Welcome

Hello all and welcome to the first issue of the monthly newsletter, which is also the Christmas issue! In this article you should hope to find out about what the club has been, and will be getting up to in the last month or so and the near future. As well as all things trips, committee and events.

We have had a pretty miserable few weeks of wet weather, followed by the cold snap. Hopefully things remain less wet and we can all get out climbing and walking in good weather. Failing that we’ll retreat inside to the gym or the pub.

Meet your new committee!

Following the AGM in November, the club now has its new committee, with some new faces, and old as well as some new roles.

Chair

Helen Burgess

I am back for another year of being Chair of AMC!

I’ve been climbing, walking and even a bit of mountaineering since my 20’s. Starting with a solid grounding of trad climbing, but this year has been a year of sport. I have recently become really interested in the climbing mindset, especially around our fear of falling. I led my first 7a in 2022 and intend to continue this journey in 2023! I love climbing on warm bolted limestone crags in another country…

In 2023 I will be back to trad, working towards my goal of leading ‘Left Wall’.

In the winter I can be found in Redpoint falling off relentlessly with Kate and in the summer the sandstone bolted crags of South Wales.

I hope to meet lots of you on our adventures in 2023. 🙂

Treasurer

Peter Collins

I do what it says on the tin. I look after the money! I have been treasurer for three years.

I’ve been climbing, walking and mountaineering for a long time…These days it’s more walking and scrambling and bigger peaks in different parts of the world that interest me. I hope to meet you at a club meet soon.

Membership Secretary

Mike Spooner

I’ve been climbing 12 years after first discovering it via my uni club. I joined the AMC in 2021 to meet new climbers after relocating to Bristol and somehow I’ve ended up on the committee.

I’m a jack-of-all trades climber and picking my favourite discipline is like picking a favourite child. I’m equally at home pulling hard and sunbathing in Kalymnos or shivering and suffering up a wet gully in Scotland.

Secretary

Lauren Corbett

I’ve been involved with the club on and off since 2014 including 2 years as Secretary. I was first introduced to climbing in 2008 at an indoor wall for something to do, then became instantly hooked. I was then lucky enough to meet friends at work that were into trad. Now a days my favourite thing is a long easy multi pitch mountain route or a nice sunny sea cliff. Ive done a few winter Scotland trips and hope to get up there again as soon as the conditions are right.

Meets Officer

Simon Perrett

I’ve been a member of AMC for just under two years and have been on trips to The Lakes, North Wales (twice) and Lundy with the club. My main interest is trad climbing on sea cliffs, however my journey to trad climbing started through hiking and scrambling in Snowdonia, The Lakes and Glen Coe when furloughed in 2020. Since then I’ve been to some awesome crags across the UK and hopefully in 2023 I’ll help organise lots of great trips for our members!

Equipment Officer

Matt Langley

I fell into climbing late in life and yet years later I am still hooked as I was when I started. Boulder by trade, but now a keen sport and no shadow less trad head. Thanks to the club I have been active in many trips and cannot wait for 2023 to get, wishfully, sending. As winner of complete incompetence (aka The Rusy Pion Award, 2022/23) I have much still to learn in the many facets of climbing.

Social and Communications Officer

Owen Portch

Hello, I’ve been a member of the AMC for just shy of two years and have been climbing for three. I have been on a number of trips with the club, both official and ones organised with people I have met through the club. They have included, North Wales, the Lakes, The Isle of Skye, Scotland in the winter and day trips around the south. My main focus is trad climbing and I love adventurous venues, whether it be single or multi pitch. I like to get up to Scotland in the winter when time and conditions permit. I do also enjoy going to the bouldering gym when it’s too wet outside! Looking forward to improving the clubs communications and getting everyone involved. Hope to meet you at the crag or the pub!

