Women in Mountain Training Conference 2024

Steph Wetherell

Steph is the co-founder of Every Body Outdoors, a UK-based community group that advocates for plus-size people in the outdoors. They work with the outdoor industry to increase representation and make plus-size clothing that’s fit for purpose more readily available, as well as providing physical and online spaces for the plus size community to gain skills and confidence through courses and community meet-ups. Steph is passionate about fostering and empowering the sense of belonging in the outdoors amongst the plus size community.

Carla Khouri

Carla has been dedicated to education and the outdoors for over 18 years. Initially a secondary science teacher, she qualified as a summer mountain leader to support her role in the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) program at school. Inspired by her experiences, she transitioned from the classroom to become a freelance outdoor instructor.

Since 2021, Carla has been actively involved with Black Girls Hike (BGH), a community group that encourages and empowers Black women to explore the outdoors. In 2022, BGH became a Mountain Training provider of Hill and Mountain Skills, with Carla serving as the course tutor. In this role, she has been instrumental in training BGH walk leader volunteers, guiding them on their pathway to achieving leadership qualifications in mountain training.

Suzie Dick

Suzie is an International Mountain Leader and lecturer in education at Queen Margaret University, Scotland. She began Women with Altitude, an organisation to demystify going on expedition for women, making it accessible and affordable, in 2005, which will be celebrating it's 20th anniversary on the Laugavegur Trail in Iceland next year. Suzie is a Fellow and Chartered Geographer with the Royal Geographical Society, a provider of the Offsite Safety Management Course, and has lived and worked around the world including Ethiopia, Austria and Mongolia. Suzie is proudly neurodivergent, and her academic research focuses on issues around rural education, place based education and equity of opportunity and is the current chair of Scottish Mountain Rescue's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee.

Nicola Foyle

Nicola Foyle is a Lowland Leader and her main job for the last 11 years is as an SEN teacher in a specialist independent SEN school in Derby. The school's students are aged 5 to 19 years old and all have autism as their main diagnosis. Nicola teaches students in Year 10 to 14 History, Citizenship and Geography as well as having responsibility for DofE as manager and expedition supervisor.

Dr Natalie Brown

Natalie is a research specialist in the menstrual cycle and sport, from participation to elite performance. She is passionate about applying her research to help support women and girls to be physically active and she promotes a positive perception of female hormones. Outside of work Natalie is a keen climber herself and an Arcteryx Ambassador, combing her research and personal interests to help others to enjoy being active outside.

Aneela McKenna

Aneela is a changemaker in outdoor leadership, known for her relentless commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the outdoor community. With over 20 years of experience as a mountain bike guide, coach, tutor, and mentor, Aneela has combined her passion for the outdoors with her dedication to social justice, advocating for underrepresented groups in the outdoor sports world. As the founder of Mòr Diversity, a consultancy focused on breaking down barriers to access in outdoor activities, she has led numerous initiatives to challenge and dismantle discrimination based on race, gender, disability and all other forms of exclusion.

Her work includes delivering training workshops, developing inclusive policies, and offering mentorship to emerging leaders in the industry. Aneela’s work is rooted in the belief that the outdoors should be accessible to all and achieved by building advocates for equity and inclusion in the outdoor community.

Kate O'Brien

Kate has worked in outdoor learning for over 20 years, in a variety of roles including instructor, youth worker, course director, wilderness therapy field guide, project manager and more recently EDI Strategic Lead with Outward Bound. Initial studies were in Outdoor Education in the Community where her research focus was on women developing a career in outdoor leadership. Pursuing a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology has allowed Kate to combine her loves of outdoor adventure with a deeper understanding of the human mind, supporting people to reach their potential. Kate has created, developed, and co-delivered Outward Bound's first Women's Outdoor Leadership Course which includes a focus on mountain leadership and rock climbing instructor qualifications. She now splits her time between work with outdoor learning charity Àban in Inverness and continuing to work with Outward Bound as they progress towards becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation.

Professor Katrina Pritchard

Katrina is a Professor in the School of Management, Swansea University. Her research interests include identity (in a variety of employment/volunteering contexts) and diversity (particularly intersections of ages, genders and sexualities). Katrina is a qualitative researcher who embraces methodological diversity and innovation, exploring the use of creative, digital and visual methods in her research.  In 2022 she co-founded ‘Breaking Binaries’ which brings together these research and methods interests.  Outside of work, Katrina can often be found in the Welsh hills with her rescue Malamute ‘Storm’.

Dr Helen Williams

Helen is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Management, Swansea University. Helen’s research examines diversity and inclusion across a range of working contexts.  In 2022, she co-founded a cutting-edge research programme – Breaking Binaries – to examine diverse and minority identities at work.  Prior to becoming an academic, as a chartered psychologist, Helen worked with organisations and advising on inclusion, performance, and high-potential leadership selection. Helen is supported by her research assistant, Tib the Welsh Collie. Out of the office, Tib accompanies Helen on many adventures, including summiting alpine peaks and sailing across the Bristol Channel.

