Meet the Instructors: Part 1
Whether you’ve been on one of our courses, have been considering coming to us to learn, or are just passionate about the outdoors like we are, you might be wanting to know a bit more about the team here at Glenmore Lodge. In this blog and the three to follow, we’ve asked our core instructional team a few questions to help you get to know them better
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Alex Parmenter
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
Hi I’m Alex Parmenter, I’m one of the senior instructors here at Glenmore Lodge. I’ve been working at the Lodge full time for about 8 years, and for a number of years before that as a freelance. I work in the mountain bike department, mountaineering department, and the ski department
What is it like working at Glenmore Lodge, and what do you love about what you do?
Working at Glenmore Lodge is always a varied day at work, especially as I work across several departments so I may be rock climbing one day, riding my bike another, or even skiing. So I get a lot of variety in that work and then I’ll have some time out on the hill, and some time in the office supporting some of the NGBs (National Governing Bodies) that help deliver and administrate all the qualification courses.
Probably the biggest thing that I love about my job is helping people to become more independent in the mountains, whatever activity they’re doing. So that they’re able to go out and have fun by themselves or with their mates, and feel empowered to go out and do these things themselves
What do you do in Autumn to prepare for the colder months?
So in the autumn I actually do a fair bit of pre-hab to prepare for the winter. I spend a lot of time on skis in the winter and I’d hate to be injured, so I do a fair bit of work in the gym, just to make sure my joints are stable and safe for the winter – a little bit of hard work but it pays off!
What are you looking forward to about winter?
This winter I’m really excited because Glenmore Lodge is back up to full capacity, and I’m really excited to be out and about lots on my skis, and walking about and climbing out in the Scottish hills, and with plenty of folk and having many adventures
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
Okay so top 3 places to go and have fun, this isn’t a definitive list because it changes with every time I think about it! But I love skiing in the North West of Scotland; I love the fact that the conditions are really fickle up there and to get a good day you have to work hard, pick the right day and get the routes and conditions – and the mountains are just incredible over there, and there’s a lot of stuff that people haven’t skied that much and you feel like you’re skiing somewhere for the first time even if you’re not. So I love going to the North West with my skis!
One place I really loved going this spring, was a place called Molini in Northern Italy, and we just had the best time on endless single track in these incredible mountains above San Remo which was fantastic so that was cool
I love riding my mountain bike in the Cairngorms to be honest, and I love the challenge of riding it responsibly and making sure that I’m not damaging the high mountain, but at the same time using the bike to travel big distances through some amazing mountains
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
Introducing my kids to ski touring!
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Bill Strachan
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
My name is Bill Strachan, I’m one of the instructional staff in the Rock & Mountain discipline. I did my first days work at Glenmore Lodge in 2004 and have been in and around the place since then and started on a full time permanent contract in 2016
What is it like working at Glenmore Lodge, and what do you love about what you do?
There’s two main parts to my job, one of them is helping people who’ve never experienced the outdoors before experience them safely. It’s just amazing being in the mountains in that environment with them and watching them see that whole environment and be part of it for the very first time, and the inspiration they can take from that – both from a low level walk kind of point of view looking at the mountains, all the way through to getting them tied onto a rope and scaling and climbing those mountains in a harsh winter environment. That’s exceptionally satisfying – giving people the opportunity to be in a place they never thought they could be in without my help, and I get a great satisfaction from doing that type of work.
The second main part of my job is helping people progress through qualifications. So those people that have already got experience and a love of the outdoors, but helping them both through training and assessing, and mentoring them through some of their consolidation period as well – helping them become leaders, watching their whole journey from becoming just a participant in the outdoors to becoming a leader in the outdoors. I find that really rewarding, particularly when you see people coming back and progressing through and you see the impact that they’re having on other people in the outdoors
What are you looking forward to about winter?
