Meet the Staff

With Summit Mountaineering you can expect to work with the most enthusiastic, friendly and active staff around.

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Graham 'Sven' Hassall
Sven holds the Mountaineering Instructor Award and is a Winter Mountain Leader. He enjoys all aspects of being in the mountains but it is new routing though that really gets him going; Sven has an ever growing collection of first ascents around the world, always on site without prior inspection, up to standards of E1, 5b and heights of 6900m. He climbs E3, aid climbs or writes when it rains and speaks fluent Spanish.

Sarah-Jane Mcilroy
With 5 years of mountain rescue experience, several NGB awards and not to mention a huge shelf of physical fitness awards, Sarah is ideally qualified to run our 'Ladies Only' courses. She is also a fully qualified personal training instructor and is available for coaching and training advice.

Philip Maddox
Philip holds the Mountaineering Instructor Award, and the German Alpine Guides HersBergfhurer qualification. Philip speaks fluent German and competes internationally as a member of the British Telemark Ski Team; both the benefit of living in Bavaria for several years.

Debs Hardy
After seeing the error of her ways working in the big city, Debs now holds the Single Pitch and Mountain Leader Awards and is not looking back. She is the rest of the team's favourite as she also has a passion for cooking!

Barry Whale
Baz is our paddling lead and holds the level 4 coach award. He doesn't stop there though; he is to the best of our knowledge the only amputee going through the MIA scheme, leading HVS and climbing big walls. An inspiration.

Nic Heppenstall
Nic does not hold any NGB awards but does have a staggering outdoors CV, including the Lotus Flower Tower, the first ascent of several Himalayan peaks, E3 leads and is very widely travelled. Nick speaks fluent French.