UKC

The BMC's South West team are hosting a Festival of Climbing in early September (7th - 9th). The event is based at The Logan Rock Inn and Treen Farm Campsite (next to one another) and everyone is welcome.

Further details will be posted closer to the time, but for now, have a quick shufty at the following article:

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-cornish-climbing-festival

Martin

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Come on down, it's going to be great, and I have it on the highest authority (can't reveal the source) that the weather will be even better than it is at the moment.

The BMC has a good track record in this area, following their extremely successful International Meet in 2010, (with a return next May).

A new CC guide to West Cornwall is in preparation with details of hundreds of excellent new routes from Mod upwards. I'm sure that information on these can be made available for those attending.

In reply to Iain Peters:

Hard to believe that Iain! Unless you mean cooler

It was like the South Pacific over on the south coast last night and no different today frankly!

In reply to Southern Man:

Ditto up here. Was at Baggy yesterday evening and roasted even at 8 oclock, but here's a good bit of beta: the caff near the NT carpark stays open in the evenings (the carpark itself is locked at 9pm, free parking frpm about 6ish). Cold beers, cream teas, and superb local ice cream, Kernow eat your heart out!

One other team on the crag: where is everybody?

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: I intend to be there, but with low tide (Penzance) at 16:23, Saturday and 17:37, Sunday, it will have to be non-tidal venues in the mornings. (If it's anything like the Gower Festival a couple of years ago, it will be brilliant.)

In reply to Mark Kemball: Hi Mark, great, It'll be good to see you and as many other people there as possible.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: There is no BMC block booking at the campsite, so please contact them yourself to ensure a space.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: Yeah, the weather looks good for the weekend. Come join in the fun...

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Where are you getting next weekends forecast from?

In reply to Skip: Afternoon boss. I get it from here. I give you very good forecast!

http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/England/penzance/long.html

In reply to Skip:
Last week there was a good forecast for this week. Forecasts more than a few days away are best not taken too seriously.

In reply to CurlyStevo: This is Cornwall, it's always sunny there. Let's maintain a positive attitude, shall we!

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Weather will be alright, we could always go and topple the Logan Rock again - should be enough of us!

In reply to Southern Man: Cheeky! I might need a few pints of Scruttock's Old Dirigible before anything like that gets approved of.

In reply to Southern Man:
we could always go and topple the Logan Rock again - should be enough of us!

Far too radical. I favour some mass retro-bolting. 2 or 3 in Anvil Chorus, 1 on the crux of LBJ, then there's that crackless section of Alison Rib. the start of Terrier's Tooth and so on. Egg could be Master of Ceremonies!

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: Just to make it clear, the camping is not free. Several people have phoned the campsite expecting this. That's not been stated anywhere, so please don't go asking as refusal often offends!

There are two alternative campsites within a few miles if Treen Farm is full when you get there (no prebooking at Treen Farm):

Treverven: http://treverventouringpark.co.uk/

Tower Park: http://www.towerparkcamping.co.uk/

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

both too expensive for me, any ideas at all how many are expected and the numbers Treen can accommodate?

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: Who is the mystery guest speaker?

In reply to Skip: Morning boss. You'll be paying £8.50 a night at Treen if there's just you and a car and a small tent, and I think it's £12 at Treverven. However, if you click on the google earth view of Treen, it's obviously taken at a busy time, and I'd say there are over 60 tents there, with spaces. I don't think it'll be an issue, but I'm just flagging it up for people now. I have no idea at all how many are expected, not a flipping clue.

In reply to Chris H: Predictaby, it's a mystery to me, I'm not the one organising that bit.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: As the Legions of the Rope look to descend for what looks to be the best weather of the year, I thought I'd offer a welcome to our great county and post a couple of things.

There is the Cornwall Climbing Club website with some local information, our history and there is a link to the tide tables, some of the UKC articles on local crags and photos. Also a link to our Facebook page.

http://www.cornwallclimbingclub.com/Cornwall_Climbing_Club/Cornwall_Climbin...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cornwall-Climbing-Club/117808855001568

For those who get to Chair Ladder and the related area crags, there is a link here showing the cafe at Porthgwarra. It has a new owner, Andy Wahl, a local climber who has upgraded the coffee provision from instant to very drinkable!! I commend it.

http://www.carnscathe.co.uk/id2.html

Have a great time everybody.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC: The weather is looking like it could well be good! Hope to see you all there! http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/sw/penzance_forecast_weather.html

In reply to Mark Kemball: Like I said, I get these things booked and sorted well in advance. Efficient innit.

