UKC

Former student Oli Grounsell shares his experience of university life and climbing in Bangor. DISCLAIMER: To future students - do your own research and take some of Oli's advice with a pinch of salt...

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In reply to UKC Articles:

"Edinburgh - out of all the Uni’s Edinburgh obviously has the easiest access to Scotland,"

Eh?

In reply to Fraser:

I'm pretty confident that that's quite clear to everyone else, but for your benefit: 'Scotland' is here used metonymically to refer to 'worthwhile climbing areas in Scotland', i.e. all of the stuff that's far, far north of Edinburgh. Nice pedantism though.

I found Manchester to be pretty crap as a climber - struggled to find partners for trad (although there are plenty of indoor climbers), and having to navigate the M60 to get anywhere means that, while you're relatively close to all kinds of great places for full days and longer, the options for quick hits are quite limited. Hobson Moor and Wilton were the two places I found that were a good balance between 'close' and 'not shit', and were still half an hour away if the traffic was entirely cooperative, tending more towards an hour.

In reply to Valkyrie1968:

No - it still doesn't make sense. Why Edinburgh over, say, Glasgow?

In reply to UKC Articles:

Oli is obviously unaware that Edinburgh isn't the only University in Scotland. If I was thinking about recommendations in Scotland places like Aberdeen, Glasgow, Strathclyde or Stirling would be well ahead of Edinburgh. Not to mention the various campus options at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

In reply to UKC Articles:

If you're going to uni just to go climbing, you might as well drop £30k on 5 years climbing around the world.

In reply to footwork:


Not really. As living in certain cities let's you get education and climb 5 days a week.

In reply to alastairmac:

For a variety of reasons (including access to the hills), I went to Stirling & would argue its the best placed of the Scottish universities from a climbing/mountaineering point of view. Some local bouldering, the central belt crags & Dunkeld in easy reach for summer evenings and the likes of Glencoe & Cairngorms a couple of hours away with the Southern Highlands even closer but at the same time its well placed on the road network for trips down to the Lakes or elsewhere in northern England when the weather 'up north' isn't so good.

I later went to Aberdeen which in some ways was better but while the likes of the sea cliffs, Pass of Ballater & Lochnagar are close, the rest of Scotland (plus England, Wales & the Alps) isn't.

(I also spent some time at Oxford & although its better placed than Cambridge, its not a great place as a base for climbing)

Put that together & I think I was a student for about a decade, fun at the time but in theory I should be looking to retire soon but I can't afford to

In reply to Valkyrie1968:
Manchester bad for climbing? Only in terms of very close crags to the centre surely? Its extremely well placed for the Peak, The Lakes, N Wales, Yorkshire Dales, West Yorkshire and Lancashire (obviously) Pex etc with loads of stuff, of varying quality, around its North and Western edges

It's arguably the best placed city for climbing!

In reply to Rob Parsons:

I was thinking Stirling, or ...well, anywhere else really, not instead of but as well as. I don't think Edinburgh is the best located uni. for Scottish climbing.

In reply to footwork:

Ha! What an odd way of looking at it. So following that you're in 30k's worth of debt without any additional qualifications? and a high interest loan to repay. When you could've been climbing 3/4 days a week anyways....

More to the point that's not really what the article is saying...

(or is my sarcasmometer off again?)

In reply to nathanlee:
Your sarcasmometer has either been off, or off the scale, for years mate - I shouldn't worry about it

As for anyone taking Oli's article as a gospel of serious advice to any forthcoming university student...well...just make sure you've got that sarcasmometer fired up to maximum.

In reply to UKC Articles:

"Someone who is boring might tell you that you shouldn't base which university you go to on something like climbing, which is a mere pastime. My opinion would be that they are wrong."

Nothing wrong with that at all. My university choices were all based purely on whether or not the caving club was any good.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Hahaha brilliant! A great bit of writing Oli, that really sums up what going to uni in North Wales is like.

I hadn't even attended an open day at Bangor before I accepted my offer to study there. That was how strongly I trusted someone I met at Mt Arapiles that I would like it there.

Fortunately I'm not from a big city or maybe I would have been dissapointed!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Good stuff!

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Hi

Small request. Please could the editors, well, edit?


Thanks

In reply to JJL:

There has been a coding issue with apostrophes disappearing post-publishing. I'm working on it just now.

In reply to UKC Articles:

An easy thing to say, but I think that it is worth noting that:

(a) Manchester does have faster access to Scotland than Leeds, according to my personal experience and the AA route planner.

(b) Edinburgh does in fact have accessible post-lecture cragging, there are many crags close enough for an evening trip (Aberdour, Traprain law, Ratho Quarry...) and of course the bouldering on Arthur's seat in the middle of the city.

Though if you want somewhere really good for climbing, just head to the University of Bolton... Very good climbing within easy cycling distance at Wilton and Anglezarke, and next to the M61 for a faster escape to the Lakes and Scotland than from Manchester...

In reply to JJL:

Agreed, poor writing/proof reading.

