Matt Stygall

July 19, 2022

I’m a part-time member of the instructional team, specializing in all things mountain-based, both summer and winter. A large part of my work is with the national governing body (NGB) awards, but I also work with the skills courses at Plas y Brenin.
It’s great to see folk come through on skills courses or NGB courses, watching them grow and gain experience and ultimately pass an assessment they have been working so hard for.
Some of the most enjoyable parts of my work are people achieving their goals and experiencing that team feeling of reaching a summit or topping out on a route!

Achievements

Over the years, I have been on many expeditions; some were successful, and others were not (I’m still getting over them!).
I have been to Alaska, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, The Alps, Norway, Patagonia and America. Some highlights were a fantastic trip to Yosemite big wall climbing, time in Patagonia climbing dream routes on Fitzroy and the surrounding peaks.
On the shorter trips, I have been able to have ski touring adventures to Iceland and, believe it or not, Scotland! I also try my hardest to get to Scotland in the early seasons to start the suffering. It’s a great time of year: short days, major routes, quiet and challenging weather; what more do you need?
Each year my work takes me to the Alps, and I have a week’s climbing before the season starts, which from year to year has been exceptional due to the diverse routes you can climb there. Professionally I’m proud of becoming a British Mountain Guide. It was a long journey, but every bit of it was worth it, possibly the best job in the world!

Ambitions

Well, if there was one mountain to climb, for me it would be Cerro Torre. I don’t mind which route. It would be a dream come true. I first read about the mountain in a book called Enduring Patagonia, the team finally made the summit and the selfie is the picture I would like to take and put on my wall.
Other ambitions would be to complete all the six North Face routes in the Alps. I have two left to do; the Eiger and Matterhorn (the easy ones!). There is also an endless list of winter routes to do, not to mention summer rock climbing or all the 4000’ers.