Climbing Officer

Chris Garland

I’ve been climbing on and off for almost fifteen years now, but more recently it has completely taken over my life! The last few years have seen a lot of sport climbing and bouldering both in the UK and in sunnier climes, although I’m currently getting into trad more as well – working towards some sea cliff adventures hopefully. Had a really good time with the AMC trip to Kalymnos, and am also very keen to go back there…

I am constantly fascinated by the ways that mindset affects climbing, and spend a lot of time thinking about both climbing movement and fear – and always happy to work on falling!

Walking Officer

Nika Obydzinski

I’m very excited to be joining the committee and going walking with you all soon! My feet have taken me to wonderful places all over the world, with my current favourite being Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain because of the excellent scramble to reach the summit. My favourite trail snack is cheese and crackers, and this year my goal is to help coordinate more walking activities in the club, and to undertake one big trekking adventure for myself somewhere abroad.

Web Officer

This role is currently vacant and we would love somebody to step up and take the role. If you want to be part of the clubs committee and feel like you might be up for the role, please don’t hesitate to contact Helen or anyone else on the committee about any questions or taking on the role.

New Monthly Pub meet venue!

Starting in the new year on the 4th of January we will have a new venue to host our monthly pub meet!

The monthly meets will now take place at the Nova Scotia, using their function room

Not only a new venue, but it will now be held on the first Wednesday of each month, starting from the 4th of January.

This should hopefully suit more people in the club compared to a Monday.

The Nova Scotia also serves food and has a lovely and large outdoor seating area for those warm sunny evenings.

I hope to see you there in the new year and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask

2023 Trips.

As always, we have an amazing selection of trips coming up this year. Simon Perret is trips coordinator this year and will be ensuring that the trips are advertised well in advance for people to book on to and help with any queries. However, trips need always need an organiser for the individual trip to ensure they run, the requirements are very small and do not require any supervising. So please if you are interested in organising let Simon know and he can send you over the details you’ll need.

Below are a list of trips and day meets happening in the coming months. Further details can be found on the club forum.

Trips happening in the next 3 months.

Snowdonia (hut) – 13th Jan – 15th Jan (Organiser – Max Coney) – A classic trip to the mountains. North Wales has it all and something to do whatever the weather. Trad, sport, bouldering, walking and even winter climbing (if you’re lucky) all within a short drive of the hut. This trip is taking place at the Plas y Brenin hut, allowing all goers to have somewhere warm and dry to retreat to at the days end.

Walking day trip (Wye Valley) – 21st January (Organiser – Nika Auberginski) – The first of some regular day trip walks. Nika is leading this trip around the lovely Wye Valley with the promise of a pint and food at the end! All weather fun.
Lake District (hut) – 10th Feb – 12th Feb (Organiser required!) – A similar vein to North Wales and also staying in a hut!
Womens Walk (Location TBC) – 18th Feb. (Organiser – Nika Auberginski) – A womens only walking day trip. Great for all the women within the club to easily get involved and meet others!
Scotland (hut) – 4th March – 11th March (Organiser – Anne Silber) – This is a classic AMC trip and not one to be missed. Currently still has a small number of spaces left. Heading up to the Scottish Highlands for a winter trip. Teams will be hoping to get on winter walks, climbs and general winter mountaineering activities. Please note you must have adequate winter experience to take part in the trip. Please contact Anne for any further questions.
Portland (hut) – 17th – 19th Feb.

A trip to the sunny Isle and sport climbing climbing paradise of Portland. A great location for sport climbing on portland or perhaps even some sea cliff trad in Swanage. What’s not to love about this trip? A warm hut for the evenings will be a great benefit. But hey its always good weather over in Portland?

Scotland CIC Hut – 28th March – 1st April (Organiser – Jamie Evans) – A soon to be classic trip. Involving an overnight drive and 4 days on the North Face of the Ben, smashing out winter routes and classic ice climbs in the best time of the season! This trip is currently fully booked but don’t hesitate to contact Jamie to get on first reserve! This trip generally requires people with prior winter experience. People should be confident at climbing a minimum of grade III/IV Scottish winter.

