The New Committee is in
Congratulations to our new committee! This has to be the biggest I've seen the committee so far! Probably due to Vicky's brilliant idea to have multiple people able to do a single committee roles!
President - Mike McCracken
Secretary - Eva Grew
Treasurer - Owen L
Clothing Secretary - Peter Reid
Cottage Secretary - Peter Adamson
Membership Secretary (Senior) - Owen L
Membership Secretary - Steve Grew
Meets Secretary (Senior) - Vicky Ward
Meets Secretary - John Lyster
Social Secretary (Senior) - Mags Oleszek
Social Secretary - Tania Logan
Webmaster - Jamie Roberts
Ordinary member - Aimee Smith
Ordinary member - Josh Taujanskas
Ordinary member - Kyle Stewart
Ordinary member - Rob Broome
Ordinary member - Tony Holdsworth
Here's to another great year for the BCC!!!
Club times switching around!
Simple enough! We will now be hosting our Ozone sessions on Tuesdays from 1900 and at Boulder world on Thursdays from 1900 instead of the other way around!
Happy climbing!!!
Ozone Club Times are Restarting!!!
Yes, you read that right, we are finally coming to be commencing the Thursday Ozone sessions again, after over a year of not doing them! (for reference my hair was still short then). However, you will have to pre-book a session and pay for it online. There is a max of 20 people per slot and they are at 90mins each. For our usual club time, there are 2 slots that run over these times:
1845 - 2015
2015 - 2145
First you will need to download their app and create an account, this website has a link to download it and instructions how to register an account:
Figure 1
If, like me, you don’t have membership with Ozone you can just create an account as a non-member. Once you have done that, leave your ‘Profile’ section and go back to the Ozone’s ‘page’, it looks Figure 1. You can then click ‘Book climb wall’ and select your time slot. Once you have done that, it will take you to a check out page, at this point I entered the barcode on the back of the card that Ozone give you for signing in and it allowed me to proceed with the payment and everything. Now the system might be dodgy because they apparently updated their system so I don’t know what this is going to be like for everyone. You should receive an email confirming your booking and a barcode within it.
With that done you turn up to Ozone and scan the barcode within your email and they will check you have booked in. Sounds straight forward, probably is gonna be a bunch of issues at first for a lot of us.
Hopefully this helps and we can climb indoors with ropes again!
Lower Cove Trip Report
To celebrate the end of lockdown rules that stop us enjoying the outside as a club, the BCC headed off to Lower Cove, in the Mournes, as our second climbing trip of the year. It was very successful, with 15 people (and not a single person more) turning up to participate. We also had a good split of faces, ones I’m tired of seeing and some new ones that was a great pleasure to greet.
Lisa arranging gear before the crux of 'Kram'. Photo: J. Roberts
Our meeting time was at 1000 at the Carrick Little Carpark, and no one was totally late. After making sure we had all the gear we needed, since the hour long walk to crag was something I personally wasn’t going to do more than I needed to, we headed off and I’d forgotten how quickly the walk ins felt when there was a good bunch of people to talk to. Once we were next to the crag, Lisa (Meets sectary extraordinar) organised climbing partners, the more experienced partnered off with the less experienced at similar levels. Little did my (un)lucky climbing partner know that they were in for a hell of a day.
Two groups on ‘Half Corner’ (Left) and ‘Munching Mandy’ (Right). Photo: R. Scott
Rónán leading ‘Dot’s Delight’. Photo: M. Mccracken
Most of us decided to head to the first corner, where a lot of the good quality easier routes are at; however, I had forgotten much extra effort it was to get up there. After sweating through my base layer, I asked my climbing partner, Mike Mccracken, what his experience was and he said seconding at VS was the most he had done. To test his ability, and totally not for me to get used to climbing on Mournes granite again, we did the lovely VS ‘Kram’. To my surprise Mike cruised it easily, since it has quite a bouldery crux. Next we tried ‘Krammed’ the slightly harder and not well protected line next to Kram. Saying that I managed to protect the route very well with my biggest and smallest cam in parallel and even informed Rónán of this, who, after he’d climbed the route, politely let me know I was full of shit. Anyway, Mike struggled at first with the more technical crux, but once again got up. I later learnt I had misheard Mike and he had actually said the hardest he had LED was VS, which meant I knew I could push him a lot further! After we did ‘The Great Treacle Sponge Robbery’ (best name ever) I decided to get scared on ‘Left Arete’ (not as good as a name) and finally finished off Mike. Luckily he said he had had a great day out, so I didn’t have to feel guilty for essentially torturing a person.
That was my account, but we were all mostly climbing at the first corner and everyone looked like they were getting the most out of the day. We all left at separate times during the day and I ended in my car before it started pissing it down. Hopefully the people still at the crag didn’t get too wet; however, I never asked.
