Introduction
Hey there, welcome to our website! We're a super-friendly club based in beautiful North Wales, and we're affiliated with the BMC (British Mountaineering Council). We love to get together for all sorts of mountain-based activities, whether that be rock-climbing, walking, scrambling, winter-climbing, bouldering or other.
Take a look around our website to get a feel for what we do. Check out our upcoming events on our calendar (but keep in mind that doesn't include any spur-of-the-moment events). You can also find us on Instagram or Facebook, so give us a follow!
If you want to know how to join and about membership, then head over here, or if you're already sold, then just fill in the membership form directly.
Climbing Meets
During the winter months on Wednesday evenings, we meet indoor at The Boardroom Climbing Centre in Queensferry where you can either join us for sport climbing or boulder. Those further out west generally like to meet at The Beacon Climbing Centre in Caernarfon on Thursdays. In the summer on Wednesday evenings, we mainly meet outdoors at various crags around North Wales, such as the crags around Llangollen and Mold (Clwyd Limestone Rockfax guidebook) or the A55. If the weather doesn't play ball, then we'll fall back to meet indoors. When the days are shorter, we generally meet for sport, longer days means we can get our trad racks out.
Most weekends in the summer, we generally have climbing meets further throughout North Wales, whether it be Eryri (Snowdonia - including places like Llanberis Pass, Ogwen Valley, Moelwyns or Tremadog), the A55, North Wales limestone or occasionally the Peak District. In winter (if the winter conditions gods allow) some will venture out to do winter, ice and mixed climbing too.
Walking
Walking meets are generally every Saturday or Sunday throughout North Wales. The walks are mainly in Snowdonia, normally at least 10-25 km and generally mountain-based, though there are some lower level walks too. Those planning the walks are generally a lot more organised and put up their weekend meets some weeks or months in advance, whilst the climbers tend to arrange during the week.
Extended Climbing/ Walking Meets
We also plan some more extended meets involving overnight stays of a weekend or more which allow the climbers and walkers to get together. In the past, we have gone on adventures to Pembrokeshire, Scotland, Lake District, Spain and Alps amongst other places.
Arranging Meets
There is no single meets officer. We rely on all our members ( no matter how new) to suggest and arrange meets, so if you don't see anything in the calendar that you fancy, then please feel free to suggest an event. Most of our meets are arranged through Slack - a messaging platform which can be accessed via app or browser. Any of the meets that are arranged more in advance will be shared to our calendar.
Whilst most of our members are free to meet weekends or Wednesday evenings, there are also members who don't work the regular 9-5 or might have the odd day off and want to get out on other days.
Members
We are a diverse and inclusive bunch. There are members who have been climbing for less than a year and those who have climbed for over 40 years. It doesn't matter what grade you climb, some members climb VDiff and others E4. We are one of the few local clubs to welcome novices, and we run regular informal training events. The club has over 100 members, mostly spread through North Wales, but with members as far away as Birmingham and the USA. One third of our members are women and our age profile covers teens through to those in their seventies. Joining the club brings you the benefit of connecting with other club members, some of whom have decades of experience in walking, climbing and mountaineering to call upon.
In recent years some members have been heavily involved in new routing, crag development and guide book work. These have focused on local crags along the A55 corridor, particularly Penmaen Head, Llanddulas Cave and Castle Inn.
Members tend to be multi-disciplinary and many forms of mountain activity are pursued, including mountaineering, scrambling, hiking, sport climbing, trad climbing, bouldering, winter-climbing and alpine climbing.
History
Clwyd Mountaineering Club began its life as Denbighshire Mountaineering Club in 1969. The Club was formed by a small, active group of climbers of generally average ability, who wanted to establish a circle of friends with whom they could climb or walk in the hills regularly. In 1975, with the change of the County name, the Club became Clwyd Mountaineering Club. From these modest beginnings, the Club has grown and developed.