It's difficult to choose an organisation to run an event for you - how can you be sure that they will be safe and professional? We hope the following information will help you.

All outdoor activities are run by instructors from Highpoint, a long-established provider of outdoor activities who are members of the Institute for Outdoor Learning and who hold an AALA license for the provision of a range of activities to unaccompanied under 18's - a good measure of safety standards. Highpoint can provide risk assessments for activities and copies of insurance on request.

There's probably nothing better though than hearing from people who have done activities with us before - here are some quotes from some of the individuals and groups we have run events for recently:

From Laura, regarding an event for unemployed people trying to get the confidence to return to work – ‘I  thought  everything  went  splendidly  yesterday  and  just  wanted  to  thank  you  for  organising  it  which  must  have  been  very  complicated  and  nerve-wracking . I  think  the  elements  of  doing  something  new with  a  spice  of  danger  seemed  to  really  give  some  of  the  clients  a  buzz.  Both  M  and  H  spontaneously  said  that  they  had  enjoyed  the  day when  I  dropped   them  off.
I  thought  John's  tuition  and  reassurance  really  hit  the  mark  as  well.’

From Chris re same event: - ‘It was a fantastic day out on Wednesday, and I have had spontaneous feedback from
the other staff, who all thought so too. Apparently the clients all said on
the way home, without prompting, that they'd really enjoyed it and some of
the more talkative ones were raving about it all the way back!’

From Philippe at Brasher: - ‘A big thank you for your help in organising the Langdale challenge yesterday. Everybody had a brilliant time and all the activities were just
perfect!!!’

Just a quick note to say what a great time Claire and I had on the Winter Skills course.  The weather turned out to be superb and Paul was excellent.

 

HI john
just writing to say thank you for the climbing in spain. It was great fun and I learnt loads

Hi John,
Just a quick note to say thanks for a great holiday in Spain.

 

Hi John,
Just a quick note to say I had a wonderful time in Spain - thank you for all
of your encouragment and patience - it is a holiday I will never forget.

 

Hi John
 Thanks for a great day yesterday, it was very informative and really allowed me to build up confidence.

 

John.
Just a quick note of thanks for the via ferrata trip. Big success. The small
group was (for us at least) ideal and Liam was excellent at encouraging the
best from us whilst ensuring we stayed alive.

I, for one, cerainly achieved climbs that I was not at all sure I was
capable of at the start of the holiday. This culminated in the 5C climb of
Mount Albano on the Sunday which left us all in smug mode for the rest of
the day.

Beginning to stiffen up nicely now.

Thanks again. Keep sending the newsletters.

Regards

 

You're my hero...I guess true climbers find things to climb everywhere!

 

Hi John - I know its a bit late but wanted to say thanks again for the
course last weekend.  I really enjoyed it and hope to put it into practise
soon. 
Hope weather is ok up there

Best wishes – Yvonne

 

Hi John,
 We had a great time at the end of last month on the via ferrata in Italy with Richard Bailey.
 Weather was great, location was great, accomodation was great - and the instructor wasn't bad either.  (We were very impressed - don't tell him we said so though!)
 It certainly wetted our appetite and I'm sure we'll be back for more.
 Regards
 
Richard Joseph

 

 

Dear John
          Thank you very much for an enjoyable and informative navigation
course.     Thanks
           Rebecca Sargeaunt

 

Hi John
Rog and I are back from our summer holiday, and I wanted to say how much we
enjoyed the Via Ferrata course in Colfosco at the end of July.

It was quite a lot more technically difficult than we had imagined, and we
felt we should have done more climbing to prepare for it, however, at the
end of each day we felt that we had achieved much more than we thought
possible at the start of the day (if you see what I mean).  Some of the
routes (Possnekker and Trincee spring to mind) looked very serious both in
the book and on the ground, and we would never have tackled them on our own.
  Richard was a very good leader.  At all times we felt secure and safe, while the more
competent and faster group members were able to move more independently. 
Richard seemed to have an instinctive grasp of when to provide assistance
and when to leave me to work it out for myself.  Towards the end of the
week, I felt a lot more confident to just get on with it!

Once again, John, thanks for all your help,

Jen Preston

 

Dear John
Just wanted to let you know I had a great day on
Friday and thank you for organisisng an excellent
instructor.  Thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt
loads.

Regards


Jane Hunter

 

John
Just a short note to say how how much I enjoyed my first 'real' climbing
experience with Owen and Cio (apologies for the spelling). I felt very
secure under their supervision and it really made for a rewarding
experience. I shall never forget being dangled over the ocean, as I was on
Sunday, and climbing may way to the top of the cliff. Quite a life defining
moment!

 

Hi there,
My partner, Verity and I recently completed a Lake District climbing weekend
 with you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for a great weekend. We
both learnt a great deal and took this down to Swange with us and put it all
into practice.

 

John,
 Really enjoyed the climbing with Dave over the weekend, despite the washout weather on Sunday.

 

Morning John
Hope you got back OK-we arrived back last night. Wanted to thank you once again for a thoroughly enjoyable weekend-in spite of the weather. We’ve got plenty to go at and will be getting out for lots of practice on easier terrain before we venture onto the harder stuff.

 

John,
 
Just a quick e-mail to say how much I enjoyed the Dolomites Via Ferrata course last week.  It was excellent fun with good challenge and great company.  Richard did an excellent job in leading this, making the best of somewhat changeabvle weather and providing a full interesting programme.  He shows a level of maturity in Leadership beyond his young age.  You have a great asset there.
 

Hi John,
Just wanted to say that the via ferrata trip was lots of fun. Although the weather wasn't too kind to us, Rich and Paul made a real effort to ensure that we could do something each day. I thought they were both very professional.

 

Hi John
 Well the week is over, much to our disappointment,
We all enjoyed the whole trip, & Richard & Paul were great

 

John,
Just a quick one regarding the course at the weekend 9/10. You appear to have omitted some important information. You didn't say how much I'd enjoy it? I had an excellent time and would recommend it to anyone. I thought Dave was first rate in every thing, easy to understand, obviously a very good climber, gave me the confidence to do some unatural (for me anyway) things and was importantly good fun.
So, many thanks and you'll be seeing me again, possibly on a winter skills/climbing course.
Cheers
Gary

 

Dear John,
 Thanks for the course last weekend, it was very enjoyable and informative. Please pass my thanks on to Dave for his help and instruction.

 

John,
 Just to say thanks from me and Ali for the great course last week. We both really enjoyed all the climbing and learnt loads from you and Rich (say thanks again from us when you see him). We're both totally inspired to start climbing outdoors more

 

From Andrew about a Navigation Skills training event: - ‘Before I forget just to say many thanks for last weekend the course was smashing. To compare your course with the Navigational Skills course with Northumberland National Park Authority I did six years ago, yours was a lot more hands on and a lot more detailed than NNPA.’