The meet took place in North Wales at Plas-y-Brenin, National Mountain Centre. The objectives were to gather climbers from all over the world in North Wales and to enjoy some of the fine climbing of this area; secondly to encourage personal high performance climbing and thirdly to forge links with other climbing communities. The meet was a great success in all of these areas.
There was perfect sunny weather for the entire week during which the meet ran. Three climbers from South Africa were sent over on the SAA free ticket grant system. They were Charles Edelstein, Ed February and I. During the meet we were also joined by Alard Hufner and Mariaan Pretorius.
Climbing was done by the South African contingent on all seven days and a variety of climbs were done on many different crags in the North Wales area. I also attended one day of the High Performance Seminar which was running at the same time as the meet. This proved to be a very interesting day as I attended a workshop on high grade ice climbing and another on techniques of teaching lead climbing, the latter being very useful with my involvement in the MDT and SAMGA. On one of the evenings the South Africans gave a talk and slide show on climbing in southern Africa, a show that was well received by all.
There were two very noticeable things about the meet. Firstly it was open to rock climbers of any standard, including people such as myself, who lead more moderate grades. Secondly it was obvious that the MCSA and BMC have a very good relationship which has built up since the exchange program started. Indeed the South African contingent played a prominent role on the crags and in the pub! This relationship will undoubtedly stand the Club in good stead in years to come. I would encourage the MCSA to keep up this relationship as the BMC has much to offer in terms of knowledge and experience.
Lastly may I say that I am very grateful to the Central Committee for allowing me this marvellous opportunity.
Gavin Raubenheimer
28/09/2000
Marianne Pretorius and I were very fortunate to be invited to the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) international climbing meet in Wales. It was a great treat to leave London (as we are staying in London at the moment) and head up to Wales for a couple of days.
Snort, Ed Febuary, Gavin Raubenheimer and Andre Schoon, were the other Climbers to represent the Mountain Club of South Africa.
Over 200 climbers crammed into the outdoors centre Plas y Brenin, situated on the foothills of Snowdon in Wales. The Reason: to climb and have fun!!
And climb we did, with people from many different countries, at venues like Gogarth, Ogwen, Llanberis Pass, Tremadog, and others. Amazingly enough the weather was fantastic, so we got lots of climbing done. In the evenings back at Plas y Brenin, dinner followed by a slide show and then off to the pub to taste some of the local beers…HHMMMMMM!!
The event was very well run, and Extreme Thanks go to the BMC. This meet set a good standard for future meets. We built up a couple of good contacts.
Alard Hüfner