Real Challenges, Real Growth

SummitCraft CIC delivers structured outdoor programmes for adults aged 18 and over across Leicestershire and the wider East Midlands. Participants are drawn primarily from those aged 18-24 who are not in education, employment or training, on low incomes, unemployed, care leavers, or living in areas of high deprivation.

Green grassy landscape with a small herd of sheep grazing near a mountainside. A dirt path runs along the edge of the grass. The mountain is covered with green grass and rocks. The sky is blue with wispy clouds and the sun shining brightly overhead.

The Ascent Programme

SummitCraft's Ascent programme is an entry-tier, single-day format for beneficiaries aged 18–24 who are NEET, care leavers, unemployed, or residents in an IMD-defined deprived area. For most participants, this is a first exposure to structured reflective practice, and often a first genuine experience of the outdoors, built around an achievable challenge rather than a demanding one.

The day introduces SummitCraft's six Core Skills at foundation level. Communication and Teamwork develop through the shared, achievable challenge itself. Problem-Solving and Adaptability develop through working in unfamiliar outdoor terrain, often for the first time. Critical Thinking develops through the structured reflective practice that closes the day. Time Management is introduced only lightly at this stage, in keeping with an achievable rather than demanding challenge, and is built on properly at Ridgeline.

Hikers walking across a grassy field under a cloudy sky, wearing backpacks and outdoor clothing.

The Ridgeline Programme

SummitCraft's Ridgeline programme is a core-tier, sustained-challenge format for participants aged 18–24 who are developing leadership or responsibility, however informal. Delivered as a single day or a two-day residential, the format puts participants on real terrain, under real time pressure, with real accountability to the rest of the group, closing with a structured debrief that gives the cohort space to reflect on what the terrain demanded of them, at a pace the group can genuinely handle together.

The sustained format lets all six Core Skills develop rather than be introduced. Communication and Teamwork develop through the accountability participants hold to one another. Problem-Solving and Adaptability develop through real, unscripted terrain rather than a simulated one. Time Management develops through the genuine time pressure built into the challenge itself. Critical Thinking develops through the closing structured debrief, carried forward and deepened from the reflective practice introduced at Ascent

A hiker walking through a lush green mountain landscape with rolling hills, distant mountains, and cloudy sky in the background.

Workshops

SummitCraft's workshop format is a single-day, facilitator-led session that blends three elements: a practical outdoor skill activity, a team-based problem-solving challenge, and a structured personal reflection component, all delivered outdoors and adapted to a wet-weather indoor alternative where needed.

Each element is built around SummitCraft's six Core Skills: the outdoor skill activity develops Problem-Solving and Adaptability, the team challenge develops Teamwork, Communication, and Problem-Solving, and the reflection component develops Critical Thinking. Time Management is introduced only lightly at this stage, in keeping with an achievable challenge rather than a demanding one, and is built on properly at Ridgeline. Each session is built around a small group and is designed so that every participant has at least one visible moment of practical achievement during the day, whether through completing a skill, contributing to a team solution, or speaking during a closing reflection.