Dan is an experienced, enthusiastic outdoor educator. In his role as Senior Tutor at Derwent Hill Dan has had the pleasure of designing and delivering corporate development training courses for companies such as Nissan, the NHS, Hitachi, Thales and BAE. As an associate member of the Outdoor Education Advisors Panel he delivers training courses and advises schools across the north of England on Educational Visits.
In 1995 Dan left university in York with a BA Hons degree in History and American Studies. He immediately gained a job at an outdoor centre in the
Yorkshire Dales as he had actually spent quite a lot of his time in York rock climbing and kayaking as well as studying History.
This was not the career path he had imagined as he had not believed it possible that you could get paid for doing a job that you absolutely loved. In the 10 years that he worked in the Dales, Dan rose to Head of Centre and led the Centre through the traumatic foot and mouth crisis of 2001. Dan gained a broad portfolio of National Governing Body awards in rock climbing, mountain walking, canoeing and kayaking, caving and mountain biking.
In 2004 Dan and his family moved across to the Lake District. This also enabled Dan to get out fell running over the mountains surrounding Keswick after work. In the school holidays the Steels family escape to the Alps and to Scotland to climb. Dan still absolutely loves his job and he believes that the power of the outdoors as an educator for young people and adults is more important than ever.