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Indoor Climbing Assistant

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The Indoor Climbing Assistant is designed for people who want to support qualified instructors with climbing sessions on artificial structures. People interested in this scheme might be parents, youth workers, young leaders or teachers and the focus is on assisting with core tasks within a session.

What can an assistant do?

While operating under the direct supervision of a qualified instructor, an Indoor Climbing Assistant can:

  • Assist with the fitting of basic equipment such as harnesses, helmets and rock shoes.
  • Assist a qualified instructor with the supervision of core climbing techniques.
  • Assist a qualified instructor at indoor and outdoor bouldering venues and climbing walls.

Getting started

To get started on the Indoor Climbing Assistant qualification you need to meet the following prerequisites:

  • Be at least 16 years old.
  • Have an interest in assisting qualified instructors on indoor climbing walls.

If the above applies to you, create an account on the candidate management system or log in if you already have one. The registration fee is £25 and covers access to the digital logbook (DLOG) where you can record your experience and keep track of your progress, a quality assured course delivered by an approved provider, an online training record and an official certificate.

Do you have additional needs?

Do you have a physical or mental impairment or disability which may require a provider to make reasonable adjustments so that you can take part in a training or assessment course? Find out how we can support you

Training and Assessment

The course involves one day (or potentially two evenings) of training and ongoing assessment in a supportive learning environment.

Prerequisites for attending the course are as follows:

  • Competence1 in the basic skills of belaying, harness fitting and tying on; and
  • 5 indoor and/or 5 outdoor climbing sessions logged in DLOG. There is no personal climbing requirement for these sessions; you can have just belayed, but it is useful to have experience of climbing e.g. bottom roping or top roping.

After the course you will be given an assessment result of either Pass or Defer (not yet mastered basic skills).

The Syllabus

If you have completed the Indoor Climbing Assistant you should be competent in the following key areas, all of which will be covered, to a greater or lesser extent, during the course.

  • Technical competence (equipment, belaying, personal skills and background knowledge)
  • Management and decision making (managing participants under supervision, demonstrations and understanding your role)
  • Teaching and learning skills
  • The climbing environment (access, etiquette and ethics)

Detailed information on each of the above topics can be found in the Indoor Climbing Assistant candidate handbook. As with all Mountain Training qualifications, your experience prior to attending the course will have a huge impact on the result and you should try to be as fully prepared as possible.

Candidate handbook

The Indoor Climbing Assistant handbook has full details about the scheme including the syllabus and supporting guidance notes. You can download the handbook from the Mountain Training website.

Find a Course

If you would like to arrange a course for your school / group then please get in touch with me. Any courses organised will be listed in the course finder.


  1. Competence is defined as meeting the ABC climbing wall membership standard or similar:

    • can put on a harness and fit it safely
    • can tie into a harness correctly using either a rethreaded figure of eight knot with a minimum 10cm tail or a bowline (single or double) with a stopper knot
    • can belay, lower and secure a falling climbing safely using a belay device
    • can check that their climbing partner has put on their harness and tied in properly
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