Cliff Lowther

The instructional team at Roxcool is led by our owner Cliff Lowther. Cliff is a fully qualified Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor, along with a number of other relevant qualifications and has been a member of AMI (Association of Mountaineering Instructors) since 1992. He has been involved professionally with the delivery of Mountain Training qualifications for more than 25 years, so you can rest assured that you are given the best value for money and experience possible. He is an experienced adventurer having been involved with adventure based activities throughout his life. Professionally he has used adventure and the outdoors as a vehicle for personal development with all his clients for over 35 years. Cliff can be a hard task master and makes no apologies for pushing our clients out of their comfort zones working on the theory that most people don’t think they can push themselves as much as they think and achieve what may have looked to be out of reach, all the while being supportive, friendly, knowledgeable and even dare I say it, humorous.

“The outdoors is my passion and the activities I love all take place in the outdoor environment, whether it is wandering the mountains of the Lake District or Ice Climbing in Norway. I love travel and have led thirteen expeditions to developing countries such as Cambodia, Ecuador, Peru and many more. Apart from the Lake District my favourite place in the whole world is a small hill village in Andalucía, Spain, called Murtas. The place is idyllic and it is wonderful being able to share a region of ‘True Spain’ with some lucky clients. The moment you breathe in the clean air and look at the vistas from the village you feel the stresses of modern life fade away. “

Cliff is educated to degree level and holds a BA Hons in Education and Training but he will gladly tell you he is prouder of the qualifications gained in the outdoors.

Chris Conley

Chris is a multi-disciplined independent professional outdoor education specialist working with a variety of organisations and individuals throughout the UK. He specialises in delivering outdoor leadership training, personal skills coaching and curriculum/course development. A qualified teacher, he has over 30 years’ experience, the last 15 of which have been as a full time professional in the industry. He is a course director for Mountain Training England and British Canoeing leadership and safety courses. He has a pragmatic approach to teaching/coaching leadership and associated problem solving. In short, he makes things happen.

Chris holds many qualifications across a whole host of disciplines. These include: International Mountain Leader, Summer and Winter Mountain Leader, Rock Climbing Instructor, Climbing Wall Development Instructor and Foundation Coach. He is of course qualified in first aid and holds an Outdoor First Aid qualification.

Finally, he is proud to be a member of the British Association Of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML) and Trainee membership of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors.

Carl Haliday

Carl has over 30 years of climbing and mountaineering experience and has been working in the outdoor adventure industry for over 20 years. A large part of this has involved instructing and lecturing in Outdoor Education at Northumberland College.

Carl is a full member of AMI and the Mountain Training Association (MTA) and holds the Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (MCI.  He is a course director for the Climbing Wall Instructor which he delivers with Roxcool. He is currently working towards becoming a course director for the Rock Climbing Instructor.
Carl is also a member of British Canoeing and is a qualified White-Water Kayak (L4) and Surf (L3T) Coach and assessor.

In addition, Carl has a BA (Hons) in Education and holds Diploma qualifications in Sport Science and Sport Psychology. He enjoys writing and has had work published with Collins. This included a chapter on Outdoor Adventurous Activities for the national BTEC sport textbook and student workbooks.

When not working in outdoor education, Carl can usually be found out and about having his own adventures. Carl has travelled extensively around the world and has been involved in many climbing and kayaking expeditions. These have included a wide range of locations from the Alps, Spain, Africa, the USA to Asia. He is passionate about, meeting new people and learning about their customs and cultures. When this can be combined with adventure and exploring beautiful, natural environments, he is at his most content.

He is also very passionate about introducing people to the great outdoors and helping them to develop appropriate skills and knowledge; enabling them to have their own big adventures.

Simon Brocklebank

Coming soon

Robert Simpson

Rob’s career working in the mountains started at the age of 19 when he passed his Mountain Leader with Roxcool. Soon after the assessment he started to work freelance for Roxcool and has been working for them ever since. Apart from the work he does with us, he instructs and assesses Duke of Edinburgh Award at all levels, guides lots of walking challenges such as the National Three Peaks, delivers navigation training courses and is starting to lead overseas expeditions too.

