Scottish climbing instructor, Tim Miller, has won the Youth Mountain Culture Award 2020. The 23-year-old was chosen by West Highland College UHI and The Fort William Mountain Festival as the sixth recipient of The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.
The award, established in 2015, celebrates adventurous young people, the landscapes they choose to explore and the outdoor pursuits in which they excel. The young recipient needs to have shown resilience and determination to succeed within their chosen area of expertise, shown results through their own efforts and ideas, given back to their community, while being thought of as an example of excellence by others.
Tim is qualified Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor, a volunteer climbing coach at The Glasgow Academy and a graduate of Earth Science (BSc) from The University of Glasgow.
He said: “I am really delighted and humbled to be receiving the Youth Mountain Culture Award this year. It has come as a big surprise and it was a lovely gesture by Rob MacKenzie [2017 youth winner] to nominate me.
“Well done also to Colin Prior on his Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture.”
Tim’s passion for climbing
From the very first days being coached at the Glasgow Climbing Centre, Tim was instantly hooked. He quickly become a passionate, strong and competent climber and making a name for himself on the competition scene in the city.
In 2013, in his first foray into competitive dry tooling, he won the Junior Scottish Tooling Series. With very limited ice climbing experience, he placed 4th in the Youth Ice Climbing World Championships in Champany en Vanoise, France, the following year.
Read my blog in 2013.
However, when Tim made the transition into outdoor climbing he found his true calling. In a climbing career spanning less than a decade, he has had many epic alpine and mountaineering adventures and also achieved numerous hard traditional and winter ascents, as well as demanding test pieces and first ascents, including grade VIII winter ascents.
He has also undertaken many technical expeditions to the Greater Ranges [the high mountain ranges of Asia] where he has climbed up to 7000m on new routes and unclimbed peaks.
Tim’s progression as an instructor
Tim has not only dedicated time to honing his own skills. From the age of 17 he has given a great deal of time to passing his knowledge to the next generation of climbers.
Tim went to school at The Glasgow Academy, which has a leading outdoor education programme. Upon his graduation, he began giving back to the programmme, volunteering his own time to work with the young climbers coming through the school.
His calm, friendly, polite and deeply knowledgeable personality makes him an excellent instructor, always leaving the kids excited for more climbing.
Tim recently passed The Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor Scheme qualification awarded by the Mountain Training UK. He is now working towards becoming one of the youngest people ever to be accepted on the British Mountain Guides training scheme. Tim is a member of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors.
Tim runs a successful guiding and instructing business, Miller Mountain Guides, taking his passion for both teaching and climbing into the mountains.
Praise for Tim Miller
Rod Pashley, Chairman of The Highland Mountain Culture Association, organisers of the Fort William Mountain Festival, said: “What is striking about Tim is his countless achievements on such a rapid journey; his development and honing of technical mountaineering skills and abilities; and his mountaineering experiences that have taken him to the Greater Ranges.
“He also has an impressive passion and love of the outdoor environment and enjoys sharing this and engagement with others.”
Lydia Rohmer, Principal and Chief Executive, West Highland College UHI, said: “West Highland College UHI is privileged to sponsor The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture in this, our 10th anniversary year as an academic partner of the University of the Highlands Islands.
“We are delighted that this year’s recipient clearly epitomises the resilience, entrepreneurial excellence and commitment to the outdoor community that we strive to develop in our own students at the School of Adventure Studies here in Fort William. We wish Tim every success in the future.”
The Fort William Mountain Festival runs from Feb 19 to 23, 2020.