Snowdonia Adventures

Mark Handford manages the day to day running of the business, and the company employs a core team of highly experienced and qualified instructors to help deliver courses and adventure activities. Mark holds the following qualifications: Winter Mountain Leader Summer Mountain Leader Rock climbing Instructor RYA Powerboat 2 Coastal endorsement Rescue 3 Europe Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Technician (SRT) Rescue 3 Europe Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Boat Operator (SFRBO) Qualified competent person for inspection of PPE by Helix Tactical BCU Performance Award Sea Kayak (3 Star) & White Water Kayak (3 Star) LCML training Rescue Emergency Care Level 2 1st Aid (REC) Mark is also a National Navigation Award Scheme Gold Level Course Provider and Tutor Course Provider and is the NNAS course moderator for North Wales and Anglesey. He also has membership of the following organisations British Mountaineering Council Mountain Training Association Snowsport Scotland Canoe Wales, The National Governing Body for paddlesports in Wales Fédération Internationale des Patrouilles de Ski National Coasteering Charter Mountain Rescue UK Mark has a long history with mountain rescue. In the UK he was a team member of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation as a trainee in October 2005 and then as a full team member from 2006-2011. Mountain Rescue in Nepal Whilst in Nepal in 2003/4, Mark was a volunteer member of the Nepalese Himalayan Rescue Association and volunteer outreach worker for Medicins Sans Frontiers in Manang, Nepal. Lowland Rescue Association Mark was a founding member and training officer for the first Lowland Rescue Team in Wales, Mon-SAR from 2015 – 2017 and has the following qualifications Lowland Rescue Search Technician Search Party Leader Instructor Search Manager and Planner Lowland Rescue Search Technician Assessor TAQA – Training, Assessment & Quality Assurance, Level 3 IQA – Internal Quality Assurance, Level 4 SARMAN software qualified for search management Specialist Search Dogs Mark is a qualified, assessed by David Jones and Gavin Roberts, cadaver search dog handler with his spaniel ‘Missy’. He has delivered presentations at seminars for land and water search with search dogs, as well as conducted ongoing searches in the UK for missing persons. Mark has also attended IKAR conferences for continued professional development. Whilst working as a consultant for International Rescue Training Centre Wales, he also help develop the Dangerous Dogs Handling course and delivered it to numerous candidates in the UK and also to environment agency and council officers in Northern Ireland. Also whilst at IRTCW he also helped organise, deliver and present at two specialist water search seminars, the first at Hawley Lake by Gibraltar Barracks and then at Trent Lock, Nottingham. Rafting in Nepal In 2003 he was part of a team providing the first commercial white water rafting expeditions with Equator Expeditions, undertaking an expedition on the mighty Sunkoshi River as well as the upper and lower sections of Bohte Koshi.