Interesting points about the bowline for knot geeks

The bowline is used quite extensively in climbing, so I thought the following snippet might be of use to others.

Bowline (left) and "Dutch" bowline (right): note tail end on outsid of knot (from wikipedia)

Following a dispute with a colleague in the UIAA I have done a little digging on the subject, although to be fair I should say Dan Middleton, the BMC technical officer has dug for me!

The discussion was about the merits or otherwise of a bowline tied with the tail end on the outside. This configuration is called a “dutch” or “cowboy” bowline, and the  research paper here suggests that it works just as well as the ordinary bowline which confirms my feeling that it is not an important distinction, though best teaching practise should demonstrate the classic bowline.

The wikipedia (here) suggests that this version knot is actually superior when the loop is subjected to loading that pulls it apart.

MIA registration fees: what you get for your £70

When Oxford University announced the decision to charge £9000 per year for students, it led me to the following reflections:

MLT is self-funding. This means that all of our day-to-day work has to be funded from the income from registrations and publication sales. The £70.00 that each MIA registrant pays contributes to the following (not a definitive) list:

·         Possible correspondence (sometimes lengthy) over missing pre-requisites from application, along with (normally) a 6 month “grace period” if necessary

·         Support to candidates while passing through schemes including free access to a complaints investigation panel over (rare) complaints about assessment course

·         Support for life with the following services:

o   Access during office hours to information and administration service

o   Development and maintenance of syllabus, handbook, website

o   Liaison with dozens of employment and education bodies to ensure continued recognition of our qualifications

o   Liaison with professional associations (AMI, BMG, BAIML) + voluntary association (MLTA) of award holders

o   Expenses for quarterly meetings of conscripted volunteers who constitute the development board

o   Pro-active work to protect our vocational mountaineering qualifications as the “industry standard”

o   Development and publication of the online “National Guidelines” document.

o   Representation of the UK qualifications at the Union of International Alpine Association’s (UIAA) international Training Standards, resulting in increasing international recognition

o   Parallel support and development of the MIC to complement and extend the scope of MIA

o   Quality Assurance system requiring regular inspection visits to National Centre courses in Snowdonia, Scotland and Ireland (summer + winter)

o   Marketing of the awards

o   On-going development of the MLT publications “Hillwalking”, “Rockclimbing” and “winter skills”

o   On-going development of ML, SPA CWA etc. which feed into the MIA scheme.

o   Production and postage of logbook

o   Maintenance and security of a UK-wide database of mountain leaders and instructors

o   Support for AMI, the association for MIA and MIC holders. (MLT receives no income from AMI apart from an administration service contract)

o   Regular news updates on the MLT website, blog, Twitter etc.

o   Potential access to work on SPA, ML, CWA, CWL, WGL courses

Graduates at Oxford who complete their degree will have parted with £27,000 in tuition fees plus accommodation and food costs for 3 years. Most degrees do not directly qualify them to get a job without further vocational experience and/or qualifications.

By comparison, an MIA graduate will have spent £70 registration and £1500 on tuition fees, including travel costs, and this is all tax-deductible. Apart from annual insurance costs for working there are no on-going costs for MIA holders (though of course many choose to join AMI and MLTA). Many AMI holders start earning a reasonable living immediately on completion of the qualification and continue to earn a good living for the rest of their working lives. Others work in a voluntary capacity, but either way the workplace is the Great Outdoors!

I can’t think of any other industry that gives so much in return for so little outlay.

Guidebook work is never finished

The Tremadog guidebook was a succesful project but it was impossible to personally check every route, and indeed I feel that the strength of a club production is in developing means to involve the membership, who collectively are likely to have climbed far more of the routes than I can ever hope to. However, that's no reason not to continue researching for myself, or perhaps I should rephrase that - I love climbing at Tremadog!

Sunday 29th January was blessed mainly with clear skies, and although the frosts still lingered it was reasonably warm in the afternoon, so I dragged out my long-suffering son for some exploration of the isolated buttresses to the west of Craig y Castell. We found that thanks to discreet but convenient abseil anchors we were able to complete several climbs in quick succession and check their neighbours. We climbed Gestiana  (E1, slighly over-rated at 2 stars), followed by Pryderi (E1) and Pert (E2) both well worth 2 stars if you ignore the muddy and brambly link between the approach pitch (with its perplexing crux) and the upper buttress.