UBMC FAQs
We have compiled a list of FAQs below, if you have a question that we don't have an answer to then don't hesitate to drop our Facebook page or Instagram a message! OR, if you see one of committee about they are more than happy to answer any questions!
How are our trips priced?
The pricing of our trips depends on the trip but is usually dictated by the amount of petrol needed to get everyone there. Trips that are further away such as Portland or Scotland cost a lot more due to the increase in travel costs. Accommodation is also included in the trip cost. Luckily, we can use MAM huts at a discounted rate enabling us to keep our weekend trip costs a bit lower.
There are some trips with small extras such as our Stanage Freshers trip where committee members cook dinner on the Saturday night for everyone! We do our best to keep costs as low possible but unfortunately conditions out of our control such as petrol prices still play a role in the cost of our trips. Typically, a day trip will cost £10 and a weekend trip will cost in the region of £35-55.
Why can’t we do spontaneous weekend trips?
We are a Guild affiliated society which means we need to check every box when organising trips. Various forms must be submitted to the Guild, such as risk assessments, several weeks before a trip and many hours of time goes into checking these boxes by committee members.
However, our UBMC FB group is a great place to post if you’re looking at going away for the day if the weather looks good and you’re looking for a climbing partner!
Why are trips always at the weekend or on Saturdays?
The trip calendar is determined at the start of the year and is often carried over from previous years. We are not able to run trips during the week due to university commitments. However, we are looking at moving some day trips to Sundays to provide a larger range of options to our members.
How is the club able to afford new equipment and trip subsidising?
As a Guild affiliated society, we can apply for lots of grants from the Guild to make our activities more accessible. Our wonderful treasurer fills in lots of applications for both internal university grants and external organisation grants with all the money going towards resources for our club. If you have any further questions, feel free to email our treasurer at [email protected]
How are trip places allocated and why is it a limited capacity?
Our trip capacities are limited by the size of accommodation and amount of equipment available. For example, we can only take as many people as we have beds on weekend trips. For non-overnight trips we are limited by the amount of equipment. For example, on our bouldering day trips, we can only take as many people as we have enough bouldering mats for.
Trip places are usually determined by a first come first served basis. We must make sure we have enough drivers, leaders and belayers for the number of places in the trip but this is dependent on the type of climbing! We will be trialling a system this term where we try to prioritise the people on the reserve list for the previous trip, but this can be tricky as a different person organises each trip. Hopefully with the new system we’re trying this will be simpler and more people will get the opportunity to outdoor climb.
You’re always welcome to borrow club gear if it’s not on a club trip. Just drop our gear secs a message and they can sort this out for you! Part of your membership ensures you can use club gear for personal trips should it be available.
Why don’t we teach climbing techniques?
As committee is a volunteering role we are not qualified as coaches. We’re always hanging around at Depot Mondays and at Redpoint for you to come ask us questions. If you’re stuck on working out a boulder problem or just have general climbing questions, the broad range of knowledge our committee hold will ensure we can always do our best to help!
Keep an eye on our social media this term for some climbing 101 tutorial videos we’ve got in the works!
Why are our trips so far away?
Unfortunately, due to the geography of the Midlands there aren’t many crags (fancy lingo for a steep rock cliff) close to us that we can take multiple people on trips to. However, there some routes nearby that are accessible for smaller groups. We recommend www.ukclimbing.com for looking up the location of crags and routes in your area! Feel free to ask our committee members first about these locations, we may be able to help, some of them are (a lot) better than others!