Starting out?

Nick, their title only includes Mountaineering - fair enough, it doesn't want to be a mouthful. But as MoS's banner there shows, they claim to be for hillwalkers too, and get a lot of membership from it (their own survey showed that about 2/3rd of their members view hillwalking as their main activity).

But then you only have to look at their website, read their newsletters, look through issues of Summit magazine etc, to see what a major slant towards rock climbing and mountaineering there is, with scarcely lip-service paid to hill-walkers.

I wonder about the 2/3rds figure. I mean climbing might be the main hobby but with UK weather for most of the time the outdoor crags might not be climbable so perhaps those climbers go hillwalking instead. Could that figure be different if the question was changed to ask what they'd prefer to be doing?? Curious really. A lot of the climbers I know both in my current local club and my old one years ago walked but preferred climbing if at all possible. A small part of the club walked and occasionally climbed and were mainly walkers.

No big deal but IMHO it doesn't mean much whether the BMC is mostly wlkers or climbers. What does matter is whether the representaion of their membership is related to the activities of their membership. If there are more walkers then why are there more mountaineering / climbing articles in their magazine?? All the email newsletters I get are about climbing. As to what people are I think it matters not what label you put on them as IME anyone who does join BMC (usually through a local MC) is more than likely partaking in most of the activities anyway. So are climbers, mountaineers or walkers depending on the day they are doing it.

"anyone who does join BMC (usually through a local MC)"

I think in fact the BMC has far more individual members than those affiliated through Mountaineering Clubs.

IIRC the survey asked what you considered to be your primary outdoor activity.

a pamphlet for new hill walkers.

i rather think nick was pointing out that if somone is a new hill walker why would something called "The British MOUNTAINEERING Council" attract their attention.

Try the Ramblers instead!!!!

What are the choices for just walkers anyway??

Excuse my ignorance as I am not part of any club, but surely if you want to go walking in the hills with like minded people you would join a local walking club, not tbe BMC right? My understanding is that the majority of people who join the BMC do so through their local climbing or mountaineering club where it is required for insurance, no? I think if the BMC is concerned with walkers not joining and they want more walkers to join then perhaps they should look at their name. If I was only interested in hill walking then the BMC would probably not be where I would look to join as it is called the MOUNTAINEERING club.

Thanks Parky, I do sometimes (most of the time?) require and interpreter  

Mal, I appreciate what you mean regarding all activities in the mountains being mountaineering but I think that a great many people would disagree with that. Mountaineering is usually understood to be the climbing of mountains and I think the majority of people would think of it as involving something quite technical and exposed in a place not accessible to "walkers", requiring a lot of specialised equipment beyond walking boots, polls and a back pack.

Nick, I think your view of BMC membership is a bit awry. This from the 2010 Annual Report:

"There was good growth again this year in individual membership which meant we
finished the year with a combined total of 73,956 members, an increase of 2,844. The breakdown of this is 49,456 individual members (an increase of 2,604) and 24,500 club members (an increase of 240). The number of affiliated clubs dropped by 9 to 288, of which 48 were student clubs. The number of club upgrade members (club members paying extra for individual member benefits) was down slightly to 1,578."

As to what BMC members do, here's an extract from the Member's Survey carried out in mid 2010:

"2.12. Members indicated their three primary mountain-related activities. The most popular activities were hill/mountain walking, rock climbing and indoor climbing. In total 86.6% of members indicated hill/mountain walking as one of their primary mountain-related activities. 61.7% had hill/mountain walking as their primary activity. Several members (12.5%) only selected hill/mountain walking as their primary mountain-related activity and did not select a second or third activity."

As to why people join, I don't think finding people to go walking/climbing with is high on the list (as you say, you'd go to a local club). Again from the survey:

"Individuals tend to join the BMC to access travel insurance, register for mountaineering awards and to support the work of the BMC. This is somewhat different to the reasons for membership renewal as existing members mainly rejoin to support the work of the BMC and to benefit from the travel insurance."

So a lot of it is about supporting a representative and campaigning organisation. The BMC always include "climbers, hill-walkers and mountaineers" in any statement about what they do and who they represent (astutely you might think, because hill-walking is where the volume that a campaigning group needs is to be found), but then the bulk of their efforts seem to be directed at the climbing and mountaineering elements.

I guess any efforts they make to change this balance are to be welcomed (imo), but it does sometimes seem like pretty slow progress.

Matt, thanks for the detailed answer! I can't really add anything to that ass it is very thorough Thanks for the insight!