Page 40 - 2016 AMA Autumn

climbing meets
AMA Autumn Meet & AGM
21 – 25 September 16
By Ryan Lang
The Autumn Meet and AGM was held over a period of four days rather than the usual weekend and was based at JSMTC Indefatigable. In recent years for whatever reason the AGM weekend has struggled to entice large numbers so when we organised it this year we decided to throw everything at it!
People started arriving from Wednesday night onwards and the event gradually became busier until we reached 70 people by the Friday night. We used the Nuffield dorms which provided 50 beds, the remainder were in a combination of family rooms and the main building.
THURSDAY
The morning started with breakfast followed by the arrival brief. Shortly afterwards the first of the DMM factory tour group set off for Llanberis. The rest of the members were split up into groups according to their aspirations for the day and returned in time for evening meal.
The DMM factory tour allowed those that attended to gain an insight into the processes used by DMM to manufacture the hardware that most of us know and love. Seeing all the steps involved in making a screwgate from start to finish makes it difficult to understand how DMM can make a profit, especially when we get such a generous discount!
The event wasn’t only about the workshops, many attended to climb, walk and scramble. The weather forecast as always was pessimistic, but we were lucky enough to have four days of good weather which allowed all activities to go ahead as planned.
I teamed up with Paul and Andrew for the day. After a quick chat we opted to go and climb at Tremadog to climb XMAS Curry. The weather had prevented us climbing Little Chamonix at the Lakes meet in April, thankfully the weather at Tremadog was more kind.
Being mid-week, there was no queue, so it was full steam ahead. We took full advantage of the lack of other climbers and broke the route down into five pitches so that we could cover building belays.
Some of the others went to Holyhead Mountain under the guidance of Gary. The weather was just as kind at Holyhead, all that went had a great day.
Thursday evening saw most of us attend the bar prior to listening to the chairman deliver a fantastic talk on a previous AMA expedition to the Archangel ridge. It was great to hear about the exploits of a young chairman and I know it gave some of the audience some inspiration to plan future expeditions.
FRIDAY
The second and final DMM factory tour took place on the Friday morning. Ten people also spent the day with leading climbing Psy- chologist – Dr Rebecca Williams on the smart climbing psychology workshop. Rebecca spoke at the AGM in 2015 where she delivered an excellent talk on climbing psychology. If you have a fear of falling or are struggling to progress with your climbing for whatever reason, I strongly recommend spending a day with her. Your SLC can be put to very good use here!
I spent a short day with Anna and Jason at Little Tryfan where we worked on multi-pitch climbing rope work and stance management.
Friday evening = disaster! despite confirming times the day before. Numbers were steadily increasing by this stage so the pressure was on! In the end we all piled into the lecture theatre to listen to Emma Twyford deliver the evening lecture on her climbing career to date. It was a great talk despite the lack of beer. Afterwards most ventured up into the village to enjoy the delights of Llanfair PG. I am sure the two pub landlords were delighted at the unexpected custom they received that night.
Sodexo had failed to open the bar
Paul looking suitably pleased with his Anchor
Paul and Andy finishing the final pitch on XMAS Curry
38 ARMY MOUNTAINEER