Jemma Powell

Jemma is certified as a Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, an area in which she is particularly interested because of her own experiences of exercising during pregnancy/parenthood. This course allowed her to further her understanding of anatomy, physiology and the mechanisms of injury and rehabilitation. Since having children, Jemma attained her greatest outdoor climbing achievements and hopes to inspire other women to have the confidence to return to the outdoors after childbirth. Learning to balance time around parenthood has been a process that has helped her re-discover her love for climbing and adventure.

Jemma has over 25 years of climbing experience, 10 of which were spent competing internationally for GB Climbing. She was British Junior Champion for 5 consecutive years and achieved several international podium places. Jemma went on to become a secondary school teacher for 10 years. However, after the birth of her second, Jemma made the challenging decision to leave her role as an English teacher and Deputy Head of Year to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a climbing coach. Jemma was eager to supplement the specialist knowledge that she had of her sport and completed a Master’s in Applied Sports Science. Her research investigated the impact that anxiety can have on performance through attentional losses and impaired planning. Jemma then went on to join the Lattice coaching team in July 2022, having worked with intermediate to elite level climbers for 6 years prior to this. Jemma now works closely with climbers, of varying ability, from around the world.

Kath James

Kath is a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and International Mountain Leader based in North Wales. She works full time as an instructor and has done for the last 20 years. Kath has worked in outdoor education with young people providing experiences across multiple disciplines, as well as delivering skills courses in summer and winter. A big part of her work now is in training and assessing folks to be leaders and instructors. Having worked for the last decade on the higher level Mountain Training qualifications, Kath is well placed to share her knowledge and experience to help support others on the journey to those qualifications - whether it is Winter Mountain Leader, Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor, Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor or International Mountain Leader she has knowledge and experience to share and would really encourage people to join this session to learn more about pursuing this rewarding career path.

Nicola Jasieniecka-Evans

Nicola is the Media & IT Development Instructor at Mountain Training. A former Centre Assistant at Plas y Brenin, Nicola then worked as a Senior Instructor at Outward Bound Aberdovey before joining the Mountain Training team nearly 11 years ago. Her role is predominantly communications-based and she's keen to share information and demystify the process in order to increase the number of women working on Mountain Training courses.

Kristine Quale

Kristine is a Mountain and Climbing instructor and a Winter Mountain Leader. She lives and works in the Lake District with her young family. Her work involves teaching climbing, hill walking and ghyll scrambling. She is also one of the few female Mountain Leader course directors based here in the Lakes, running all the Mountain Leader courses for The Mountain School UK.

When not working or wrestling her small people you will find Kris climbing, running, scrambling and walking in the hills or swimming in the Lakes.

Katie Mackay

Katie is a Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor based in the Lake District. She spends most of her time climbing in the Lakes, Yorkshire or Scotland. Katie was introduced to climbing at university on a trip to the Lake District and while climbing Little Chamonix decided that she wanted this to be her job. She hasn't stopped climbing since!

Esther Foster

Esther has worked in the outdoor industry for 15 years, and is passionate about helping others to develop both their personal and leadership skills in climbing, mountaineering and hillwalking.

Esther is a Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor, as well as a Development Coach, Rock Climbing Instructor and Mountain Leader, and delivers Rock Climbing Instructor and Rock Climbing Development Instructor courses in the Lake District. She knows what it's like to feel the pressure of assessments, and is always keen to make training and assessment courses a really positive experience for candidates.

You can find out more about Esther on her website: estherfoster.co.uk, and on Instagram: @esther_foster

Liz Hayward-Thomas

Liz is a Senior Lecturer and Director of The Business Clinic at Bangor Business School,  North Wales, and is Co-Chair of the Academy of Marketing’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business Marketing research group. Liz has approximately 15 years of experience in teaching and researching entrepreneurship, marketing and business management to a wide range of audiences. With a passion for anything outdoors, Liz has focused her work on the outdoor sectors and rural landscapes and has been recently appointed a [non-executive] Director of Mountain Training Cymru. Liz is also a qualified Nordic Walking instructor with British Nordic Walking CIC, has successfully run a walking business for a number of years, and has been a regular contributor to The Professional Mountaineer magazine.

TBC

Lena Hunter

Lena is a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor based in Scotland. During her career in the outdoors she has introduced countless people to climbing and mountaineering as a freelance instructor. She was also employed by the Outward Bound Trust for many years working with a huge variety of groups, supporting young people's personal development. During Lena's time with the Trust she worked in instructional as well as managerial roles for the organisation and in her role as Learning and Adventure Manager supported many instructors on their journey to become competent and confident outdoor professionals.

Today Lena works part time for a small environmental charity and enjoys her work as a (Winter) Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor year round, delivering climbing and mountaineering courses to help people from all walks of life achieve their personal goals. Lena loves sharing her passion for Scotland and her approach to being in the mountains with people to help them to become independent climbers and mountaineers.