Climber Development - Clubs

Mountaineering Ireland aims to support our clubs and walls who, in turn, support climbers, coaches, instructors and parents at climbing development level.

NICAS

The National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) provides a curriculum of climbing skill development that has been developed to support progression from indoor climbing to lifelong participation in climbing and mountaineering. The NICAS programme is run at climbing walls throughout the country. It cultivates a vibrant and supportive atmosphere whilst focusing on technical skills, safety awareness and accreditation through structured levels of achievement.

The programme is broken down into progressive stages. Each stage provides climbers with new and progressively more difficult challenges appropriate to their stage of development. It encourages climbers to learn all the movement skills of climbing and reinforces the importance of a good all round skill base. The stages can be seen like progression in other sports, such as the martial arts ‘belt system.” Through NICAS we believe young people will develop the skills and confidence to excel in life; not only in climbing, but in other sports and life pursuits.

The levels are as follows:

Level 1, for the new climber, introduces beginners to roped climbing and recognises their ability to climb safely under supervision

Level 2, for the foundation climber, is aimed at promoting good practice in climbing and bouldering unsupervised on artificial walls

Level 3, for the technical climber, focuses on developing technique and movement skills. It equips learners with the knowledge and skills to climb and belay safely at any climbing facility.

Level 4, for the lead climber, concentrates on the skills required to lead climb proficiently. It is aimed at developing a self-motivated climber who has a wide range of skills and has reached a high level of competence with desire to progress by identifying and setting goals.

Level 5, is for the advanced climber, and focuses on improving performance, including creating a personal training programme and experience of local and national competitions, as well as exploring the wider world of climbing.

Mountaineering Ireland support and actively promote the use of the NICAS curriculum in clubs and at walls across the country and work with NICAS to provide regular workshops for club and wall coaches and instructors.