Active Outdoor Pursuits Reviews 2

Having recently undergone their instructor training course, unfortunately I cannot recommend this company.

I have made great connections and have some fond memories of my time here, however on reflection, things need to improve.

Their website and advertising is misleading, they do not offer mountain biking, we never heard anything about the BC Start, Discover and Explore Award, the canyoning "instructor training," gorge scrambling "instructor training," and Ducky Leader training are in actual fact just a half day experience as a client.
Although ML and RCI training fees are covered in the cost, what they do not explain is you will have to pay additionally for all your water sport certifications.

The 30 qualifications they state you can gain are a farce.
Having completed and gained all qualifications possible (without ML and RCI due to prerequisites and no skiing)
I gained 4 qualifications, 2 water safety certificates, a first aid certificate and Safeguarding and protection of children cert. In whole, that makes 9, with the potential to gain 2 more once I complete my ML and RCI.

The living conditions were substandard for 6 months - having to share a tiny kitchen with 20 other people and no regard shown for those who suffer with coeliac (a serious auto immune disorder meaning any exposure or cross contamination with gluten can cause serious illness.)
The store rooms, which we were forced to keep our own kit in made A LOT of people's things mouldy - something the company never apologised or offered reconciliation for. People's kit also suffered damage from the resident mice (who are not only in the stores but also the living and kitchen areas.)

I cannot commend the instructors enough for working under the conditions, they as a whole are professional and friendly. You do see a noticable laspe in knowledge that can only come with experience and as most of the hiring comes in house, you mainly get unexperienced instructors (compared to other companies.) They are expected to work long hours for peanuts. Their vans and trailers are not well maintained at all and the responsibility falls on the instructors that take them out to suffer the consequences.

Regrettably, we suffered two catastrophic injuries while out in Spain on our climbing trip. The pastoral care offered was inapproproate and substandard and the instructors that stayed were left to pick up the pieces. (At first, they offered a conversation with the company director, after pressure they offered limited spaces on a one off session where the participants were not preinformed of the contents.)
In addition to this, after speaking to others in the industry, I was informed that the rock type we were climbing on is not ideal for placing Cams, something the company failed to mention at the time and something that could've contributed to the accident.

Understandably, the accident put some people off pursuing the RCI qualification. The company has fought them getting back their course fees and informed them they must go through their own insurances if they want to recoup the money. Insurances often only cover injury and as this was not something they incurred personally, would not be covered.

I came onto the course with limited outdoor climbing knowledge and seeing what I have seen, knowing what I know now - as an instructor, I would feel completely uncomfortable teaching it the way it is taught here. It is rushed and not conducive in producing competent, confident outdoor climbers.

They may respond and elude that I happily completed the course, however they will not mention that if I didn't, I would've lost my investment completely and been left with no qualifications to show for it - I am not in the financial position to invest 10k+ into something and have nothing to show for it by the end other than some mouldy kit.

I attended their 6 months winter Instructor Training Course. Although I have gained some qualifications, in kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding and white-water safety, and made some great friends on this course, unfortunately this course fell significantly below my expectations and the company as a whole is unsafe, unprofessional, mis-advertised, over-priced and should be avoided at all costs.

During this course 2 young men to fell 16 meters off a crag, resulting in a broken back, broken neck, fractured skull, lung contusions and a brain bleed while Active Outdoor Pursuits were teaching them lead climbing. Both are incredibly lucky to be alive. This accident was entirely avoidable and likely caused by Active Outdoor Pursuits teaching substandard material with under qualified staff and not taking trainees safety as their priority. Although I do not know the details of other accident(s), I have been informed that this is not the first serious climbing accident Active Outdoor Pursuits have had on its Instructor Training Courses historically.

Climbing is not an inherently dangerous sport. It has high consequence if doing things wrong or at the very cutting edge of climbing. People climb for their entire lives and can only have some tendonitis or sore fingers as a result. It is not common place to have major climbing accidents if you know what you are doing.

Active Outdoor Pursuits hire under qualified staff to teach substandard syllabus. They hire mostly internally which keeps this lineage of misinformation going. Mountain Training, the governing body for all climbing qualifications, state very clearly that you should not teach lead climbing with an RCI qualification. All of the staff at Active only have this RCI qualification, with not a single member of full-time instructing staff having a qualification above this and they are all teaching lead climbing. Most of them lack the skills, knowledge and experience to do this.

All of the more experienced climbers on my course, raised concerns about what and how lead climbing was being taught but all these concerns were dismissed and nothing was changed from Active. We, the trainees, were then compelled to lower our safety standards to continue on the course. This is definitely my biggest regret over the last 6 months.

The pastoral care and the professionalism of Active Outdoor Pursuits senior staff since the accident has been insulting and abysmal. They have offered no refund or compensation to the two victims or their families. They sent a video of the scene of the accident to one of the victims with no support in place asking for a statement within days of it happening. For the rest of the trainees, they temporally offered support with one of the company directors, then offered an opt in counselling services which you could only access through the company directors and only had limited numbers. The first climbing session after the accident, Active hired an “external” trauma-informed MCI who spent the day free soloing and said “accidents happen in climbing”. They have not given any refunds or compensation. They have been emotionally manipulative. They have badmouthed around the industry ex-instructors who left following the accident. They have frequently lied to us. They ignore emails with questions or concerns.

In addition to the safety concerns and professionalism concerns there are other issues with the course. The course if overpriced for what you get, with loads of hidden fees, and it is mis-advertised with multiple claims on their website which is not the case on the course. In truth you get a total of 4 qualifications and 7 courses. For the winter course, you will not get the opportunity to shadow instructors on activities and expeditions as the instructor training course is really the only thing they do during the winter.

You are not trained and assessed by “the industries best coaches and instructors”. On few occasions you will have some very experienced outdoor instructors but the vast majority of the time it will be newly qualified outdoor instructors with limited experience and knowledge. These instructors are great but their lack of experience and knowledge is definitely noticeable – especially with climbing and rope work.

The accommodation is below the standard you’d expect for a 6-month course. It has no laundry facilities, it has mice, the storeroom – where you’ll have to leave all your personal safety critical gear - is not fit for purpose with damp and mice issues.

The company is good to gain entry level water-sport qualifications and that is about it. Although due to 5 instructors leaving during our course, most of the water-sports was done by freelancers from better centres.