BMC CLUBS GE T INVOLV ED
Climbing, hill walking and mountaineering clubs are great places to meet new people, explore new places and generally have a great time. They come in many types: from small to large, local to national, so there’s something for most tastes.
JOIN A CLUB What is a club?
A climbing or mountaineering club is a group of like-minded people whose main focus is to spend time out in the mountains. Clubs started off as social gatherings where climbers and walkers planned their weekend and holiday exploits, and that hasn’t changed very much at all over time. One of the great strengths of climbing, hill walking and mountaineering clubs is that they are packed full of people with a wide range of experience and involvement. They are great places to start planning trips abroad and to remote parts of Britain. There’s often someone who has been to your planned destination, or who knows someone who has. Clubs are a great source of partners and information and, most importantly, enthusiasm. Many clubs are parent friendly, which means that family memberships are available, and some meets during the year will be specifically designed with families in mind. Most clubs have some sort of “aspirant membership”, where you can join for a reduced fee and see how you get on. The majority of aspirants then stay on and become full members. Most clubs have a geographical base with many of its members living in the local area. Other clubs are known as ‘national clubs’. These clubs tend not to have the same programme of local evening meetings as they will have members living across the whole of the country. However, it’s still worth checking out what a ‘national club’ can offer as some will have local meetings in areas with a concentration of members. The national clubs tend to be the biggest clubs with the most members and will often own several huts for their members to use.
Club meets All clubs have meets throughout the year varying from a Saturday walk in the local hills to a weekend in North Wales, a week in Scotland, the Alps, climbing in Yosemite or hitting the heights in the Himalayas and many other places in between. Clubs will sometimes stray a little from their main focus of climbing, walking and mountaineering by offering their members opportunities in other outdoor activities such as mountain biking and caving.
Most weekend meets that clubs organise will be held at one of the multitude of mountain huts across the UK or at a campsite with close proximity to the crag / hills. Many clubs have their own huts in mountain
areas, which are not really huts at all, more like converted farmhouses and cottages. They provide a further social and outdoor focus for the club and its members, and offer cheap but quality accommodation which serves as comfortable bases for long weekends in the mountains. BMC affiliated clubs are able to hire out a hut from another BMC club allowing its members the opportunities to explore more of the UK. There are currently huts in Scotland, the Lake District, Yorkshire, the Peak District, North and Mid Wales and the South West of England through this programme.
How extensive a meets programme is will usually depend on the size of the club – the larger the club the more meets throughout the year. However, one of the big advantages of joining a club is meeting people who would be eager to go outdoors with you even if it isn’t on a formal meet. Apart from the outdoor experiences that club membership will give you, clubs are a great social scene too. It’s not always fleeces and big boots, as many clubs have annual dinners, film nights, talks and presentations, and non-climbing/walking nights out and days in. Members are likely to meet regularly on a weekday evening, will often climb at the local indoor climbing wall(s), and then head outdoors at the weekend.
Training
More and more clubs are willing to take on inexperienced climbers, and walkers although some prefer you to have some experience and equipment. There is a time-honoured system of informal, hands-on instruction from the more experienced members, and it’s a system that works well.
If your local club requires you to have some basic skills, you may wish to consider attending an outdoor rock climbing course through your local climbing wall or a BMC course before going outdoors with club members. Mountain Training offer courses in hill & mountain skills and in climbing skills that are ideal for those wanting to learn new skills (
www.mountain-training.org).
If you would like to take advantage of the support that clubs can offer it is best to talk to your local club to see if their offer matches your need. Find your local club at
www.thebmc.co.uk/organisations/clubs.
46 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72