In reply to aostaman: Great news about the caff, I'll send everyone there for brews and cakes. He does cakes, right?

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Anyone needing a lift from: Pool, Camborne, Redruth, Hayle, Penzance?

Will be heading off around 4.30 pm Friday evening.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Sounds like a pretty stupid question, but how does this whole festival thing work?!

By chance I'll be on holiday in Cornwall over the weekend & the girlfriend has been kind enough to let me climb on Sat. Don't have a climbing partner but I've assumed that part of the point of a climbing festival is a load of people getting together to climb, hence people looking for partners!

Don't really want to make the drive down from Newquay way only to find no one to climb with so can anyone confirm my assumptions or even better, offer sharing a rope?

Competent HVS leader but happy to climb anything at all, half rope, gear, no guidebook

In reply to Joemanglerocks: You've got the idea! I'll be there with a mate and my 11 year old son, hopefully climbing up to E1 /E2 but more likely doing easier classics, thinking of going to Chair Ladder on Saturday. You're welcome to join us if you don't get a better offer!

In reply to Mark Kemball:
Chair Ladder is my plan for Saturday: Pendulum Chimney and Terriers Tooth on the list.

In reply to Mark Kemball: Great stuff, I look forward to bumping into you tomorrow!

In reply to Joemanglerocks: Great - it looks like my mate is backing out so it'll be just me and my son.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Enjoyed the climbing, did some classics at Chair Ladder, meet a few good folks. However was slightly disappointed as there was no real focus, partly to do with Treen filling up, hence two campsites were used. I suggest in future, if possible/practical, that an area of a site is booked and a marque is set up as a central focus. This would provide an obvious meeting place for climbers.

The breakfast bar was excellent.

In reply to Skip: Morning boss. Thanks for the feedback. The site at Treen was obviously a bad place to choose as a camping venue, but we'll know better next time.

When we eventually got a better, friendlier, less hectic site than Treen, we decided that we wouldn't force people to camp in one particular area...the place was massive and sometimes you just want a bit of peace and quiet when you're camping, hence the comment on the BMC noticeboard that you could camp anywhere on the site and weren't restricted to the area we set up in. The Breakfast bar was in the BMC event shelter, with tables and a noticeboard and I would have said that was as much of a marquee as you're ever going to see at this sort of event, and it provided a central focus for everyone that I spoke to. I'm glad you enjoyed the breakfast bar, you'd have to have been dead not to.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

It couldn't have been organised any worse if they had tried. Next time and before telling everyone about the meet, maybe tell the camp site. We turned up and they didn't have a clue about the whole thing. When we asked at the bar of the pub about the guest speaker they said they had a wedding going on sat night. Apparently BMC didn't confirm the meet so they ignored it.

The impression we had was this was a meet so different clubs/climbers could socialise and get to know each other. Hard when no one has a clue what's going on and everyone is spread across two sites miles apart.

Its not a problem for us as we where local, But some people travelled a long way for this meet. So maybe they owe it to them to do a better job at organising it next time.

Other than that we got some great climbing in within our group. Weather was fab!

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:
Great breakfast guys, and many thanks: sorry we had to leave so soon. Personally, I enjoyed the treasure hunt to find you all, and the ad hoc arrangements didn't bother me. After all's said and done the BMC organized the weather superbly, as promised. Had a great day's climbing in some of the more esoteric corners of the South Coast with just the odd basking shark and seal for company. Tip: If you like granite seacliff HVS then get on Excalibur at Carn Les Boel - it's a sadly neglected cracker in an impressive location. To find it, look for the sea stack with the steepest, greenest wall you'll ever see.

Suggestion for next year. Culm Dancing? Can fix everyone with a great camp site where midnight soccer won't be frowned upon, god's own rock close by to play on and a suitable hostelry. Might even throw in a BBQ.

By then, Mark Kemball and the local cognoscenti will have details of hundreds of recent routes for peoples' delectation. I might even have managed to install a few solid lower offs/belays for those who don't relish anthills and rabbit holes.

In reply to floss_81: Hello Floss. If you'd come to speak to us over the weekend we could have explained things to you easily; as it is, I'll do it here. BTW these festivals (e.g. Gower, Lakes, Tremadog) are organised by locals with support from the BMC, rather than the other way round - and there's a significant difference.

