Youth trad climbing weekends
Some young people have friends or family to get them out on real rock, but the BMC has a few avenues for those who don’t. One avenue is the BMC youth climbing weekends, which run about five times per year, normally two in North Wales, one in the Lake District, two in the Peak District and sometimes we do another in Cornwall or Devon. These weekends give about 15 young people aged from 10-17 the opportunity to climb with experienced adult trad climbers, tackling classics while learning key skills. Climbs such as Flying Buttress, Doorway, Christmas Crack, Bow Wall, Valkyrie, Kipling Groove amongst many others can leave a lasting impression.
Anyone who is a safe and competent trad climber can get involved to help, and over the years we’ve also had a few well-known volunteers like Emma Twyford, Katy Whittaker, Ben Bransby and my favourite trustafarian, Tom Livingstone. Big shout out to the volunteers who have helped on these weekends over the years, particularly Ellie Fuller and Nina Stirrup who have helped on loads. And thanks to DMM for supporting the events for the last few years, too. The youth meets cost little, with the money going towards the cost of the accommodation.
Find out more:
www.thebmc.co.uk/outdoor-trad-climbing-days-for-young-people
Subsidised instruction for youths and parents Another way the BMC helps support young people who want to climb outside is through a partnership with the Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI). We offer one-day sport and one-day trad climbing courses with highly qualified and experienced instructors, who can teach lead climbing in a progressive and appropriate manner. These cost just £50, which includes parental instruction, and there are free courses available for anyone who lives in rented accommodation and receives income support. For more experienced young climbers we also offer performance sport courses. For adults who want to learn more about trad climbing we’ve developed the Ready to Rock courses, again cheap one-day courses making sure people are safe with the basics, and there are also free places available for people on income support. Mountain Training have also started to offer one and two-day courses called Rock Skills, which complement the ones the BMC offer.
Find out more:
www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-youth-coach-training-weekend-sunderland www.thebmc.co.uk/outdoor-sport-climbing-course-for-young-people www.thebmc.co.uk/performance-youth-sport-course www.mountain-training.org/personal-skills/rock-skills
“Helping people develop an enthusiasm for climbing, walking and the outdoors can have an incredibly positive impact on their lives.”
Considering urban youngsters and career pathways for young people When I first started working for the BMC I was asked to explore avenues for getting urban youngsters into climbing. We did pilots in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool and set up some sessions in climbing walls with the idea of getting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds independent indoors. The BMC also has an agreement with the excellent charity Urban Uprising, to promote and support their work with young people through climbing. It has been found that showing people that there were career options in climbing made them more likely to take up the activity. There is a short report on this by the Sports and Recreational Alliance linked below. Some work has been started between the BMC and Mountain Training, looking at giving direction to people in terms of career pathways in climbing.
There is a lot of scope for the BMC to work with partners such as Mountain Training, the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) and the Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC) to develop resources and initiatives to show young people the opportunities available and help them enjoy these whatever background they are from.
The BMC youth coach training weekends are set up with the help of Mountain Training to give super cheap first step coach training courses to for 14-17 year olds. Work is underway on resources to help schools develop climbing opportunities – their own walls, nearby climbing walls, competitions – giving as clear a picture of development pathways as possible. These were meant to be ready for just after the Olympics but that’s now been set back.
I know there are arguments about increasing participation leading to busy crags and more erosion but realistically I don’t think there will ever be big or even mediocre numbers of people becoming trad climbers. The numbers getting into outdoor bouldering and sport are also relatively modest. Helping people develop an enthusiasm for climbing, walking and the outdoors can have an incredibly positive impact on their lives.
Words: James McHaffie
Find out more:
www.nicas.co.uk www.urbanuprising.org Youth Pathways into climbing and climbing careers:
www.mountain-training.org/help/resources/youth-pathways Sports and Recreational Alliance report on climbing pathways:
sramedia.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/ae55254e-638c- 4766-af6b-ddf7530f7b64.pdf
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