ABOUT ADVENTURE BURN
Simon Byrne is the main instructor and owner at Adventure Burn. He is passionate about all things outdoors and aims to bring you on a quality adventure through hillwalking or rock climbing. He loves including plenty of facts about history, nature and the environment into his walks, meaning you will always walk away having learnt something new!
Growing up on the Beara peninsula in West Cork provided Simon with the space to explore and discover his love of nature and hillwalking. From the age of 16 he spent his weekends and holidays planning extensive long-distance walks through the Caha mountains. After school Simon started working towards his qualifications in rock climbing and hillwalking. He spent time freelancing at adventure centres and gaining experience before establishing Adventure Burn in 2010.
In 2018 Simon completed a BA in Outdoor learning shortly before taking a brief hiatus from Adventure Burn to take on a role of an activity manager. Here he received training with IOSH and found an interest in risk management and assessment. In 2023 Simon reopened Adventure Burn, focusing on providing quality guided hill walks and adventures.
Simon has gained qualifications in the 17 years he has been active in the outdoor sports sector such as:
- Mountain Leader (ML)
- Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI)
- Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI)
- ERCA Park Instructor & Generic Rescuer
- Leave No Trace Trainer
- Level 2 Kayak Instructor
- Level 2 Canoeing Instructor
Simon has First Aid training (Rescue Emergency Care 3) which is renewed every 2 years and has completed Child protection/ Safeguarding training. He has completed an Off-site safety management course, an IOSH managing safely course and has completed Inclusive abilities activity training amongst other training courses relevant to the sector. Adventure Burn is fully insured for both rock-climbing and Hillwalking.
Simon is passionate about working in the outdoor environment; however, he is equally as passionate about spending his downtime in the mountains or on the rock both at home and abroad. While he is just as content to be rambling around a local hill or climbing a 6000m mountain, he is never one to shy away from a challenge.
In 2014 he took on a personal challenge called Project Mountain Goat in which he completed all 407 mountains of Ireland (Arderins and Vander-Lynam's) in one year. From this he has gained extensive knowledge of the Irish Mountains in which he continues to explore both professionally and personally. Simon is the only person so far to complete this immense challenge in one year.
Since then, he has spent time in Germany trying to complete another challenge, Project 180 to try climb all 186 mountains over 2000m in the Bavarian Alps, still yet to be successfully completed. In 2019 he successfully summited Denali, the highest mountain in North America at 6190m known for its challenging weather conditions. He has more recently summited Kilimanjaro, his second mountain complete of the seven summits. Additionally he has also worked leading trips to Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp in Nepal.
Currently he lives in Wicklow with his wife Joanna and dog; Jet. When he’s not planning his next adventure, he likes relaxing with a good movie or book, a proper cup of tea and a biscuit or two, or three! He loves woodworking, canoeing and a day indoors the odd time but it’s definitely the mountains and wild spaces that call him!
