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Annual Report 2015

BMG Management Committee 2015 1 Directors (elected by membership) President (3 years plus 1 year as elect non-renewable) Paul Moores Dec 2014 -Dec 2017

Technical Director (4 years plus 1 year as elect, renewable to max 9, plus one year as retiring TD on TC)

Bruce Goodlad Dec 2012 – Dec 2016

Treasurer (4 years, renewable to max 9) Tim Blakemore Dec 2012 – Dec 2016

Secretary (3 years renewable to max 9) Hannah Burrows-Smith Nov 2013 – Nov 2016

2 Area Representatives (2 allowed but only one vote per area, 3 year renewable to max 9, elected by area groups) Alpine Areas Graham Frost 2014 Tania Noakes 2014 Lakes Chris Ensoll 2014 North Wales Stuart McAleese 2010 Malcolm Creasey 2014 Other Areas Dave Hollinger 2008 Scotland Mark Diggins 2007 Andy Townsend 2014

3 Co-opted members (non-voting, 3 years renewable to max 9)

Chair PSC Iain Peter Nov 2013 – 2016

Publicity Officer Andy Townsend Nov 2013 – 2016

Equipment Officer Andy Perkins Nov 2013 – 2016 Web Coordinator James Thacker Nov 2013 – 2016

4 Observers (non-voting) MTUK

Other BMG interests and links BMG links with Mountain Leader Training BMG has maintained links with Mountain Training (MT). The following BMG members attend the meetings as a BMG representative of the MT Boards who meet 3- 4 times a year: Mark Diggins MT(UK) Phill George (MTW - Wales) Dave Hollinger (MTE - England) Mike Pescod (MTS - Scotland)

President’s Report - November 2015.

This has been my first year as President of the BMG and its been a busy time, dealing with insurance issues, development of the new web-site, succession planning and trying to encourage new sponsorship, along with attending to normal BMG business.

Management committee meetings The management committee have had 3 meetings this year: - A telephone conference in February - A face-to-face meeting in Chamonix in May - A face-to-face meeting in Edinburgh in September The committee will meet again in Wales on 27th/28th November prior to the AGM. These meetings are all arranged and minuted by Hannah Burrows-Smith our Secretary, many thanks Hannah.

Succession planning This year Tim Blakemore our treasurer is stepping down. A very big thank you to Tim for all his dedicated and careful handling of the BMG accounts and for negotiating our insurance cover. Tim and Tania Noakes have also been working with the Skills Funding Agency and I am please to announce the the BMG have now been registered with the Professional and Career Development Loan Scheme ( PCDL) this allows trainee guides to apply for an interest free loan the final details with be released very soon. Tim, I wish you good luck with the future and hope you have less stressful times ahead.. Andy Perkins, our Equipment and Partnerships Officer is also standing down at the AGM. Andy has made a tremendous contribution to the BMG’s public profile and during his tenure he has attracted new partners and additional funding. This year two main events: the Arc’teryx Alpine Academy and the Goretex Balmhorn Project took place with Andy being instrumental in making these a huge success. Thank you for your hard work.The BMG is still currently seeking a suitable replacement for the Equipment and Partnerships officer. Dave Hollinger as ‘Other Areas’ representative is also hoping to stand down soon and is actively looking for another guide to take over this position. Many thanks to Dave for his active contribution to the management committee meetings. Dave is continuing to rep-resent the BMG on the Mountain Training Boards. Bruce Goodlad, our Technical Director is intending to stand down at the AGM in 2016 this will be a tenure of four years in office, during which he has successfully managed a great training team who have continued to ensure the highest of training standards for the BMG. Adrian Nelhams currently a member of the training team has agreed to be Technical Director Elect; hopefully this will be ratified at the AGM this November.

