Cornish BMC International Meet at the Count House

The CC was well represented at the third BMC International Meet in Cornwall based at our Count House hut. I travelled down to Cornwall from Lakeland with Steve Scott. [On route we called in to see Dave and Moira Viggers to say “Hi” and check out their awesome Devonshire home.] Once we reached the hut the UK hosts camped or used their vans in front of the hut, leaving the hut accommodation free for the international guests thereby allowing them to save a little weight (tents etc.) on their flights to the UK.

These meets are an amazing opportunity for nearly thirty five climbers from all over the world to come to the UK to sample some of what makes our world class traditional climbing so special. Plus of course it gives around thirty five UK hosts a chance to show these special climbs off to the world, share some traditional climbing skills with people who may have never climbed with leader placed protection before, and have a right good knees up! Perhaps it is only the CC that could play such a pivotal role in these BMC meets. 😉

The meet is fully catered – so the seventy odd climbers on the meet don’t have to lift a finger to look after themselves, we just go climbing … a lot! The catering is managed by the very able Peters family, this year led by the seemingly perpetually happy Daisy. Thanks to Daisy, Tom, Iain, and their many helpers for looking after us. 😀

The weather on two days, Monday and Tuesday, was less than perfect. But every other day was mega. More climbing, hard climbing in an awful lot cases, gets done on these days than most people are used to. My shoulders, three days after getting home, are still recovering. 😯

I got to climb with three great people over the week: Alice Thompson from New Zealand; Diego Dellai from Italy; and Michal Czech from Poland. However, in my rush to leave the house before the meet I forgot my camera. This is a great shame as it was an opportunity missed to get some photos for the forthcoming south coast climbing guidebook. But even worse is the fact that I don’t have many pictures of the great memories and new friends from the meet. However, here are a few I snapped with my smartphone…

Alice Thompson (New Zealand) – actually she was an imposter as she’s lived in Manchester for a couple of years

Scott Titt and Stephen Farrugia (Malta) at Sennen on one of the two damp days

Sandra Mazeikiene (Lithuania), Alice Thompson (New Zealand), Diego Dellai (Italy), Boel Aniansson (Sweden), and Sayaka Masumoto (Japan) at Carn Kenidjack

Diego Dellai (Italy), Sandra Mazeikiene (Lithuania), Paul Seabrook, and Pete enjoying a post-climb pint in St Just