The BMC International Meet has just taken place at Glenmore Lodge in Scotland. 39 international guests from 26 countries teamed up with a similar number of UK hosts to experience the best of Scottish action.

 "A great week packed with climbing, socialising and partying! It was great to take talented foreign climbers on to our Scottish cliffs, and even greater to watch them love every moment of it" - Will Sim, UK

The Meet saw 39 international excited guests from 26 countries team up with a similar number of UK hosts. Countries attending included Japan, South Africa, USA, Serbia, Slovakia, and Israel. Many guests had not been to the UK before and most had not done any Scottish Winter climbing.

Each day, International guests were teamed up with our UK hosts who they went out on the hills, climbed with, and generally showed them the full delights of a Scottish winter experience!

Throughout the week teams went to the Northern Corries, Braeriach, Lochnagar, Hell's Lum, Glen Coe, Sron Na Lairige, Shelter Stone, Ben Eigie, Aonach Mor, Creagan Coire Cha-no and Carn Etchachan.

We were also blessed with good weather and conditions on all but one day, the Wednesday, when most people took a well earned rest day or went dry-tooling to Newtyle Quarry.

The common misconception is that these Meets are just for elite climbers. Yet this is not the case.  It is true that everyone is super keen and they manage to do lots of climbs and hill walks.  But these are of varying lengths and spread right throughout the grades from great classic like Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis to cutting edge new routes and repeats such as the much sought after 2nd ascent of Guerdon Groves on Buachille Etive Mor in Glen Coe done by Nick Bullock, Bayard Russell (USA) and Guy Robertson.

The sheer number of other climbs done is extremely impressive, some having multiple ascents.

In the Northern Corries:
Daddy Long Legs, The Migrant, Droidless, Opening Break, Fingers Ridge, Ventricle, Puffers Extract, Hookers Corner, Flaked Out, Fluted Buttress Direct, Hoarmaster, the Runnel, Astroturfer, Goat Track Gully, Y Gully, Sidewinder, Cruising, Western Route, Red Gully Melting Pot, Hidden Chimney Direct, Deep Throat, Andromeda, Ewan Buttress Direct, Central Crack Route, Coronary Bypass, Milky Way, Vicar, The Seam, Wavelength, The Seam, Alladin’s Couloir, Savage Slit, White Magic, Lairig Ridge on Sron Na Lairige, and more.

Loch Avon area
Anvil Corner, Fingers & Thumbs, Jenga Buttress, Flaked Out, Postern, Deep Cut Chimney, Salamander with LH gully variation, Auld Nick, Scorpion, Route Major, Guillotine, Brimstone Groove / Nobody’s Fault, Kiwi Gully, Scorpion. 

Ben Nevis:
Tower Ridge, Sake, Gargoyle Wall, North East Buttress, Green Gully, Darth Vader, North Trident Buttress, Slab Climb, Glover’s Chimney, Tower Scoop, Smith’s Route,  Coomb Gully, Cascade.

Glen Coe
Guerdon Groves.

Aonach Mor
Solar Winds, Jet Stream with direct finish, Aquafresh, Maneater, Roaring Forties,

Lochnagar
Where Eagles Dare, Trail of Tears, Tough Guy.

Beinn Eighe
Fight or Flight, Eastern Buttress.

New Routes

• Pick & Mix – new direct finish IX, 10: by Nick Bullock and Bayard Russell (USA)
•  New route on Stacan Duhba, VII,7: by Simon Richardson and Marcus Griesshammer (D)
• 3 new routes on Creagan Coire Cha-no. V,5; III,4; IV5: by Simon Richardson and Sylvain Baboud (F)
• New route on Sgurr Nan Lapaich IV,4: by Simon Richardson and Magnus Strömhäll (Sw)

The evenings were also kept busy with excellent presentations from Simon Richardson (UK), Simon Yearsley (UK), Jen Olson (Canada), Nick Bullock (UK), Will Sim and Greg Boswell (UK), and Magnus Kastengren (Sweden).

So, many great climbs and walks were done, friendships were made, and on the final night everyone joined in final prize draw (prizes generously donated by DMM) and end of Meet party.

The BMC wishes to thank all the UK hosts and Glenmore Lodge for making the event such a great success.

The BMC International Meet is organised by Becky McGovern (BMC) who was joined at the event by Nick Colton (BMC).

List of Countries at the Meet
Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg,  Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, USA, England, Wales and Scotland.

But don't take our word for it - what did the guests and hosts think?

 "A great week packed with climbing, socialising and partying! It was great to take talented foreign climbers on to our Scottish cliffs, and even greater to watch them love every moment of it" - Will Sim, UK

"What an awesome week. Lots of awesome people, lots of amazing climbs and most of all lots of psyched winter addicts!!!!!" - Greg Boswell, UK

"I had a fantastic time with climbers from several different countries - we even had a couple of days of sun ! Our enthusiasm to climb winter snow/ice/mixed routes whatever the weather certainly impressed the International guests." - Alan Hinkes, UK. 

"The BMC international meet was an inspiration. A week of being surrounded by psyched climbers getting out into the mountains and enjoying the winter experience. Thanks to everyone for making this a great event." - Marc Booysen, SA

"What inspired me about the week was the high level of motivation amongst guests to get involved with the styles and practices of Scottish Winter Climbing - there is a real sense of intrigue about what on earth goes on over here! The unique conditions we have in the UK provide a novel playground which was unfamiliar to many of the visiting climbers, seeing them adapt so quickly to this environment was highly motivating and made for an unforgettable week.” Rob Greenwood, UK

"From the day we arrived we felt very comfortable and cared for. Guests and hosts got to know many persons, different characters and points of view and all sort of climbing stories. All your organization was so good that the event went fluently and turned out to be a great meet." -  Heike Killisch, Spain

Read Nick Bullock's article on his meet action

BMC International Meets explained

Watch a short film of the week by Reel Time Adventure below

BMC INTERNATIONAL MEET 2012 from ReelTime Adventure on Vimeo.

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