Sometimes it feels at this time of year that winter is a long way away and others it feels like its just literally round the corner. I sometimes find it hard to get my psyche for winter, whereas some of my colleagues from about July onwards they’re really waiting for it, and I always surprise myself after the first snow arrives just how excited I get. Starting to get your kit ready, starting to get your head into the winter weather, keeping an eye on early season conditions, you can be rock climbing one day or perhaps you can be on a mixed route the next up in the mountains
As winter actually fully arrives looking into the January/February time, it’s just absolutely brilliant being out in it – every day doesn’t just feel like an adventure, every day feels like you’re constantly balancing decisions looking at weather conditions, avalanche conditions, the conditions of the route, the wants and the aims of the students you’re with. It’s a really satisfying feeling when you come back in at the end of the day or week and you know that through help from your colleagues, good consultation with the clients that you’re working with, that you’ve managed to balance everybody’s wants and the weather all together
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
Glencoe has got to be on my list of favourite places to have an adventure – you’re just steeped in history both personally, I’ve got a lot of sentimental and family reasons for loving Glencoe, but when you’re up in the mountains and you look down at glencoe itself or across at all the different mountains and you can see Ben Nevis in the distance – the local history that the people through hundreds of years have endured there – the mountaineering history, climbing the same routes as Hamish MacInnes and looking down on his cottage where he used to live. So Glencoe has got to be in my top recommendations
And if I was to give another place, I would have to say it completely depends on the mindset and who I’m with. Some of the best adventures I’ve had, both summer and winter have probably been within 500m of a car park when I’ve been with my kids when they were younger, digging a snowhole or climbing up their Everest but its actually just a wee snowbank at the back of a carpark. So I guess it depends what mindset I’m in, but certainly lots of amazing adventures no higher than your local carpark!
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
Favourite adventure in the UK has got to be the Skye Ridge. Trying to get the weather, a partner, perfect conditions and the time off, it’s like the holy grail, I waited years to do it
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Heather Morning:
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
Heather Morning, Chief instructor at Glenmore Lodge, and I’m pretty new in post – I’ve been here since February 2022
What is it like working at Glenmore Lodge, and what do you love about what you do?
Working at GL is a really fun, happy, great supportive environment with lots of likeminded people who love to get out and are very proactive about enjoying the outdoors and also love working with other people to promote their enjoyment of the outdoors as well.
What do I enjoy about what I do? Being involved in such an active, vibrant community of positive, likeminded people, and even though my role now is very operational and managerial, it puts me in a position where I can help and encourage others to enjoy the outdoors.
What do you do in Autumn to prepare for the colder months?
I think autumn is probably one of my favourite seasons, I love watching the colours change on the mountain. In fact, I was just out this lunchtime and commented on the lovely autumn hues on the montane heath up on the mountain here behind me. And it’s a time of year where it can be a beautiful day, or it can be really wild and positively wintery, and I kind of like the variation and the challenges that presents.
It’s a great time of year to be out hillwalking, which keeps you fit and prepared for leading into the winter conditions and when its those soggy, windy, blustering wet days then its great to get out on the bike. Again, its staying fit and looking towards the winter season
What are you looking forward to about winter?
Winter here in the Cairngorms can be amazing and having the northern corries here on our doorstep, and the Cairngorm plateau is just a phenomenal playground. You just can’t beat those lovely calm high pressure days when you’ve got fantastic snow cover, blue skies, calm winds, and those are some of my favourite days in the mountains travelling on ski.
So I’m hoping there’s going to be plenty of those days this year and plenty of opportunities to get out and play, but it’s very fluctuating and last year we had a pretty poor winter with lots of wet windy weather and lots of fluctuations in the temperature so even though the snow came it also went really quickly at times and got really stripped, so I’m looking forward to this being one of those mega winters where we can just literally go out the door on our Nordic skis and enjoy the forest trail, it doesn’t even necessarily need to be high up in the mountains.
