About the Club

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. To get involved and see regular updates on the goings-on in the club, don’t forget to like our Facebook page!

Joining

How to join

Joining the club can be done through the guild website. Membership costs £41 for the year, and includes BMC insurance, so you must be a member to come along on any of our outdoor trips.

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.

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, Wales, the Lake District, Dorset, and Scotland.
  • Use of club equipment for free, including harnesses, ropes, and even whole climbing racks for members who can climb outdoors safely.
  • British Mountaineering Council Insurance
  • Access to member’s rates at climbing huts owned by the Midland Association of Mountaineers (M.A.M.)
  • Free tuition, advice, and encouragement from our committee, who all undergo Outdoor First Aid training, and training from a highly qualified instructor.
  • Social events every other Wednesday that include pub crawls, laser tag, and more.
  • 20% off at Cotswold Outdoor and 10% off many other outdoor shops including Rock On in Redpoint!

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.

Extra Stuff