Outdoor Instructor Training
Instructor Team

Our Staff Team

Our Instructor Training team is headed up by Johan Hoving, who has worked in a full time permanent job in the outdoors for the past 14 years.

Johan Hoving

Johan, with his wife Emma, established River Deep Mountain High in 2002. Johan plays an active role in the instructor training 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. 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. 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.

External 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.

Rich Martin

Rich has had the pleasure of living and working in the Lakes for the past 17 years and runs our SMBLA TCL training. As a fully qualified Outdoor Instructor he has been employed by most of the major Lakeland outdoor centres which has given him a wealth of knowledge about the area and all aspects of the outdoor industry. Rich became an SMBLA Tutor & SMBLA Committee member because he could see how beneficial mountain biking as an activity could and should be both in outdoor centres and commercial organisations.

Craig Scott

Craig has operated as a fully qualified Outdoor Instructor and SMBLA Tutor in and around the Lake District for many years and runs our SMBLA Trail Cycle Leader training. Craig's guiding work has not only seen him ride most of the Lakeland routes but has also given him the opportunity to lead groups all over the world to destinations such as California, Canada, Italy, Patagonia and New Zealand. Craig has competed to a high level in many different cycling events, specialising in X-Country and Downhill Racing and was heavily involved with the development of the Altura trail at Whinlatter.

Chris Ensoll

Chris runs our Summer ML training and is a British Mountain Guide. He is also a member of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) and is the highest International Mountain Guiding qualification. Chris runs his own mountaineering company and operates all over the world. He is one of the few British Mountain Guides with a license from the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority, allowing us to provide guiding and activities to young people.

Rob Pugh

Rob is a qualified teacher and mountain instructor and works on our climbing, learn to lead courses as well as running our SPA training. 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.