Meet the Instructors: Part 2
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 over 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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Ross Creber:
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
I’m Ross Creber, I’ve been here at Glenmore Lodge since April 2019 and I’m one of the instructor team here. I work across a variety of disciplines so I pretty much work in any department that doesn’t involve wearing a buoyancy aid, so I’m a climber, a skier, and a mountain biker.
What do you love about instructing at Glenmore Lodge?
What I love about this job is being able to take people out into the environment, be it the mountains, the cliffs, ski slopes – to inspire and motivate and help people pursue their love for the outdoors.
What do you do in Autumn to prepare for the colder months?
In preparation for winter, what I try to do is make the most of the good days! The long daylight, warm temperatures, be it on the bike or heading to the crags and enjoying the last of summer
And then the other bit of preparation that I do for winter is get the file out and file all the things that need to be filed – so axes, crampons, and ski edges so they’re all ready and filed for the first snow day
What are you looking forward to about winter?
I’m probably going to kick myself further through the winter for answering the question this way, but I’m looking forward to the suffering that the winter brings! I quite enjoy those type 2 fun days when you’re just glad to get off the hill and put your hands around a cup of tea after a real wild day on the hill
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
So top 3 places for outdoor adventures: close to home – up in Torridon, it’s such a mecca for all things outdoors be it wild swimming, rock climbing, mountain biking, or mountain running. So Torridon would be my top place in Scotland for adventuring
More worldwide, we’ve had many amazing adventures out in Slovenia, which again is a real playground for all things outdoor related
And then from the door I would say is one of my favourite places to adventure, as I moved to Aviemore for the outdoors and to be close to adventure, so right from the door there’s many adventures to be had
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
So my favourite adventure that I’ve had was the first time that we ever went away in our new campervan and it basically opened up endless possibilities of where we could travel with a house on wheels, and we went to Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland and it was ace!
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Derek Bain:
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
I’m Derek Bain, I’m a mountaineering instructor here at Glenmore Lodge, and I’ve been here for 8 years coming on 9!
What do you love about instructing at Glenmore Lodge?
So I like instructing here because it gives me an opportunity to work with quite a wide range of different people, from people who are new to a sport or the environment. But also to work with people who come and go through their career; so they might be on qualification courses, and it’s nice to see them come back as they’re developing their career and help them on that journey
What do you do in Autumn to prepare for the colder months?
So winter is our big season really for mountaineering, so in autumn time there’s quite a bit of prep – there’s obviously the prep in the office et cetera, but also training. So there’s physical – generally I do a lot of hill walking in autumn, I tend to get a bit of Munro bagging done, although only 9 left! And then latterly closer towards Christmas a bit of climbing, winter climbing if possible and if that’s not happening then just a bit of core work at home using suspension training
What are you looking forward to about winter?
So as I say winter is our main season, and what I like about that is partly the intensity of it – it’s a great challenge, both because of the delivery that we’re creating for the higher level NGB qualifications, but also physically because of the weather. So its just great to be completely immersed in doing the job and delivering on courses with less office time!
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
Well for a top 3, I guess I’ll go local, North America, and Europe. Local for me would be North West Scotland – fantastic for its rock climbing and sea paddling as well. North America would be Canada – anywhere in the Rockies, but if it was sea kayaking then anywhere on the West Coast is stunning as well. And then Europe-wise, I guess anywhere in the main Alps, depending on the weather or if that’s not happening then again a bit of sea kayaking in the Med!
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
Best adventure would be climbing Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania
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Stuart McAleese:
Introduce yourself – what do you do at Glenmore Lodge and how long have you worked here?
I’m Stuart McAleese, and I have been working at Glenmore Lodge for not very long – two and a half years, quite a strange two and a half maybe three years now. And I work in the Rock & Mountain department as a Mountain Guide and Instructor
What do you love about instructing at Glenmore Lodge?
I think the ethos here is really great, its warm, its really welcoming, and prior to working here I did a small amount of freelance work for Glenmore Lodge and I was always impressed with the level of service that the clients got. Not just out on the hill but when they walk in the door, when they stay here, just their general experience around the whole place was really impressive and people felt good being here.Alongside of that as well is the staff and the culture of working here as well. It’s really great, not just the challenge out on the mountains but the general craic when you get back in and the sharing of ideas is great.
I think I really like the challenge of getting it right for folk. People want and need different things at different stages in their climbing and mountaineering. So seeing folk do well and getting the most from their time when you’re in the mountains together is a really nice thing. And also seeing them develop their climbing and mountaineering for themselves, whether that’s part of a guided experience together or independently
What do you do in Autumn to prepare for the colder months?
So my autumns at Glenmore Lodge are quite busy in some ways but at the same time they naturally get a little bit quieter as well, so it’s a really good time to rest and drink lots of tea and eat cake. But at the same time in the background there’s also a lot of preparation and excitement going on because you know winter is just round the corner. So alongside the rest which is always great, and drinking tea, there’s a lot of planning for either the coming Alpine summer or the winter that’s immediately around the corner
What are you looking forward to about winter?
Winter for me is almost the best time of the year, I love it, not just the way nature makes everything look amazing and challenging, but everybody is really excited and there’s a real buzz about the place as well with so much going on. For me as well it’s the same with the mountains in the Alps, they just look amazing with the snow on them. There’s so many more options and routes; the mountains kind of change shape a bit, the gullies become more attractive, and there’s skiing options as well. So it’s the season of the year really
What are your top 3 places for outdoor adventures?
I was quite lucky in the past; in my 20s and 30s I did lots of expeditions all over the world, but now working for Glenmore lodge full time there’s nothing I love more than exploring Scotland. I think some of the corners of Scotland it almost feels like it’s the UK’s best kept secret. So there’s loads of adventure to be had in Scotland, some of its very wild and remote and you’ve got to be very tactical in the highlands when you’re moving around and it involves lots of planning. So Scotland’s right up there
Beyond Scotland, I love hearing about other people’s adventures and where they go and what they like doing and what they find challenging. We have folk here that go kayaking, lots of people that do mountain biking tours all over the world. So its really exciting hearing about other people’s expeditions and adventures. For me one of the places I really like talking and about hearing about people’s adventures in is Patagonia
Best/favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?
A few spring to mind; adventures where really I’ve thought ‘right this is really important’ and had to work pretty hard to get through it. Standing underneath some of the biggest walls in the world in Baffin Island, and also standing underneath the north face of Changabang. And climbing those features was pretty up there on the adventure scale. More notably, being on the Boardman-Tasker route on Changabang and coming home in one piece was pretty nice. We were trying a second ascent of that route and we failed; as I put it, we tried really hard but didn’t get very far and this year a team from New Zealand managed a second ascent of that route, so well done to them!
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Keep an eye out on our social media and blog to meet the rest of our instructional team