Members contributions. We continue to reinforce our commitment to the home nation training boards and I am very grateful to those guides who represent the BMG at these Mountain Training

associations meeting; Phil George representing us on the Welsh board, Dave Hollinger on the English board and Mike Pescod on the Scottish board. Mark Diggins continues to represent the BMG on the UK Mountain Training Board and the A.C.W.G. I’d like to emphasise the relevance of our involvement in the home nation training boards, the BMG’s position within the UK qualification framework is crucially important to the the Association, so it’s vital to maintain our presence and input. I would like to thank Iain Peter for chairing our Professional Standards Committee. His detailed annual report is testimony to his dedicated and thorough work. I’m please to note that this year the amount of incidents is in decline. The new BMG web site is nearing it’s completion. This has been a mammoth task preparing and selecting all the various design concepts, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to James Thacker and the working group. Our publicity officer Andy Townsend has continued to promote the BMG through various forms of media and designed a unique logo to celebrate our 40th anniversary. ‘News From The Mountains’ continues to enlighten and inform us thanks to Steve Long’s editorial expertise. Thanks to all the area representatives for arranging and chairing your meetings and producing minutes for management committee meetings. New posts As an organisation the BMG can only function as a result of the significant amount of voluntary effort from its members. Office bearers are working hard to maintain and improve the day to day running of our association and it’s a difficult task combining this with their own work and personal commitments. Our membership possess a wide range of skills and competences and I would urge you to come forward if think you can help with any of the BMG posts in order to maintain our high standards, ethos and our autonomy. New guides It gives me great pleasure to welcome newly qualified guides; these are Mark Chadwick, Neil Mackay, Gavin Pike, Rocio Siemens and Ben Tibbetts - well done on becoming International Mountain Guides. I’d also like to welcome the eleven new registrants who have signed up and are about to embark on our training scheme. IFMGA Peter Cliff, the EU Co-ordinator for the IFMGA reports that things appear to still be on track for the EPC to be launched in January 2016 and this web site will be useful for us: www.europa.eu/youreurope. The last meeting of the IFMGA was in April in Schnalstal, Val Senales South Tyrol and there have been no further meetings to date. In October 2015 the IFMGA are hoping to finalise their ‘Reference Handbook.’ This has been a long standing project that will hopefully ensure consistency amongst member countries, bringing uniformity and the understanding of the required competencies of a mountain guide. The next IFMGA meeting will be on the 3rd - 4th December 2015, starting in Sion with climbing completion and Technical Committee workshops. This year the IFMGA is celebrating its 50th Anniversary and all guides are welcome for the gala dinner event in Sion on the 4th December. On the 5th the meeting will move to Zermatt for its general assembly as it was in Zermatt where the IFMGA common platform document was signed 50 years ago.

It’s quite poignant and a great accolade that at our 40th anniversary we have 2 members of the BMG, Mark Diggins and Peter Cliff working with the board of IFMGA who represent 23 countries. Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) At time of this report John Cousins reports that no assessments have been carried out this year, though sadly that does not mean that some of our members haven’t had to deal with traumatic events. There have been two occasions this year when family members of British Mountain Guides have been killed in mountaineering accidents. The BMG ensured that informal visits, support and help were offered to bereaved Guides concerned. Sponsorship We continue to be fortunate to have outstanding sponsors: WL Gore; Arc’teryx and trade partner Lyon Equipment. However in the UK WL Gore is currently going through major restructuring with a large number of redundancies and in early 2016 we will find out how this is going to affect our agreement with WL Gore, as it is uncertain at the moment. There is still a lot of potential for the BMG to attract additional sponsors, which will further enhance the running of the association and help support trainees. Many thanks to all those who have contributed to maintaining and raising the profile of BMG and our relationship with the outdoor trade. A few members of the Association were working in London this summer and we had the opportunity to support the opening of the new Arcteryx shop in Piccadilly. During this event several prizes were on offer and Chris Ensoll kindly donated 2 days guiding as the main prize.

Chris Ensoll - Adam Ketcheson, VP of Arc’teryx Marketing - Mark Diggins - Paul Moores

Breda Arkless –‘Outdoors in the City’ Whilst working in London we used ‘Outdoors in the City’ a community charity centre. We found out that Breda Arkless had been actively involved with this centre for

about twenty years taking young people into the mountains and the centre is named after her, we felt quite humbled. I thought it would be quite fitting to endorse her associ-ation with this facility by contributing towards a new sign as part of the centre’s refur-bishment. At the last committee meeting it was agreed to help fund this project, it is intended to have the BMG and IFMGA logo’s incorporated into the new sign. This centre is frequently use by corporate organisations for team building events.

