简体中文
EnglishHow Keswick Mountaineering Club Members Find Climbing Partners
Updated
Keswick Mountaineering Club members find climbing partners through two club-run channels: the "Partner wanted" Forum and the club's Facebook Group. The club describes it as easy to find another member able to climb with you, and the point of both channels is the same — to get out climbing whenever the sun is shining, rather than waiting for a formal meet.
The two ways to find a partner
| Channel | What it is for | When it is useful |
|---|---|---|
| "Partner wanted" Forum | Posting that you are looking for someone to climb with | Planning ahead, or when you want a reply you can come back to |
| Facebook Group | Members getting together to arrange climbing | Quick, informal contact, including for winter climbing when the weather allows |
Both are described as member-to-member routes, so they work alongside the club's organised meets rather than replacing them.
Why the club points members to these channels
The club's own framing is that members will want to be out climbing whenever the sun is shining. The Tuesday meets only cover part of the year, and the bigger trips are occasional, so the Forum and Facebook Group fill the gaps between scheduled events.
That matters most in these situations:
- Winter climbing — the club says members get together via the Forum or Facebook Group to go winter climbing whenever the weather allows. Winter conditions are unpredictable, so a fixed meet date is less useful than being able to find a partner at short notice.
- Summer rock climbing — between April and September the club meets every Tuesday afternoon and evening on local crags, but members who want more days out use the same channels to arrange them.
- Damp or marginal days — the club notes that when there is no snow, members get out on the rock even when it is damp, so a partner is often needed outside the ideal conditions.
How this fits with the club's meet calendar
The partner-finding channels sit on top of a fairly full programme, which helps explain why members use them:
- April to September: Tuesday afternoon and evening rock climbing on local crags in the Lake District. The club's local crag to Keswick is Shepherd's Crag in Borrowdale.
- Weekend meets: Held in the Lake District and further afield — Scotland, Northumberland, the Peak District, Wales, and Cornwall/Devon.
- Summer mountaineering: Meets in the Alps, the Dolomites, and/or Scotland, such as Ben Nevis or the Cuillin Ridge on Skye.
- Winter: Tuesday evening meets move to the indoor Kong Adventure wall at Keswick, plus scrambling meets through the winter and winter lectures/film shows at the Kirkgate Centre in Cockermouth.
- Late October to mid April: Usually a one- or two-week meet somewhere sunny, such as Kalymnos, Costa Blanca, Cyprus, or Sicily, so members can climb in the dry. There are sometimes weekend or week meets in Scotland or Norway for ice climbing.
If you are trying to decide whether the club suits you, the practical test is simple: if the scheduled meets do not cover all the days you want to climb, the Forum and Facebook Group are the routes the club itself directs members to.