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
So my favourite places to enjoy the great outdoors. If the weathers good its hard to beat Scotland, and certainly up on the west coast, whether that’s some remote sea kayaking expedition or some of the awesome mountains we have up in Torridon for example. So Northwest Highlands definitely up there in the favourites, and the more remote the better.
But I’ve been lucky enough to travel in other parts of the world and had lots of great adventures in Norway, and that has often been in the winter on skis, skiing from hut to hut. And the climate there is very similar to what we experience here in the winter up on the plateaux and can be very challenging at times to get between one hut and the next. But they have an amazing hut system where you have a key to what they call the DNT hut system, so you arrive at the hut and there’s logs, and there’s food, and duvets, so when you do actually do arrive there after a challenging day then it’s pretty luxurious.
And I guess my final place or area would be northern Canada. I definitely thrive on exploring wild and remote places. The less populated the better, the further away from civilisation the better, and being self-reliant and journeying through remote places with awesome scenery and great wildlife.
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
Antarctica, and a solo ascent of the highest mountain on the Antarctic continent, Mount Vinson, on my skis
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George Fell:
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
Hi! I’m George, I teach wet stuff at Glenmore Lodge. I spend my time playing around on white water, out at sea, and out on the lochs. I’ve been employed by Glenmore Lodge for about 4 years, and worked on a freelance basis for quite a few years before that
What is it like working at Glenmore Lodge, and what do you love about what you do?
So, I genuinely believe I have one of the best jobs in the world. I get to meet cool people, I get to know them – which I love, I get to go paddling – which I love, I get to show people around Scotland – which I love, and I get to help people get better at their boating. I get to work with a team of total ninjas. What could be better than that?
Do you do anything to make the most of Autumn or prepare for winter?
Autumn is a busy time for the paddlers. It’s also (fingers crossed) when more water starts falling from the sky and making its way into the rivers. So for me, Autumn is very much about keeping the stoke going!
What are you looking forward to about winter?
Winter offers a little bit of down time for rest and recovery, then it’s time for some personal adventures. If it’s been raining, then getting out on the rivers, if there’s a bit of wind and some swell then getting out on the sea, if there’s not so much wind, then getting out under the paraglider and seeing if I can remember how that works
And it’s also time – as a bit of a learning and coaching geek – to try and catch up on all the research that I haven’t read over the summer because I’ve been too busy going paddling!
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
So that’s a hard question! Nepal for white water paddling, and adventures that don’t just begin on the river but begin trying to get to the river; everything from buses driving off the road, to inadvertently walking through the pit that’s the toilet for the entire village, through to trying to hire a plane, through to some fantastic white water with some amazing people and an amazing culture around you. Nepal has to be one of the places.
I think Norway, or Northern Norway for that whole “friluftsliv” thing, where wilderness and experiencing the outdoors is part of the culture and is seen by everyone as a really valuable and necessary part of life.
And then I’ve got to say Scotland haven’t I? If I can have the whole country, then that would be great; there’s so much – from a world class coastline: the west coast, the north coast, up to Orkney and Shetland. Some lovely river paddling; chilled out summer evening sessions with friends on the Garry and the Moriston, hanging out at Falls of Lora. Or starting to join all the lochs and rivers together in an open boat. There’s so much great stuff to do, and you don’t have to travel loads of miles and burn loads of fossil fuels to get there!
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
A river called the Thuli Bheri in western Nepal has some great memories; a strong team on a river that was (for me at least) fairly tricky, but didn’t feel like it was trying to kill you all the time. Sea paddling around the Faroe Islands for exposure and a coastline where you genuinely can’t land for the next 30 miles.
Scotland again, I’ve had some great adventures here, including a lovely canoe trip last February where we didn’t use any cars – we left from our front door and arrived back there 10 days later.
I guess the cheesy answer is that the best adventure is the next one! And for me, that hopefully is getting out to paddle some big volume rivers in Patagonia in January
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Keep an eye out on our social media and blog to meet the rest of our instructional team