The old sign:

Also at the last management committee meetings it was also unanimously agreed to posthumously award Breda ‘Honoured Guide’ status. At the AGM her son John will collect this award on behalf of Breda’s family.

BMG The BMG is celebrating 40 years as an association this year and I look forward to seeing you all at the AGM. Finally, thank you to the administration services at Siabod Cottage and thank you to all those I haven’t got around to mentioning, who give so much of their time and talents to the operation and development the BMG.

Paul Moores President November 2015

Technical Directors Annual Report 2015

Another year of training draws to a close and with it we have 5 new guides to toast at our 40th annual dinner. I’m sure the whole association will join me in congratulating them on their achievement. Those guides are Mark Chadwick, Neil McKay, Gavin Pike, Rocio Siemens and Ben Tibbetts.

It has been a year of consolidation for the training scheme allowing many of the changes we have made in recent years to bed in. While it is easy to draw short term conclusions we have had clean passes in the Scottish winter ski and alpine courses by all those who completed the week. I’m sure this is a combination of hard work from the candidates and more contact time with the trainers.

The challenge for the training team is to not rest on our laurels but to continue to look at ways we can develop the training scheme, to use the team most effectively and to best prepare newly qualified guides for the job of being a mountain guide.

There are 20 separate courses that make up the BMG training scheme each has its own convener, without the hard work of the conveners and course staff there is no way that we could run in the semi voluntary way that the scheme currently operates so I would like to thank everyone publicly for all the hard work carried out on behalf of the BMG this year.

We have made no real changes to the scheme since the last AGM other than to steal a day from alpine training and add it to the Scottish winter training. We have also intro-duced a floating rest day to both these courses; this allows the best use of the weather and conditions.

We had a large application to start the training scheme this year with 11 applicants passing the rock induction. Kevin Avery will be rejoining at the ski technique course after recovering from a knee injury and I am happy to share that Ross Hewitt has restarted the training scheme with the Rock Foundation course.

The training committee try’s to meet twice a year, though we do talk on the phone a lot this year one face to face meeting and one teleconference. While teleconferences are a way of doing business they are nowhere as effective as face to face meeting so we will endeavour to continue doing this going forward.

The revised CPD guidelines will shortly be coming into place with the BMG training courses counting as Essential CPD if any of you are interested in attending any of the course please get in touch in plenty of time to ensure that the courses can be staffed accordingly. I will inform you via all guides e-mail and Yammer when spaces are available on certain courses like the Alain Duclos avalanche course.

One of the highlights of this year for me was the Alpine Assessment; this was the first year in its new position as the final exam at the end of the candidate’s period as an

aspirant guide. It was great to be able to see the level that the aspirants had reached by the end of their aspirancy. As an assessor it made for much easier decision-making seeing a candidate operating at their final level rather than part way through their aspirancy phase.

Once again I would like to thank all those who have contributed their time and energy to supporting our trainees, aspirants and training scheme this year.

Bruce Goodlad

Treasurer’s Annual Report - 2015 Plas y Brenin

Introduction

It is with pleasure that I present my final, annual report for the AGM.

‘The end is nigh’ in terms of my role as Treasurer but many aspects of my 3 year appointment will carry forward and I have every confidence in my successor, Alasdair Cain to build upon the work already done.

I would also take this opportunity to thank my colleagues on the committee for their professionalism and dedication during my tenure. It has been a privilege working with you and one I would recommend to any guide, at least once in their career.

I would further thank Sue Doyle for continued support.

I would end how I started by reaffirming that the BMG is a small, professional association run by dedicated volunteers. I have tried to keep to that ethos. We punch above our weight in so many areas but not in finances! The model requires effort and commitment by individual members and I would urge new members, after a few years, to seriously give thought to how they might ‘give back’ to the association.

Membership Statistics

membership cat-egory

2014 2015 current

Full 128 119 124

Aspirant 9 8 9

Trainee 7 13 7

Associate 14 10 11

Retired 33 34 39

Membership Subscriptions 2016 will see an increase of approx. 3.5% as follows:

Full guide £295 Aspirant Guide £220 Trainee Guide £100 Associate Guide £150 still capped as per arrangement until 2017 (then to track Aspirant rate) Retired Guide £47

Meetings Expenses 2016 The running of the association is the biggest single expense. Without the time and effort of its officers however it cannot exist. For 2016 the guidelines remain the same as 2015. Officers and members attending committee meetings and external meetings on behalf of the association can charge for the reasonable cost of transportation and accommodation (if necessary) to attend a meeting. The cost of meals is covered up to £15 if an overnight stay is necessary. An expenses claim form must be sent to the treasurer, with receipts, within a maximum of one month after the meeting.

