Inspirational Climbing Coach, Hannah Smith, receives prestigious Mountain Award at Fort William Mountain Festival

UHI North West and Hebrides is delighted to share the news from the Fort William Mountain Festival that Hannah Smith, a highly determined and resilient 22-year-old climber, youth climbing coach and student teacher from Glasgow, has been announced as the 11th recipient of The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture, sponsored by the college. The award will be presented by Lydia Rohmer, Principal and Chief Executive of the college, at a ceremony on Saturday February 15th 2025.

Hannah Smith grew up climbing in Glasgow. In the early years as a member of the Glasgow Climbing Centre Youth Squad, she climbed for fun and not always to win competitions. However, she first demonstrated her resounding determination and resilience in her commitment for selection to the Junior GB Climbing team in just one year, and the through the challenges that come with being an international competitive climber. Hannah was member of the Junior and Senior GB Climbing Teams for eight years, where Junior British Bouldering and Lead Climbing Champion were among her top achievements.

Aged just 19, when struggling with sport climbing during Covid, Hannah was invited to join GB Climbing as a coach for the junior team, the youngest ever to coach at international level, something she will always be proud of. A few years years later Hannah wanted to continue coaching at the same time as pursuing her passion for literature, moving back to Scotland to study and taking up a coaching role with the ClimbScotland Talent Squad.

After achieving an undergraduate Master of Arts in English literature at Edinburgh University in July 2024, Hannah is now completing a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education to become a secondary school English teacher. She understands roles as both coach and teacher are fundamentally about building relationships with the young people she works with, supporting them and motivating them to reach their full potential.

On hearing about The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture, Hannah Smith said:

“I’m deeply honoured to receive this award. This recognition is incredibly meaningful at this point in my life as it celebrates my journey as an athlete and coach. I’m especially proud to be a part of the Scottish competition climbing community, who often have unique challenges but are such a supportive and connected group of people. I hope my experiences show them that, with determination and perseverance, they can achieve their goals. It’s a privilege to contribute to a community that has given me so much over the years.”

Hannah Smith’s award will be celebrated at the Fort William Mountain Festival Climbing Night on Saturday 15 February 2025 with a presentation and short film highlighting the significant contribution she has made to sport climbing and coaching. Hannah will appear alongside other climbers breaking barriers and going beyond to achieve. The event will include inspiring content from three members of the GB Para Climbing Team; blind climber Jesse Dufton, together with James Rudge and Joanna Newton who both climb internationally despite the loss of a limb.

In 2020 Hannah not only appeared on BBC Scotland’s Adventure Show, but she was also chosen to be on the SportScotland Young People's Sport Panel which provides a national platform to represent the voice of young people across Scotland, both to help influence and shape the future of sport and to raise the profile of sport.

Anna Danby, The Fort William Mountain Festival co-ordinator, said:

“Congratulations to Hannah Smith on the Youth Award. It is obvious to see from Hannah’s relatively short career to date that she has always been fired up by her own goals, whether that be as competitive climber, a highly motivating youth climbing coach or an English teacher, always working hard for the benefit of others to meet those goals and never allowing anything to knock her drive to succeed. It is obvious that Hannah has put considerable energy into sharing her passion and skills for climbing, while contributing a huge amount to the climbing community at a very young age.”

Lydia Rohmer, Principal and Chief Executive, UHI North, West and Hebrides said:

“UHI North, West and Hebrides continue to be privileged to sponsor The Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture. This year’s worthy recipient, Hannah, is clearly an exceptional young woman whose determination and resilience to pursue her passion has led her down new and exciting paths.

“We were most impressed by her commitment to coach and mentor other young athletes and to be an advocate seeking to influence the future of her sport. At the School of Adventure Studies here in Fort William we aim to instil in our students exactly this sort of vision; to pursue their own unique career paths whilst maintaining the highest professional standards in their chosen specialism and at the same time a willingness to share their passion with others. We offer our heartiest congratulations to Hannah and wish her every success in the future.”