LD

In reply to UKC Articles:

For those not fancying 30k debt I think I'd recommend Germany, Frankenjura in particular. There are 4 university cities all within 20 minutes drive of the climbing and there are no tuition fees. Rent and food is cheaper than UK too. For weekends the pre Alps are about 4 hours drive. Learning a new language might be a bonus as well!

In reply to UKC Articles:
Edinburgh!?

Possibly best located uni that's accepting of Oli's. Maybe second to St Andrew's

In reply to sebastian dangerfield:

I would have said those were perhaps the two trickiest unis to get into in Scotland so it can't be that

In reply to joepremier:

Bang on, forget Bangor, head for Germany, that's what I would do. I've taught at a British university for the last 25 years. Nowadays students are seen as customers. It's been all downhill since the introduction of fees. Go and study in Europe while you still can.

In reply to UKC Articles:

'and local success is measured on the diameter of your exhaust.' : )

In reply to Greg Lucas:

IMHO, not enough British Students take the opportunity to study abroad while they can. I wish I had.

In reply to planetmarshall:
If you want a decent degree along the way its probably better to not worry about learning a language at the same time. especially if you want to spend more time climbing.....

Sheff works very well!
Plus when you run out of cash after 4 weeks and your rope is trashed from abseiling from the halls top floor you can head to the boulders on the bike for the next 4yrs.

In reply to BloodyJam:


For anyone considering studying abroad, I can assure you, as an employer, I would almost certainly take a 2:2 from someone who studied abroad learning a new language on the way than a First from someone whose main achievement was climbing F8a.

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:


That's is the best get-out clause for the grammar police I've ever heard.

In reply to Rob Parsons:
Glasgow is obviously the best city and uni in Scotland because, well just obviously! It is really one of the best cities in the world. Only a fool would disagree.

But for a climber, are there any other cities where you can go winter climbing regularly just for a day, by public transport? And you've got Dumby for some after lectures bouldering or for a 4 year long siege of Requiem.

In reply to Toccata:

You have an interesting take on the degree front and I can see your point. However unfortunately you wont even get an interview with a lot of companies these days with below a 2:1, so don't fully agree with your opinion as being good advice.

Suppose it depends on the job; having someone who can count to 100 in German isn't much good if you need to solve a 4th order polynomial in 5 minutes..

In reply to TobyA:


Used to be possible from Aberdeen if you were quick although not often done. And technically Inverness is now a city...

In reply to BloodyJam:


I'm not familiar with any jobs that would require either of those skills, to be honest.

Surely Oxford's the best place for a climbing university.

Centrally located, awesome bouldering wall at Iffley (used by Johnny Dawes), and a chance of getting a good enough degree to actually pay of the student loan.

In reply to Philip:

Wouldn't mummy and daddy pay anyway?

In reply to TobyA:


Helsinki...

In reply to ashtond6:


Or get an aprenticeship in a trade .Climb every night after work and earn cash and buy climbing gear and a house to store it in before you are 40 ...

In reply to HeMa:

Totta kai, British cities then. But more seriously, I know Helsinki Uni has had quite a few Brits applying - whole degrees taught in English, no tuition fees, and most people around speaking at least some English, most fluent - pretty attractive compared to paying 9000 quid a year here before you've even eaten or got a roof over your head. For climbing students, Helsinki wouldn't be a bad choice at all - seems to be churning out ridiculously strong boulderers!

In reply to TobyA:


Oh come on, you should know better... we have to pay for each year something like 100 to 200 eur.

And yeah, bouldering isn't that bad around here.

In reply to Philip:

In what way is Oxford centrally located?

In reply to Al Onsight:

As an Oxford local: Wye, Bristol, Dorset, Peak District all roughly equally distant, not that far from South Wales, and North Wales is 'only' a 3 or 4 hour drive. Obviously living in one of those areas is better, but for variety Oxford isn't bad.

Shame I went away for uni to the flattest part of the country and never came back though.

In reply to around:

but its hardly 'centrally located' even for England, much less for the UK

In reply to around:

Fair enough, I suppose anywhere can be centrally located between an arbitrary selection of crags, the earth is a sphere after all!

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Over Dundee? Over Aberdeen? Over Inverness? Aberdeen has a very active summer (sea cliffs, Cairngorms) and winter (no need to explain) scene.

In reply to Doug:

It is for climbing in England and Wales. 5 hours to the lakes (most northerly worthwhile destination), 3.5 to N Wales, 4 to South West, 2.5 to the peak.

You can't stray much further N,S,E or W and still get to all UK venues after work on a Friday in time for last orders.

In reply to Philip:
Wash your mouth with soap! Northumberland is brilliant!

In reply to spenser:

Sssshhhhh. Keep it secret.

In reply to Philip:

Plenty of stuff in the county needs a bit more traffic and would be excellent routes if clean so more visitors should be encouraged as long as they stick to the general ethic of the area and don't trash the place.

In reply to Philip:


tbh that post isn't really selling it lol

In reply to UKC Articles:

Hear Abdn Lairig used to be a great climbing club, seems to be full of E1 headpointers these days