Technique and movement workshop.

Due to the success of our trial coaching workshops we have decided to run more in 2023!

They will run twice a month January to March and all be held at Redpoint on a Saturday 4-6pm when it is quieter. Kat will be the coach for each session. She and Mike run ‘labyrinth Coaching- pleas see link to their website below…..

https://www.labyrinthclimbing.co.uk

Each session will cost £17 for 2 hours of coaching in a Group of 6.

Here are the dates and topics each workshop will cover-

Fall practice (bouldering) on 7th January

Committing to moves high up is scary, so learn to land properly and build this up at a manageable rate

Route reading on 28th January

Ever get lost on a route or get surprised by the moves or holds? Route reading allows you to spot movement patterns and identify options for hard sequences.

Dynamic movement on 25th February

Use your lower body to generate momentum to make big moves easier and latch far away holds.

If you would like to come on any of the sessions please comment below.

You will need to pay for the session upfront (I will send a link to pay) or the place will be offered to another person.

The sessions we have run over the last 2 weeks have been excellent and everyone learnt a lot.

So if you want to focus on your technique and movement ready for a fantastic climbing season in 2023- here is your chance!

AMC Award winners 2022 and 2021.

2022

Web article – Conor McGlacken for the Bosigran trip report.

Golden Ice Axe– Jamie Evans

Trip organiser– Paul harrison

Achievement – Kate Rutherford for all her hard work with fall practice this year and Connor McGlacken for his improvements in his Rock Climbing.

Rusty Piton – Steve noble and Matt Langley

2021

Trip organiser of the year – Jake Griffiths

Web article of the year – Liv and Emma – for the women’s meet article

AND Kathy Begley – For her introduction of the monthly video.

Achievement of the year – Charlie Green for gaining his ML qualification, and now RCI. Good luck to you and Emma in Canada too!

Rusty Piton – Lisa Lewis

Golden ice axe – Jamie Evans

BMC

Jonathan Conville Mountaineering Trust – Applications are now open for the 2023 Jonathan Conville Memorial Trust alpine mountaineering courses for 18 to 30 year olds, with 50% of the course cost met by Trust.

Two-day JCMT Alpine Preparation Courses will be delivered in North Wales during April and May. The course fee of £99 covers all instruction delivered at a 1:4 ratio by a BMG Guide and two nights self-catering accommodation at White Peris near Llanberis.

Three-day JCMT Alpine Mountaineering Courses will be delivered in Chamonix during June and July. The course fee of £180 covers all instruction delivered at a 1:3 ratio by a BMG Guide. Not included are campsite fees and any cable car uplift costs that may be incurred during the course. Successful applicants will need to hold rescue insurance which the BMC can provide with our Alpine & Ski policy.

Applications can be made on the JCMT website or via a link on the BMC website.

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/apply-now-for-subsidised-mountaineering-courses

https://www.jcmt.org.uk/courses

Local Events

Professional Scottish Rock Climber Robbie Phillips is coming to Bristol on the 31st of January 2023 to the Patagonia Bristol Store.

Part of Robbies ‘Edge of the World’ tour Robbie will be visiting numerous cities across the UK, including Bristol, delivering adventurous tales and screening a new film of his.

Currently tickets don’t appear to be available but as soon as I am aware of how to attend I will make it known!

GWR Bolt fund

The people managing the GWR bolted fund have been working hard at re-equipping routes across the South West, particularly recently at wintours leap. The recent work has massively improved the safety of the crag and ease of lowering off the tops.

The fund relies totally off voluntary work and donations and there I ask if you care about the places you climb at and can spare some small change, please consider donating. Donations can be made by following the link below and via PayPal. No matter how small the donation will be appreciated. Thanks.

http://greatwesternrock.co.uk/donate/

Finally, from all of the AMC, we wish you a wonderful Christmas and a happy New year. Let’s fill 2023 with some great trips, memories and visits to the pub (starting on the 4th)

Thank you,

Owen Portch