Stuart France
Active member
mikem said:They also have over 10 times as many members (& more of them are individual rather than club)...
Are you implying that club members are somehow less well represented by their clubs at national level than direct members are, or that climbing has a higher proportion of activists than caving has, and most of them don't see the need for clubs?
The main reason cavers join clubs is to get access to keys to caves and to use access systems. I've not come across any padlocked mountains. OK, some 8000m ones etc have booking systems to manage global demand, as do some world class walking trails, but that is truly exceptional.
I know that the BMC has 10x more member fee income from climbers than BCA gets from cavers. That's why I said caving will have to rely on "committed volunteers".
That still does not explain why the BMC is completely climber focused and highly effective when the BCA isn't.