The campsite at Treen was suggested by locals as being the best place for the festival as it was next to the pub and the beach. Local knowledge is best, I always think. The campsite knew about the event well in advance; I - and others - had a number of conversations with them about it over the previous few months...they knew.

As for the guest speaker, that had been cancelled at the last minute due to the chap getting an embarassing cooking related injury the previous evening. Many people knew this because they asked.

To say that "no one had a clue what was going" on simply isn't true and misrepresents the facts. The camping was relocated (with local & nationwide publicity) to a refreshingly chilled out, friendly site ten minutes away, 67 people signed in and enjoyed breakfast while getting to know one another, £252 was raised for the RNLI and everyone who I spoke to and who took the time to speak to me or the SW team understood the situation and appreciated how sometimes, these things happen.

As a local, if you want to be part of the organizing team for next year, let me know on this forum and I'll make sure you're involved from the start.

TTFN

In reply to floss_81:

Perhaps you should have helped out.. as Martin said its a showcase for local activists in the BMC, assisted by the BMC, not a BMC event. As a visiting peak district BMC member Moff (with some assistance from me) helped serve food at brekkie, put up and take down the cooking kit and the shelter, negotiated a £2 a head discount for the Treverven campsite (when it was obvious more people would end up there), negotiated seconds for the saturday night chilli in the Logan Rock pub (as the initial portions were a bit small) and chatted to loads of folk including giving and receiving advice on good places to climb and getting at least one pair misreading a guide back on route (to their desired E1 rather than an unexpected E5).

We were in the Penzance area the week before and sussed the location out on Tuesday but it only became obvious on the Thursday night that the campsite wasn't going to be able to cope (maybe partly as the forecast turned out so good). We also heard a fair bit of wittering on Friday in the Logan Rock on how useless the BMC were and that the pub wouldn't cope as there was a wedding on Saturday... the pub thought different... we had the Marquee and they made a climbing chilli for 30 odd (and were very apologetic about the initial portion size).

Maybe in future ask not what the BMC can do for you but what you can do for the BMC (apologies to JFK).

In reply to Offwidth:

It was a great event: informal and friendly both on and off the crag. Thanks from me at least to all those who helped. Missed the chilli, but enjoyed the craic at the pub too much and therefore missed the chippy in Newlyn on the way home

In reply to Iain Peters:

I meant to say hello but as soon as I worked out who you were you were off. I was sat next to Martin K.

In reply to Offwidth: Ah well, another time. I was under pressure from my son Bob to stop fartarsing about with small talk and get on the crag! Hope you also had a good day.

In reply to Martin Kocsis, BMC:

Top weekend, no complaints from me. Thanks for organising it! And a gold star to the breakfast cooks.

In Reply To All Who Posted: Hi Guys, Just got back from Cornwall to where I live in Bristol having helped organise this festival (unfortunately from afar). Thanks for all your comments regarding appreciation for the cooks (as I was one of them). Aside from some problems with venue, tide concerns and mystery speakers (some of which we addressed on the Friday morning when arriving to allow the event to proceed successfully thankfully), I personally thought the event went well and everyone I talked to had a great time considering! Nobody has yet mentioned the rave that went on from 11 pm until 5.30 the next morning on the Saturday night and could be heard on all three local campsites as though it was occurring in the next field (I joke not). The rave Karioke session was especially toneless when heard through my Boots earplugs! Having spoken to locals in St Briavels they said it was a sanctioned annual event attended by 2000 people with all the licences, etc to take place despite some apparent local opposition. Apparently if there is no wind everyone hears it, or if it is windy those down wind hear it. The lady in Londis said it sounded as though they were "doing the business in her back garden". This is something to bear in mind for next year as I personaly am quite keen to have another go! Incidentally I am the poor bugger who mistook the E5 6A for the E1 5B at St Loy's on Saturday (my wife was I charge of the guide book). However realising I was on The Baldest E5 6A when I approached the crux and found it getting unexpectedly hard, I back climbed and lowered from gear, pulled the rope through and did the E1 next to it and then top-roped the E5 clean first go (it also needs a good brushing to clean it up a bit) great laugh! Also regards to the chap who took me to task about tides being unfavourable for Chair Ladder on the Sunday (don't worry as I explained I have quite broad shoulders). Apologies for trying to rope you in for next year as a volounteer, but you ran away at that point (only joking)! At least turn up for a free bacon buttie next year. Actually thanks for confirming the routes to me which avoided a repeat of any St Loys type episode the day before!