training covers the following main syllabus areas:

  • Technical Competence – including equipment, belaying, abseiling.
  • Management and Decision Making – including planning, magaging participants, managing other staff, decision making and knowledge and demonstration of techniques.
  • Teaching and Learning Skills

Gallery

Course Details

Before booking, you should ensure you meet the prerequisites set out by Mountain Training;

  • You must be registered on the Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module scheme – details here.
  • You must be registered on the Climbing Wall Instructor Training scheme and have completed the training course* – details here.

*If you’re booked on the CWI Training with us you’ll have completed the training course before we move on to the Abseil module.

You should have an up to date logbook (preferably DLOG) with evidence of the following:

  • At least 5 abseils at more than one location.

What if I don’t have all the prerequisites yet?

The itinerary below isn't set in stone; by design we're flexible to adapt to different needs. Having our own base to run presentations and theory sessions allows us to move these sessions around in the day to work around busy days at the wall if there's wet weather driving people inside. Below is a rough plan for the course:

Afternoon (Day 2 of CWI Training)

Abseil Module Training

    This abseil module will run after the associated Climbing Wall Instructor Training course running the previous day and a half finishes. Typically we'll finish the CWI Training at around 13:00.
  • Lunch Brief - after wrapping up the CWI Training course, we'll introduce the abseil module and explain how the scheme differs from the CWI.
  • Personal Skills - we'll look at the skills needed to abseil safely personally, as well as general personal safety skills when operating abseils.
  • Abseil Setup Skills - looking at assessing abseil sites, and how to rig a simple releasable system.
  • Managing Participants - how to prepare, brief & manage participants through an abseil activity.
  • Problem Solving - awareness of common problems and how to avoid them in the first place! How to deal with problems simply and safely.
  • Course Debrief - Typically we'll debrief at whichever climbing wall we are at.
  • What Next? - your instructor will discuss a personal Action plan and we'll email you some post course resources to help you on your Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module journey.
  • Course Finish - usually we’ll wrap up the course by around 17:30.

Llanberis, Snowdonia National Park


Basecamp – all our Snowdonia based courses start from our Basecamp, right on the high street in Llanberis. With great facilities for presentations and free tea & coffee.

Snowdonia Climbing Walls List – we’re ideally placed with lots of great climbing walls close by and you’ll benefit from visiting 2 different climbing walls of different sizes whilst on this training course. A few of the great local walls we have nearby are listed here;

  • The Beacon Climbing Centre – a great facility just 10 minutes drive from our base in Llanberis with world class facilities – top roping, lead climbing, bouldering and auto belays.
  • The Indy Climbing Wall – a little further at 20 minutes is another great climbing wall with top rope and lead climbing, and a substantial bouldering area.
  • The Boathouse Climbing Centre – a little further at 30 minutes is this gem of a wall in Llandudno. Top rope, lead and bouldering on offer including some routes on real stone (wall!) and a good opportunity to see some of the other actvities climbing walls may offer such as the indoor caving and leap of faith challenge.
  • Plas y Brenin Climbing Wall – also 30 minutes away is the wall at Plas Y Brenin with a small lead / top rope area and bouldering. They have some great crack volumes for practicing jamming.
  • The Rock – Harlech Climbing Wall – 40 minutes away, a good little wall with decent height roped climbs and a small bouldering area.

World Class Climbing – whilst it’s an indoor climbing course, it would be a shame not to take the opportunity to get outside and experience some of the world class climbing here in Snowdonia before or after the course.

Accommodation – check out our Llanberis Accommodation Guide with top picks for all budgets.

We provide a detailed kit list for each of our courses so you know exactly what kit you’ll need and what we’ll provide. We appreciate kit can be pretty pricey so we’ll advise where is best to spend your money and what kit we really rate. We can provide all the group kit on this course.
Download the Kit List
We have also set up a 15% discount for Mountain Independence clients with V12 Outdoors. They are our favorite climbing shop with an amazing range of kit, super friendly and knowledgeable staff and they’re very local – exactly 100m from our door in Llanberis!
V12 Outdoor Logo

Climbing Wall Instructor Candidate HandbookThis has all the information you should need to work through the Climbing Wall Instructor Scheme including syllabus, prerequisites and useful guidance notes.

Climbing Wall Instructor Skills ChecklistThis is a useful document to support your progress through the Climbing Wall Instructor Scheme. It can be used to record notes through training, track your progress as you move toward assessment and appraise when you're ready to attend assessment.

Kit List – Climbing Wall Instructor TrainingA guide to the kit we recommend for attending the Climbing Wall Instructor Training course with Mountain Independence.

FAQs

General FAQs

For more generalised questions please visit our FAQs page or for questions specifically relating to the Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module Training course see below.

Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module Training FAQs

Mountain Training specify that candidates must be at least 17 years old to register for this award and you can attend the training from age 17. Note that you cannot book your assessment though until you have turned 18.

Climbing Wall Entrance Costs are not included in the price though often our clients will receive a discount entering the wall with us.

You must be registered with Mountain Training for the Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module scheme, currently this registration is free though! You should already have a Mountain Training Account to have registered for the Climbing Wall instructor scheme, as well as being a member of the BMC, MCoS or mountaineering Ireland.

  • Firstly you'll need to Register an Account with Mountain Training (if you haven't already done so) and then Log In to your account.
  • In the top left corner click on Register to register for the individual schemes.
  • Click on Scheme and select Climbing Wall Instructor Abseil Module.
  • Select Board - essentially it doesn’t matter which board but being based in Wales I’d pick Wales (Mountain Training Cymru) as they’re who we’re a registered provider.
  • Purchase Membership or Link Existing Membership, to the British Mountaineering Council, Mountaineering Scotland, or Mountaineering Ireland.
  • Then Pay for the registration.

If you're only a little short, and are planning on gaining some more experience prior to the training we will be happy to take a booking if you can outline a plan to have the required experience by the start of the course.

Mountain Training set their prerequisites for good reason, having a good base of experience and understanding on which to build the knowledge and skills is vital. Research has shown that candidates who arrive at Training courses with less than the minimum prerequisites are more likely to defer or fail assessment than other candidates.

If you'd like some more input and coaching in your personal rock climbing to work toward the prerequisites consider booking some private coaching, Get in Touch.

Don't worry! In the prerequisites it states you must have already completed a Climbing Wall instructor Training before starting the Abseil module. We run these courses consecutively, so if you're booked with us for the Climbing Wall instructor Training course, after we finish at lunchtime on day 2, you'll have completed that course, and then we'll move on to the abseil module.

If you aren't attending the CWI Training with us, you must have completed a CWI Training elsewhere and have registered for that scheme before attending the Abseil module with us.

Booking

Enquiries