Outside of work, it’s fair to say he has caught the travel bug! To date, he has visited 40 countries around the world and plans on travelling to many more. “I have combined my love for travelling with my love for mountaineering, and by doing so, I’ve been on some amazing expeditions all over the world”. His toughest challenge yet was to climb to the summit of Chimborazo, Ecuador (6,268m) which is the closest point on earth to space! It was a very physically and mentally demanding expedition, although it got him hooked on high altitude mountaineering. His aim isto climb higher and harder peaks in the future, and maybe even guide people up them too!

Rob’s profile picture was taken from above Everest base camp with the peak itself pictured behind him - Luckily he had his Roxcool neck gaiter on to keep him warm!

Adam Malloy

Adam has been working with Roxcool for some time now and is a regular on our charity events. He is qualified in a multitude of disciplines and holds Mountain Leader, Rock Climbing Instructor, Rock Climbing Development Instructor as well as holding a number of qualifications in other disciplines. His expertise is in working with clients with behavioural issues and using outdoor adventure as a tool for their development. He is a very keen runner on the hills and fells and over the past year has participated in a number of mountain adventure races. His latest trend is towards some of the more ‘exciting’ (read in their dangerous) races which involve a number of scrambles as well as running over a huge distance. In preparation for this he has started ‘ticking’ many of the classic scrambles in the UK such as Aonach Eagach ridge, Tower Ridge Ben Nevis, Curved Ridge Buachaille Etive Mor as well as others further North in Torridon and on Skye. 

Adam is an easy going instructor and is always keen for some good craic with our clients. He has high moral standards and is a proud vegan and keen to offer advice to anyone willing to listen who is keen to go down the vegan route (see what I did there?).

Antony Mcphillips

Antony Mcphillips, started working with Roxcool as one of their leaders/instructors over two years ago and has already established himself as a highly reliable member of the team.

He is an experienced climbing and mountaineering instructor, holding both the Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (MCI) and International Mountain Leader (IML) qualifications and is a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (WMCI) trainee.
Antony lives and works in the Lake District and is passionate about what he does. Whether climbing or teaching map reading he gets a great kick out of seeing people achieve their goals. “For me the greatest satisfaction comes from coaching and developing clients, enabling them to become confident and independent in the mountains”.

When not working in the Lakes, he often is found leading expeditions worldwide in places like Slovenia or off having his own adventures. Some of his personal experience has taken him to fantastic well renowned climbing and trekking areas and has climbed big routes in Yosemite (USA) and Lofoten (Norway), Trekked around 8000m peaks in the Himalayas and lead Via Ferrata routes throughout the Alps.

If you're looking for an adventure, or just some good solid instruction ask for me through Roxcool, or maybe even contact me direct at; Antony@lakesadveture.co.uk

Jim Walton

Jim has been walking, scrambling and climbing for over 20 years. He grew up just north of the Lake District in the heart of the Eden Valley and now lives just outside the Peak District. He holds the Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (MCI) which is the highest summer based mountaineering and rock climbing qualification in the UK. He also holds the Winter Mountain Leader.

Jim has climbed in most areas of England (Lakes, Peak, Cornwall, Northumberland, Avon) Scotland and Wales in both summer and winter and has also climbed in the Alps and Dolomites during the summer and winter as well as in the Antarctic as well as his climbing activity he has also trekked in Norway, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Patagonia.

Jim is a bit of a ‘gear freak’ and hates not having a try of any new-fangled bit of kit which emerges, this then usually leads to a purchase of some sort, but we’ll keep that quiet and not tell his Missus.

Wez Hunter

Wes is a passionate climber, mountaineer and fully qualified Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (WMCI) who has been climbing to a high standard throughout the UK and overseas for most of his life. Brought up around Keswick in the English Lake District, he began rock climbing in the Lakeland fells as a child. Over the years, he has climbed most of the classic routes in the Lakes up to E5/E6 as well as a handful of E7s. Some of Wes’ favorite climbs in the Lakes include Fear and Fascination; Wicked Willie; Tumble; Top Gear; Saxon; Inferno; Lost Horizons; Western Union; The Iron Man; and Dawes Rides a Shovel Head. He has also climbed extensively in Wales and Scotland, as well as trips to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most recently to California with two big walls on El Capitan in Yosemite: Lurking Fear and the Triple Direct. 

Wes loves all aspects of climbing and mountaineering and the diverse and evolving nature of the sport. He runs and manages his own company Adventure Hunter and their website can be found here