• Car travel: 30p per mile plus toll and parking charges.

• Public transport: Cheapest available fares. Travel to/from the Alps will be paid on basis of budget airfare plus travel to/from the airport.

• Car hire: with prior consent from the Treasurer.

• Accommodation: Subject to reasonable limits and only when essential to attend a meeting. The cost of meals is covered up to £15.

• AGM: Committee members can claim one night accommodation and dinner up to £15, travel expenses, but not the cost of a second night.

• IFMGA and other meetings: The Association would normally cover the ex-penses of a maximum of 2 officers to attend an IFMGA meeting (normally the President and Training Officer). Expenses for attendance of other meetings should have the prior approval of the Committee.

Please help to reduce expenses claims by booking flights or trains early and sharing cars and accommodation where possible.

Training and Assessment Course Wages and Expenses

Convenors are paid £310 per day Trainers are paid £260 per day Guide’s expenses incurred during the courses for mountain huts and uplift will be paid. Expenses are not paid for travel to or from the training and assessment cour-ses as it is expected that local guides will be used to staff the courses (and courses are priced on this assumption). If conditions dictate valley accommodation (Alps) then ‘budget style’ will be covered. It is the Course Directors responsibility to stay within budget avoiding daily uplift/valley accommodation for e.g.

Honoured 6 6 6

Total 197 195 196

Accommodation (budget or hostel type) is covered for Scottish Winter training & assessment. Course fees will be set to cover the above costs

A review of the training scheme expenses is anticipated during 2016.

Directors’/Officers’ Honoraria

President £1200 Secretary £900 Treasurer £900 Director of Training £2500 Chair of PSC £1200 Publicity Officer £500 Equipment and Sponsorship Officer £500 Website Coordinator £500 All of the above subject to UK tax at 20%. PSC to be paid in two instalments to avoid NI contributions.

Officers’ Expenses Officers can reclaim the costs of telephone, postage, stationery, photocopying etc in carrying out their duties.

Newsletter Expenses The association will pay £250 per issue for the production of the BMG newsletter (NFTM). This is distributed only in electronic format (by email to all members) and is also available on the member’s web site. An invoice should be sent to the office after each issue has been distributed. We continue to be committed to the ‘Professional Mountaineer’ and currently pay postage (spread amongst the various memberships).

Accountants

I am very positive about the service we receive from Salisbury and it continues to represent excellent value for money. I propose they continue to be the auditors for the BMG.

Insurance

We have entered into our 3rd year with Integro/Doodson (and Mitsui as insurer). We have a new contact there (John Capel) and we have again come to an understand-ing on how our two organisations can work together. In addition to a price freeze on premiums for 2015 we have further agreed to freeze premiums until renewal in May 2017 dependant on no claims. Update – Insurance tax has risen by 3.5% with budget and will affect our premiums accordingly.

Employer’s Liability insurance is included in the premium for UK Ltd companies.

We agreed that Integro continue to discount the BMG’s insurance by £1500 per year (an increase of £500) which in effect is a profit share dependant on no claims.

Lastly, Integro provide a loss of earnings/injury policy to members. We now have a product which is £53 per annum and provides £300 per week for up to a year (can be claimed after 2 weeks) to those guides injured whilst working (not available to overseas international members).

Insurance part 2 In addition to the above agreement I have been asked to take part in an exercise with the ACWG (AMI, BAIML, MTA) as well as (at this stage) Perkins Slade to investi-gate a joint associations insurance policy. My personal view is that it is healthy to investigate options but that we have a strong, tailored product with Integro. I will hand over to Alasdair Cain and assist if necessary.

