Outdoor Instructor Training
Instructor Team

Our Staff Team

Our Instructor Training team is headed up by Johan Hoving, who has worked full time in the outdoors for the past 12 years.

Johan Hoving

Johan, with his wife Emma, established River Deep Mountain High in 2002. Johan is the lead tutor in the instructor training course, providing continuous development throughout the course. His love of the outdoors established itself at a young age, with Mountain Biking and Kayaking being his number one pastimes as a teenager in Nottinghamshire. Already a Kayak Coach, at 18 he then went to Birmingham University to get a BSc in Sport and Exercise Sciences. Birmingham also opened the opportunity of becoming a trainee instructor at the university’s own outdoor pursuit’s centre on Coniston Water. Johan is a BCU Level 3 Coach in Canoe and Kayak, RYA Senior Dinghy Instructor, MLTE Summer ML and SPA and a SMBLA Mountain Bike Leader. He is also a passionate skier especially on his local slopes in the lakes.

Dave Carpenter

Dave is an experienced outdoor leader and trainer. He will head up the walking and soft skills training during the course.

Rob Pugh

Rob is a qualified teacher and mountain instructor and heads up our rock climbing training delivering learn to lead courses as well as running our NGB climbing courses. Rob has worked for many years in outdoor education and now runs his own development training company. Rob continues to add his unique style of enthusiasm and confidence to every course and spends as much of his free time climbing around the world. Previous students have described him as a 'legend' in their end of course feedback

NGB Outdoor Training Experts

You will also be trained by a set of external outdoor experts, to provide some training assessment courses, this will ensure you are coached and trained by some of the most experienced and qualified technical experts in the outdoor industry, demonstrating a wide variety of leadership and teaching styles and providing a different viewpoint on your progress.