Why aren't you a BMC member ?

[Muenchener]

Well, I'm not because I don't live in Britain. I am in the DAV though, and fairly active in the Munich section which is currently engaged in a major campaign to prevent the building of new ski lifts in a supposedly protected area of the Bavarian Alps so Go Us.

When I lived in Britain I was always a member of one BMC-affiliated club or another. I approved of access campaigning, Peak District guidebooks and the like in an abstract sense but tbh it was largely because I found cheap access to huts convenient. (Which come to think of it is also why I'm in the DAV now. Plus insurance plus reduced admission to some climbing walls)

 

[duncan]

I've been a member of the BMC since god-knows-when. As above, joined for insurance and stayed for the access work. I’m currently considering my membership (see below).

The BMC do excellent work keeping cliffs open and communicating effectively with some much more powerful interest groups. I applaud the efforts to broaden the church, if not making climbing generally more popular. The guidebooks are great, the social media activity is often well-done, Summit sometimes has good bits. In the latter two the relationship with the industry seems rather cosy (though I was amused to see the boss favours Decathlon). The breadth of work seems large for an organisation of it’s size, I might expand later but that’s not the focus of this post.

The recent media work has generally been very good, it’s resulted in some excellent films that might not otherwise have appeared. I note Jen Randall’s upcoming film about Andy Kirkpatrick “received generous support from BMC TV”. At first sight, a great idea. Jen has produced some good and original work. Andy has an interesting persona and Psycho Vertical is considered a classic in the small world of climbing literature. To understand how bizarre the BMC’s choice is it helps to be one of Andy’s 10k Twitter followers (nearly as many as The Independent - credit bridbeast - so he’s reaching a good chunk of the climbing world). Andy has interesting and often well-thought-out ideas where he has direct personal experience: engineering his way up big cliffs, relationship difficulties. His ideas where has no direct experience are, erm, less well-thought-out. The most outlandish retweets - breitbart news - tend to get deleted in the morning. This still leaves recent gems implying the post-brexit rise in racist abuse is due to non-White people inventing stories and how it’s wrong to publicise the abuse women get out running because this will put women off exercising. He seems to think he’s just being contrarian, a role I’m sure he relishes, when challenged a common response is along the lines of ‘I’m just putting it out there to see what people think’. Fucking bollocks he is, much of it is vile stuff sourced from some highly unreliable and nasty pieces of work.

Kirkpatrick's views are antithetical to what the BMC does. The BMC shouldn’t imply support by having anything to do with him. Over to you BMC.

 

[dave]

Fuck me, I stopped following AP on Twitter a couple of years back cos of some of the shite he was tweeting, seems like it's gone downhill from then even.

 

[Simon Lee]

Kirkpatrick's views are antithetical to what the BMC does. The BMC shouldn’t imply support by having anything to do with him. Over to you BMC.

[BMC hat is off]Tarka the Otter was written by a fascist. Would you refuse to read it on those grounds or judge within the context of the book on its own literary merits? Don Whillans was a wife beater - perhaps his name should be redacted from BMC guidebooks?[/BMC hat is off]

Not my dept guv :shrug:

 

[seankenny]

Kirkpatrick's views are antithetical to what the BMC does. The BMC shouldn’t imply support by having anything to do with him. Over to you BMC.

[BMC hat is off]Tarka the Otter was written by a fascist. Would you refuse to read it on those grounds or judge within the context of the book on its own literary merits? Don Whillans was a wife beater - perhaps his name should be redacted from BMC guidebooks?[/BMC hat is off]

Not my dept guv :shrug:

The worst example, for me, of AKP's tweets was a link to a Canadian shock jock's YouTube channel where he railed against the new Star Wars movie (it shouldn't have a young woman in the lead role) and also about the new series of Black Mirror. Basically, too many black and Asian people in it. Perhaps a valid criticism of it was set in Orkney, but the three episodes I've seen were set in London and California. The show looked pretty representative of every time I step on the tube.

So yeah, the guy is basically saying "the problem with modern TV - too many blacks". And AKP decided that was something he wanted to promote to his followers.

This isn't about the past, this is about the present and the future. This is about what kind of public environment we want - and should our sporting body support someone who seems okay to say there are just too many brown people on TV?

 

[Duma]

What have your examples got to do with anything shark? No one's suggesting psycho vertical isn't a good book, or that we shouldn't recognise AKs routes.

 

[galpinos]

Wow, bit surprised to read all this about AKP. I don't 'follow' him on social media so my only exposure to him has been through his books and I've seen him speak, I even joined the kickstarter for the film, and what he's said/written didn't cross the line implied in the previous posts. I might have to do a bit of digging....

 

[slackline]

I might have to do a bit of digging....

