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Director
Andy heads up our organisation and is a keen mountaineer and climber with experience of UK mountaineering in all seasons, as well as expeditions to climb in the Swiss, Italian and French Alps, and to the summit of Mount Elbrus. He is a qualified Mountain Leader, Climbing Wall Instructor, and member of the Mountain Training Association, Mountaineering Scotland, and the British Mountaineering Council.
Being in the outdoors helps Andy to find balance in a fast-paced, often stressful, life. He is a qualified Mental Health First Aider and is passionate about promoting the benefits of outdoor activities and a reconnection with nature to others.
Operations Manager
Ian is our Operations Manager and is supported in this role by other members of the team. He’s also our resident videographer and enjoys capturing the essence of our work, which many of you will have seen on our social media channels.
In 2017, Ian decided that he was going to climb Kilimanjaro. Knowing he was totally unprepared he asked Andy Higson to help him by accompanying him up Snowdon. The experience in 50mph winds and horizontal rain should have put him off for life; however it had the opposite effect and he now tries to get in a hill at least once a month. Ian’s health and well being has vastly improved. He’s lost over two stone in weight and he ran his first ever half marathon shortly before hid 50th Birthday. He can’t sell the benefits of being outdoors enough – he’s a real champion!
Ian is a qualified Mental Health First Aider and actively promotes the outdoors as a form of therapy. Kilimanjaro became a reality in Oct 2019 – ‘Climbing Mountains not Making them’. In 2021 Ian qualified as a Mountain Leader through Mountain Training.
Operations Support
Zoe has recently joined the team in an Operational Support role. Her earliest foray into hill-walking was a steady bimble up the Tatras in 2015. Zoe reconnected with walking in September 2020 as a means of finding balance during the COVID pandemic, and undertook the epic Coast to Coast walk on her own in 2021.
Zoe has also found the confidence to take up climbing and bouldering, and is a real ambassador for our work here at Blackdog Outdoors. Zoe is looking forward to meeting attendees at future events to help encourage and inspire.
Business Development Manager & Climbing Officer
John is our Business Development Manager, Climbing Officer and a keen rock climber. After discovering his passion for the sport 6 years ago, whilst trying out a local climbing wall, he has since attended various training schemes and is currently working towards the Rock Climbing Instructor award through Mountain Training. He’s been fortunate enough to enjoy climbing across the UK, Spain, France, Italy and Corsica.
John has a background in local youth and community projects including youth festivals and fundraising for local sport facilities. After recently returning from 6 months climbing in Spain, and being forced to take several months out with a degenerative back problem, he is keen to help bring other people into the world of Outdoor Adventure and all of the benefits that it brings.
Trustee
Scott has been riding bikes in the hills for as long as he can remember, and that freedom and escapism is what drives most of his adventures, whether that is on a road bike, mountain bike, or with a set of mountaineering boots on.
Scott is a qualified Mountain Leader, Mountain Bike Instructor, Rock Climbing Instructor, climbing coach, and is working towards becoming a Mental Health First Aider. He likes nothing more than enthusing about why he does this to anyone who will listen.
Scott is also proof you can combine the stresses of an office job alongside a career in the outdoors.
Trustee
Lynn joined us as a charity trustee in 2022 after various voluntary roles within the British Mountaineering Council, including her being appointed as their first female president. Lynn’s professional background is in Mental Health with the NHS, and she knows first hand the positive benefits of spending time in nature.
Trustee
Nicola joined us as a trustee in 2022 and is passionate about spending time outdoors whenever she can and championing wellbeing in the workplace. Nicola is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer and, with the experience of her day job, will help to ensure we continue to grow as a charity sustainably and with the right governance in place to support that growth.
Trustee
Adam has been in love with the outdoors since childhood starting with hill walks in the Dales with his father to now working towards the Mountain Leader award through Mountain Training. Adam is a qualified Mental Health First Aider and enjoys supporting our events.
He is an experienced mountaineer, finding his biggest pleasure and challenge from Scottish winter routes and long mountain days in the Lake District and North Wales. He has experience of Alpine and Icelandic glacial walking and cross-country skiing, as well as mountaineering in the Alps.
