About the Club
Intro
Whether you are an experienced rock-climber looking for a community to enjoy the sport with, or a first-timer who wants to learn, UBMC is perfect for you. We are a large, highly active club who can provide you with the opportunity to learn everything you need to know about climbing both indoors and outdoors. We run outdoor trips every other weekend, available to all members no matter how little experience you have. We’re very proud of the club’s friendly, welcoming atmosphere and hope you love it as much as we do.
Weekly events
We meet regularly for bouldering at Depot on Monday evenings and roped climbing at Redpoint on Wednesday afternoons. At Redpoint sessions, we offer tuition in how to rope climb independently from our more experienced members. We supply the harnesses as well, so you don’t need to splash out on any equipment to join. For your first 3 sessions, you don’t need to be a member for tuition and harness use, so you can try it out without breaking the bank.
Find out more about the skill progression UBMC will take you through in order to master all the different styles of climbing here.
Joining
How to join
Joining the club can be done through the guild website. Membership costs £45 for the year, and includes BMC insurance, so you must be a member to come along on any of our outdoor trips.
If you have any questions or queries please message our social accounts or contact or fill out the form. Find all the information to contact us here.
Perks
In order to join us on an outdoor trip, you must be a member of the club so you are included in our club insurance. In addition to British Mountaineering Council (BMC) Insurance, you also get:
- Access to club trips to many locations including: the Peak District, the Lake District, North Wales, Portland, Cornwall and Pembroke. See our reccomended kit lists here.
- Use of club equipment for free, including harnesses, ropes, and even whole climbing racks for members who can climb outdoors safely. See all of gear and how to get it here.
- Access to UBMC Kitshare for non-climbing related gear. See what the Kitshare has to offer here.
- British Mountaineering Council Insurance. See our Insurance Policy here.
- Access to member’s rates at climbing huts owned by the Midland Association of Mountaineers (M.A.M.)
- Advice, and encouragement from our committee, who all undergo Outdoor First Aid training, and training from a highly qualified instructor. See more about this years comittee here.
- Social events every Wednesday with varying themes and activities including sober socials.
- A chance to try out for the UoB bouldering team who travel to competitons throughout the year including London and Sheffield for BUCS. The UoB climbing team also provide free training for the whole society at open training nights. Find out more about them here.
How do we spend your money?
Half of the membership fee is used to pay for your BMC insurance. The remaining money is split between equipment, and training our committee.
We have a large amount of climbing equipment cared for by our Gear Secs. Each year we have to retire some of our equipment to ensure it isn't used past the date suggested by the manufacturer. This means every year we buy new equipment to replace the retired gear.
Our committee makes it possible for members to go from complete novice, to experienced climber. Much of the committee started out with no climbing experience when they joined, and thanks to previous committee members are ready to impart their knowledge onto you. To ensure we can teach safely, and to remove the paywall from being a committee member, we subsidise this training.
History
Founded in 1932, UBMC has a long and interesting history with over 85 years of climbing tradition to its name. Several routes across the country were established by pioneers who were members of this very club.
In the early days of UBMC an affiliation developed with the Midland Association of Mountaineers who were a local climbing club and are still very active to this day. The nickname "The Stoats" was given to UBMC by the MAM when one member noted that the way UBMC climbers stuck to the rock was very "stoat-like." The name has stuck and ever since then UBMC members have been referred to as stoats, for better or worse!
On graduating from Birmingham many stoats join the MAM to keep climbing with friends they have made but also return to UBMC trips as "old gits" to show us how it should be done. Sometimes they also show us how it should not be done.