Start here... https://twitter.com/psychovertical

 

[Oldmanmatt]

Actually, I'm pretty pissed at the BG thing...
I used to organise and lead expeditions. The 1992 Antarctic exped I was 2i/c for had a budget of less than his rescue cost. Even allowing for the Joint Service nature of that one (transport to/from the ice was covered) a quick check shows a ~30% increase to cover the difference.
I mean, ffs, a major dive exped, including exotic gas supplies, chartering dive support vessels etc and into Iranian waters, in 2004; our budget (completed) was £300k (U533 exped).
I took William Hauge and Ffion to Greenland on their honeymoon, in Lord Ashcroft's yacht, in 2000. Cost $400k to charter the "Lady M" for two weeks. Total cost, including Helo trips, local guides, Jet ski hire, Dive guides etc etc etc, $800k. It doesn't get more luxurious than that bloody trip either!
(Imagine a ~100k voyage down the fjords just to get better satcom reception for a ten minute phone call).
BG= Wanker.


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[Johnny Brown]

Christ! Had no idea Hague was so rich he'd be blowing 800k on a holiday. I had that down as Saudi prince stuff.

 

[petejh]

Kirkpatrick's views are antithetical to what the BMC does. The BMC shouldn’t imply support by having anything to do with him. Over to you BMC.

Isn't he just an aid climber anyway? Not real climbing, sketchy rope access.

 

[petejh]

I think I have BMC membership through being in the CC but am not entirely sure.

I'm generally supportive of the BMC and what they do, but see them as still an extremely Anglo-centric organisation. I don't understand the reasons or need for there to be splits between Scotland and Northern Ireland versus England/Wales. In the case of NI in my recent experience there seems to be a case for the BMC to oversee access issues and youth development because Mountaineering Ireland (the body covering both South and North) gives the impression to me of treating NI as a poor relation.

Regards access - I see the BMC as a force for good in general but more in terms of 'they do what they can with limited resources and they're all we have' rather than 'they do a first class job'.

BMC TV - a welcome alternative to more heavily commercialised content (especially 'female boulderer's' adverts for over-caffeinated sugary drink company).

Guidebooks - Love 'em. Grimer and the volunteer writers/researchers are doing a first class job and for me justify the membership fee almost alone. (If I paid it, which I don't).

Insurance - I'm not qualified to comment as I'm guilty of being 'that guy' who usually doesn't bother for trips.

Huts - The CC and other clubs have a great network of huts which is something/main thing that attracted me to the CC. The BMC don't seem t have much stake in running their own hut network (Roaches the only one?) but if the club-hut network ever started to suffer I could foresee this being a useful area for BMC assistance.

And finally the BMC support all sorts of good causes - they helped me and A.B. pay the costs of publishing NW Lime (which we fully repaid within months of release) as they have with various other 'good things'. Funding towards re-equipping the Ormes another one.

 

[Mike Highbury]

Kirkpatrick follows Philip Davies, FFS

 

[Oldmanmatt]

Christ! Had no idea Hague was so rich he'd be blowing 800k on a holiday. I had that down as Saudi prince stuff.

It was a present. From someone else, for whom it was chump change and who was, in fact, my employer.


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[Iesu]

Christ! Had no idea Hague was so rich he'd be blowing 800k on a holiday. I had that down as Saudi prince stuff.

It was a present. From someone else, for whom it was chump change and who was, in fact, my employer.


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Makes me wonder whether that is/was the sort of thing disclosed in the record of Member's interests? Hague was Welsh Secretary at the time wasn't he? Was he as much of a bell-end in person as he came across as over the media?

 

[Will Hunt]

Kirkpatrick follows Philip Davies, FFS

So do I. He's my MP so it's good to be reminded what a twat he is at regular intervals to ensure that I vote against him at every opportunity.

 

[Oldmanmatt]

Ok. Way off topic. I'm fairly sure I was under an NDA, so in brief. The person in question was (is?) a Tory Grandee and officer of the Party. That person was my employer and may, or may not, have had to pay for the yacht. It was a "second" honeymoon, according to Ffion, something about number one being too official. Entertaining Tory shadow ministers was normal and I guess almost treated as Party business. That's what Mega-yachts are for.
I cannot comment on his character, but Ffion was great. She was up for ice diving, riding Wave runners through ice flows etc etc. Other people required a Helo after less than four hours trekking on the ice.

None of this is the BMC's fault. Though I wish Grimer had been there, because the Jam Crack would have been a classic.


All posts either sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or mildly mocking-in-a-friendly-way unless otherwise stated. I always forget to put those smiley things...

 

[Iesu]

None of this is the BMC's fault. Though I wish Grimer had been there, because the Jam Crack would have been a classic.

As a fee paying Member, I take it as my right to blame them for whatever I damn well please! :tease:

 

[jwi]

(Regarding your question, because I'm a member of FFME)

ff: I'm willing to excuse Ezra Pound's fascism on the strength of The Cantos, I'm less willing to excuse Kirkpatrick's on the strength of Psychovertical, which I found whiny, ill-written and self-indulgent.

 

[cheque]

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of Psychovertical either. Even less of a fan of what I've just seen of his Twitter feed. :wank: