Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Should it fight the 'close the mountains' attitudes that sweep through the daily
newspapers and the occasional MP most good winters?'
Alex believed the increasing numbers of people using the mountains for recre-
ational purposes would eventually bring climbing into conflict with landowners
and other sports vying for use of the same resource. Inevitably, the government
would become fearful of conventional wisdom that climbing was a dangerous, anti-
social activity. The solution, Alex believed, lay in a much broader-based, active
membership of the BMC, whether via the clubs or as individual members. He saw
the importance of the individual informed vote - values still enshrined in the BMC
today.
Ironically, while many issues debated in the 1970s are relevant to climbing today,
the nature and character of the climbing community have changed the way
climbers think and operate. Cheap flights and a move away from risk-taking has
meant that overcrowding on the UK crags has shifted to crags in France, Spain and
Thailand, leaving many British mountain crags to gather moss. While it was im-
possible to be insured to do climbing of any nature in the 1970s, insurance is now
something most people have. It is even possible to be insured for peaks over 6,000
metres.
[3]
Alex was proved right in his call to action. There has been a huge growth of mem-
bership and interest in the BMC. For the most part, it is a more democratic, ac-
countable and professionally run organisation today than it was in his years as na-
tional officer.
Reinforced by his relationship with Sarah, Alex never gave up his belief in the
value of romantic anarchy when it came to some aspects of the mountains. Still, he
realised that those people who called for an end to the BMC were wrong. A return
to local negotiations without compromise would mean an end to national repres-
entation at a time when Thatcher was centralising power and a new political class
without regional affiliation was gaining ascendency. Despite most climbers' ana-
thema to the idea, if national bureaucracy got a hold of adventure and activity in
the hills, the lack of a representative voice would be disastrous. It was a complic-
ated intellectual line to walk, but one that Alex managed cleverly. He won over
many sceptics at area committee meetings, speaking with authority, knowledge
and passion for the issues. He won the hearts and minds campaign on which the
BMC has been built ever since.
Having managed arbitration on training issues, there were other tough tasks for
Alex in his last year at the BMC. One was to write a paper on legal liability and
climbing. This was the first time the subject had been tackled. The BMC hoped to
make a case which would capture the spirit of self-help and responsibility as the
