60 Seconds Read: A Career in the Outdoors
This summer Isi Oakley successfully passed her Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor award. Isi works part time for the Western Isles Council as Outdoor Learning Manager, and part-time as a freelance outdoor instructor. We caught up with Isi to ask her about her journey to becoming qualified and what started her on her journey.
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Photo Credit Mark Chadwick
Tell us a bit about how you became active in the outdoors and how you started climbing?
My parents are pretty outdoorsy, and walked me everywhere as a kid, but I grew up on the Isle of Wight, not renowned for its mountains! They loved caving, and had loads of interesting kit stored away that I used to get out… then when the chance to get involved with indoor climbing came when I was at high school I was hooked. I took a job after dropping out of uni, working at PGL centres, and managed to migrate into ‘proper’ outdoor instructing after that at the Ice Factor.
Who were your biggest influences?
My parents, a guy called Derek who ran climbing wall sessions after school for us and when I was working for PGL, our technical advisor Chris Smith. He was endlessly encouraging in the face of my total lack of knowledge, and made me feel like even though I was starting out, anything was possible.
What inspired you to take your hobby and turn it into a qualification?
The two things went hand in hand for me. I learned to climb as I learned to instruct. I had been involved with sports coaching as a teenager (trampolining- so a lot more falling involved!) and knew that I loved it already, so when I left uni and didn’t really know what to do next, centre work was an obvious choice. I ended up instructing a broad range of things at taster level, but was always happiest when in the mountains myself. I loved being in the hills or at the crag with friends who were learning, seeing it all again through their eyes and remembering how special it is, so that was an obvious way to go in terms of my own career.
What is the biggest change you think that could be made to encourage more women to see the potential of a career in the outdoors?
I think this is starting to happen already, with so many more women involved in the outdoors than there were when I started instructing – most of the other girls at the centre at that stage were doing the pastoral care side of things, many as a gap year before heading to train as teachers. It feels like there is a big shift going on, and it will just take time and continued support, in order to redress the balance in what traditionally was a very male-dominated industry. It’s really great to have so many male instructors advocating for and supporting women coming through the qualifications too- that feels like it has changed hugely since I started down the path of the Mountain Training qualifications 15 years ago.
Do you think you have ever faced barriers in the outdoors as a result of being female?
Not really! But there were never many role models to look up to in the outdoor instructing world who were female. For me, with a tomboy mum who drummed it into me that anything was possible and used to go on runs with the Marines in her spare time as a young woman, that wasn’t problematic. But not everyone is that lucky!
If you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be?
Keep doing what you’re doing, you will get to where you want to be!
Reflections…
Having been in the Western Isles for 10 years now, I’ve ended up with a lot of female outdoor pals/ other instructors. I job share with a guy, so we joke that we are the ultimate in gender-balanced outdoor teams… Perhaps because of the female influence, we’ve ended up with quite a female-heavy climbing group here. A couple of weeks ago a group of us met up in the wall in Stornoway, and just by chance, there were 8 girls and 1 guy. I really believe that the scales will balance in other places too, as more female instructors come through, more ladies get some press/ social media coverage, and more younger girls get the little push they need to chase their dream.