By Jamie Roberts
Lisa on something, busting a move. Photo: J. Lau
Kyle and Jenny topping out of ‘Aristocrat’, I assume. Photo: Chris Craig
Kyle and Jenny, also busting a move, on ‘First Corner’. Photo: R. Davison-Kernan
Rónán and Chris also on ‘First Corner’. Photo: J. Roberts
Rónán drawing his climbing strength from his surroundings. Photo: J. Roberts
Kyle leading ‘Meat Grinder’. Photo: J. Roberts
Climbing Trip Dates
With the easing of lockdown we are now delighted to announce some preliminary dates we have for climbing trips this year. These dates could vary due to weather/lockdown rules/etc, but hopefully they won’t! Currently, we have a cap of 15 people per trip and, as usual, we will have a sign up form, which will be posted here and the Facebook group nearer the time of the trips. So, without further ado, here are the dates:
-8th/9th May - Moorhill Quarry Day Trip
-22nd/23rd May - Lower Cove (Mournes) Day Trip
-12-13th June - BCC 4th Birthday (Mournes)
-10-12th July (The 12th Weekend) - Gola Island (Donegal)
-30th July-2nd August - Mourne Mountains Climbfest
-11-12th September - Fairhead Weekend Trip
-9-10th October - Mournes Weekend Trip
Also lookout for some improve day trips we might be having around these dates, hopefully the weather will be good!
Mourne Mountains Climbfest 2021
BCC Christmas ‘Dinner’ Hike
Report by Jamie Roberts
Cover Photo: Niall McLaughlin
Henry’s Cottage: Niall McLaughlin
Standard of 2020, anything nice had to be either cancelled or adapted so our annual Christmas dinner this year was changed to a day-hike followed by some festive snacks and drinks at Henry’s Cottage. The start of the walk was also at Henry’s Cottage and was to commence at 1000 on the dot in a military fashion. Naturally, it took until 1030 for everyone to arrive…
The Misty Accent: Jamie Roberts
By sheer luck the weather was prefect for the time of year, crisp, cold and sunny, with minimal amounts of winds. As a group of 14 we knew this would be a leisurely walk, besides, it was Christmas time! We just wanted to enjoy the mountains with friends before coronavirus would take that away from us again. Our very own man of the mountains, Niall McLaughlin, lead the group towards Eagle Mountain while we chatted away with each other on the way up.
Before reaching the summit of Eagle, we came across its crag which is notable for having a few amazing routes that are rarely climbed. Owen talked about cleaning some of the routes here - and they certainly need it - however, it would involve hanging on a rope in the cold, damp, dirty, dark conditions. Ain’t nobody got time for that! After enjoying the view we headed for the summit, which was only a short walk away.
Lunchtime at Batts Wall: Jamie Roberts
For the last part of the walk to the summit we were immersed in cloud, with the wind picking up, making it a bit chillier. We sheltered behind Batts Wall and we all enjoyed our lunches while socialising a bit more. Once finished, we descended Eagle via the wall and reached the bog at the bottom. Here we had the chance to head back to the cottage, but nay! The whole group decided they wanted some more mountain action, so we started ascending the steep slope up to the summit of Slieve Moughanmore.
The descent of Eagle, followed by the ascent of Moughanmore: Niall McLaughlin
After warming up a little (a lot for me), we reached the summit of Moughanmore and commemorated the occasion with a photo of the group (cover photo). Alas, the sunlight was limited, and the group had had enough of socialising in the mountains and now wanted head back to cottage… for more socialising with food and drink! Excited at the prospect, we headed down Moughanmore and followed the valley back to the cottage. The walk back took us through an extensive bog, where a lot of boots got soaked through. One point of interest was a (potentially) new boulder problem put up by Owen, with a rapid second accent by Niall. A mantle with the aid of a jug, on a rock I would struggle to even describe as boulder due to its diminutive stature, which likely has a grade lower than V0. I suggested Owen should put it on UKC.
Once we were back at the cottage, seating was arranged outside due to coronavirus restrictions and we started chatting again. Eva and Lisa supplied the festive treats, which I had plenty of, while Robyn set the mood with some related music. Some mulled apple juice was concocted by Eva, following a recipe inspired by Lisa’s mum’s recipe that she never ended up handing over (an onsight attempt perhaps?). It was delicious to say the least and hit the spot just right. Before the sunset we all parted ways, having had a fun day out. It was a no thrills adventure, and that was all we needed during these times.
Roybn checking out Eagle’s crag with the summit, in the distance, in cloud: Jamie Roberts
Batts Wall down Moughanmore: Niall McLaughlin
Outdoor Meets
Despite the colder weather coming in we are kicking off the outdoor meets again. Currently, we are planning on to hold them on the first and third weekend of each month. This will be anything from a walk in the Mournes, a climb at a crag or even a meet up at one of the indoor walls outside of Belfast. Due to the coming winter season this will mostly be walks, which are also easy to maintain social distancing.
This could be a weekend trip but will mostly be day trips. Because of weather the day we go out could vary on the weekend or we might just go to an indoor wall instead, when they reopen again.
Events will be posted here and on the Facebook group, so keep an eye at for the specifics of the events. Make you sure you have Membership up to date or you won’t be allowed on the trips!
Hope to see you soon outdoors!
New Committee and Membership Renewal
Hi all,
After a successful AGM a new committee has been elected and will now be taking on the responsibility of running the club. If you want to learn more about the us you can have a read of our biographies here.
Additionally, it is that time of the year again to renew your memberships if you want to continue being a member of the club as of the end of this month. To do so just click here and it will take you through what to do.
Hope to see you soon,
Belfast Climbing Club Committee