The BMC Leading Ladder and Hey You University Clubs!

© mickJ
It's nearly here isn't it?

The chalk storms, the rain dribbles, the snow begins to fly and the sun beats down on foreign climbs.

It's climbing wall season - and hey let's pray for beautiful autumn days out on rock as well - time to plan trips to Sun Rock, time to sharpen the axes in preparation for, we hope, another amazing season, and yes those bloody students are gathering en masse at a crag near you.

Winter approaches.

The BMC Leading Ladder

There's no better way of getting fit, and maybe even climbing a bit harder, than committing yourself to the BMC Leading Ladder - or climbing with a super multi-sport athlete like Jon Morgan as I did this afternoon at The Edge in Sheffield as the rain beat down on Steel City's pavements. I live in hope.

The BMC Leading Ladder is a fun and informal competition held at many of our local walls - 30 of them - with routes ranging from 5+ to 8a. They start early October and end in March.

Full details here: The BMC Leading Ladder Explained

Dates and Venues are here: BMC Leading Ladder Dates 2010 - 2011

Freshers Meets - post up details of your club trips here!

photo
A busy time at Troy Quarry, Lancashire © mickJ, May 2008

With the students back and hard at work studying, it's time for the university climbing clubs to take their fresh meat out to the crag. This can cause problems, and raise tempers if the crag you decided to spend your precious Saturday or Sunday is crowded with new climbers taking their first steps into the vertical world - some crags get as busy as Malham Lower Wall or Kilnsey Crag on a dry weekend!

Some clubs have already posted on the UKC forums alerting climbers where they are going to be and a big thanks for that.

However, Rob Dyer, the new BMC Access & Conservation Officer, has formalised this 'Freshers's Meet Alert' with a post in the BMC forums at UKC, he writes:


"As the start of the new academic year is upon us, uni climbing clubs will soon be heading out onto the crags for freshers meets. I thought I'd start a thread for clubs to post up their plans which will hopefully serve a double purpose of helping the clubs choose a venue where they won't queuing for routes with several other clubs, whilst also letting other climbers know that groups will be using certain crags so they can adjust their plans accordingly (if they want to). Basic information such as locations, dates and rough numbers attending would be a good starting point and having all the information on one thread will make it easier for everyone to use.

Here's a link to the BMC's 'Green Guide to the Uplands' which gives advice on group use of crags in sections 11, 12 and 13 (pages 20-24): www.thebmc.co.uk/greenguides

I've also emailed all the Uni Club contact email addresses we have in the BMC database in case they don't check UKC. Post away and happy climbing!"


If you are the organiser of a Freshers'climbing meet it would help a great deal if you could post on this thread where you are going to be, and when.


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24 Sep, 2010
Ive just got into climbing (4/5 months now), and i know my university used to have a climbing club. But this year at the freshers fayre they wernt there. Im a 3rd year student a Kingston University London and was wondering if any one knows if there is one. Thanks!
24 Sep, 2010
Just had a look on my old universitys (Aberdeen) Mountineering Club Website which suggests they are planning on heading to Glen Clova 26/09/10. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/student_societies/lairig/trips/
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