UKC

Just a heads up from the Southampton University Mountaineering Club.

On the weekends of 12th-13th and 18th-20th October we will be having our Freshers' Meets in Peak District, mainly climbing in the Stanage Area. There will be at least 10 climbing groups which may take longer than usual to complete the routes due to teaching. We will also have 2 minibuses and around 5 cars so there may be less parking than usual. 

We will do our best to minimise any disruption to anyone else and the Freshers will be reminded about litter and respecting the crags and other climbers. If you have any issues on the day or any queries relating to this please direct any correspondence to info@sumc.uk .

Dominic So

Meet Secretary for Southampton University Mountaineering Club

Head up to the very far northern end and you won’t need to issue a ‘warning’ at all as no sod else will be there as per usual. All the rock, none of the fuss! 

If the weather’s as crap as it’s been lately, you’ll have the crag to yourselves. If it’s a nice forecast, you might want to have a plan B, as driving all the way from Southampton only to not get a parking spot might be a bit of a jar

Please don't say "Warning" - I think there's no need for that - all are welcome at Stanage - and I hope you all have a great time at your Freshers' Meets

Just to avoid confusion:

We've had a moderator on the forums change the wording of our post, making it clearer that this isn't a warning, but a heads up. Sorry if we paniced/confused anyone!

(Harry, SUMC President)

Not sure it was panic or confuse, so much as slightly annoy

Welcome to UKC. Warn people and they get upset, don't warn them and they get upset!

Just go for it, we all had to learn sometime and this is hardly busiest time of the year. Climbers just need to suck it up and accept they don't own the crag.

Have fun 

Given the amount of rain we've had and the Friday-Sunday forecast, a Canoe Club meet may be a better bet for the weekend.

Can you also post which indoor wall you will go to if the weather is bad. 

Did you actually see the wording of the original heading and content before it was 'moderated'?

Thanks for letting us know. Have a great time

Which is probably the reason why my original post has received so many dislikes and now reads totally out of context to your amended version.

Ah! Well....   

Basically if you're doing the following then any one who objects is being a bit of an arse (hopefully I've not missed anything important although I'm sure others could easily add to the list).

1. You're splitting up into small groups of say 3-4 people (maybe 5 at a stretch).
2. Each small group is only on one route at a time.
3. Each small group is not hogging a route for an unreasonable amount of time - what's unreasonable? - time it takes for one person to lead (or set up a top-rope) and for the others to climb the route - acknowledging that as beginners they may take quite a bit longer.
4. You're not leaving unattended top-ropes hanging down routes with no visible indication that anyone is likely to use the rope in the next couple of minutes.
5. You're not trying routes that are way beyond the beginners' capabilities.
6. You're not abseiling down hard routes that may rely on small pebbles/ripples/whatever that will be damaged by "heavy" abseiling.
7. You're not leaving litter.

All of these points (except the last 2) apply more strongly to popular areas (such as Stanage Popular) and even more strongly to "classic" popular routes; people are less likely to be concerned about a group taking longer on a route that no-one else is fussed to climb (obviously).

The last 2 points should apply everywhere, always, to everyone (not just students).

It would also be nice if you could teach newbies that cleaning your feet before stepping onto the rock will not only give them more chance of success, it will also reduce wear on the rock.

Would it be ok if you had several such small groups on adjacent routes? - probably, but what wouldn't be ok is if you had groups 1, 2 & 3 on routes A, B & C and then you just swapped so that 1, 2 & 3 were on B, C & A. That would be seen as hogging the routes.

Finally, top-roping rather than leading - that's fine (regardless of any opinions given by "superior" types who believe that leading should somehow have precedence *) as long as you don't end up hogging the route for too long.

* - the only precedence that leading has over top-roping is in the potential to have a deeper, more fulfilling experience, and that in the realisation, you usually do have a deeper, more fulfilling experience (IMO).

I'd add that the few University groups I've seen on the crag, who do kindly post regularly each year on UKC, normally meet these requirements and almost to the letter. I've seen Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton, amongst others. All the most terrible group practice I've viewed in the last decade has been with school groups midweek at places like Almscliffe and Ilkley Quarry; dragged flailing up damp classic climbs way to hard for most of the group with dirty trainers and in one case (at Ilkley) threats of violence for questioning this. The biggest problem I think we have is with some group instructor training... way more so than with student groups who post on UKC. 

I'm guessing and generalising here, but over the last 10-20 (?) years university groups (not just climbing) have become increasingly insurance/liability aware, so a number of them will have thought "let's see what the BMC has to say about this" and so will have gone to their training sessions, etc, and gradually good practice has spread.

In contrast (and generalising again), a number of those who have got their SPA will be lacking in humility, so will come across as arrogant tw*ts who think they know it all.

Of course, being an arrogant tw*t is not limited to those who have an SPA and getting an SPA doesn't automatically make you an AT.

I'm glad we've made a good impression! We'll try our best to keep it that way...

We run a session for our leaders before our Freshers' Meets every year and go over all the basics to make sure every group teaches the Freshers everything they need to know (crag etiquette included).

Cheers for the heads up, as I'm heading there too this weekend but you left out the most important information. Which pub will you be going?

Did you receive my email?

Sorry I didn’t get around to replying to all of your replies before this weekend - we’ve (hopefully understandably) been a bit swamped organising everything!

First weekend went really well, and all our Freshers got a good full day of climbing in on Saturday. 
 

Here’s some extra details for this coming weekend based on some of your replies: 

• We’ll only head to an indoor wall if both days are a write-off. When we do we normally head to Awesome Walls so we can still get some belay teaching in.
• When only one day has bad weather we normally head to Outside/Alpkit/Hathersage early in the morning, moving onto a walk (normally at Ladybower) before heading back early.
• We normally head back to the scout hut instead of a pub when we’re in these big groups, but it was good to see some of you after our walk on Sunday! 
   

I think we’ll be heading to Burbage North, Bamford or High Neb next weekend! 
 

Again, any problems/questions I’m always super happy to address them, so shoot me an email pres@sumc.uk!