Training Scheme

The training scheme has seen a small surplus this financial year. It will always be potentially exposed to some loss due to ratios but the model is working. The Trainer/Convenor rate is to remain at £260/£310. The Ceinwen Faulkner Trust will be depleted in summer 2016. The BMG has written expressing our thanks; many of us have benefitted over the years. Can I again ask that if accommodation is booked then this be passed on to candi-dates? The BMG suffered some small losses (on re-tests) when candidates were charged less than the BMG were. I attach the course prices for 2016. The alpine training course price will be adjusted for 2017. Overall the scheme has seen an increase to candidates as sponsorship has been reduced per candidate to reflect the large intake (11). Overall however the BMG still commits a portion of its sponsorship revenue to those guides in training.

CMS Development

The CMS has been developed and we have adopted a direct debit system. The charges are favourable (1.5%). We are going to be charged 2.5% for all other trans-actions which is a slight improvement on Worldpay (which we will cancel). There have been difficulties with members living overseas/direct debits and a solu-tion is being sought.

Professional Career Development Loan Application

Following on from the initial work from Tamsin Gay, Tania Noakes has taken on this labour intensive role. She has overseen the application and improved/tidied up a lot of the learning material. I am delighted to announce that the BMG (and the IFMGA diploma) have been ap-proved by the Skills Funding Agency. Trainees can now apply for interest free loans to assist with the training scheme costs. This will be administered by Siabod Cottage. Our thanks go to Tamsin and particularly Tania for their perseverance.

The Bottom Line

We show a £4740 (after tax) surplus on a turnover of over £140,000 this financial year. This is an excellent result given the increasing complexity of the association and testament to its members who continue to support it. We are investing heavily in a new website and this will show (partly) in the next years accounts (it is cur-rently carried forward as we have not yet ‘received’ the service).

Tim Blakemore Les Houches November 2015

BMG Training scheme course dates & prices 2016

Module Title Cost Date Con-venor

Rock Induction 170 19 September 2015 AT

Rock Foundation 340 20 – 21 September 2015 LP

Ski Technique 0 6 – 8 January 2016 SJ

Ski Induction 90 10 January 2016 BG

Avalanche Course 550 11 – 15 January 2016 MD

Winter Induction 170 27 February 2016 GE

Winter Foundation 340 28 – 29 March 2016 GE

Rock 1 Training 580 7 – 10 May 2016 SMc

Rock 2 / Physical Per-formance and coaching

450 23 – 26 May 2016 MC

Rock Assessment 1360 11-16 + 18-23 Sept 2016 * AT

Scottish avalanche day 0 18 January 2016 MD/AK

Winter Training 615 19 – 24 January 2016 TN

Winter Assessment 1360 28 Feb-4 Mar +6-11 Mar 2016 *

GE

Ski Touring Training 565 4-8 April 2016 GMc

Alpine Training 1110 17 – 24 June 2016 AT

Cascade Training 170 18 January 2016 AN

Off Piste Ski Training 360 20 – 22 January 2016 BG/MS

Avalanche 2 Course 135 23 – 25 January 2016 AD/BG

Ski Touring Assessment 680 10 – 15 April 2016 PF

Alpine Assessment 1120 14 – 19 August 2016 BG

Completion Seminar 0 21 August 2016 BG

TOTAL £10165

Professional Standards Committee

Annual Report 2015

Accidents and Incidents Summary

In total we have received 27 reports in 2015 as compared to 37 in 2014 and 33 in 2013. This represents a decrease of incidents reported of almost 30% compared to last year – a cautious “well done” to all mem-bers!

There were no fatalities and no PSC Hearings.

The reports can be broken down as follows (please note that the total is not 27 as some reports are listed more than once):

Skiing 15 Mountaineering 5 Winter climbing 3 Rock climbing 2 In the UK 3 In the Alps 19 Japan 1

• The reports resulted in two Inquiries, none of which proceeded to PSC Hearings.

• Again this year, almost all reports relate to accidents that resulted in injury. It is important that we also report incidents and unintended events.

• Processing an Accident or Incident Report involves the BMG in rela-tively little work, but it does mean that, should there ever be a claim against the Guide, the Insurance Company has been informed and will honour its commitment.

• There was one (settled) insurance claim this year that resulted from an accident reported to the PSC in 2013.

The following reports are worthy of comment:

1. A client fell through a layer of ice covering a deep pool whilst walking to the foot of a Norwegian icefall. He was quickly extricated from the pool but the guide was concerned that rescue could have been very difficult if the pool had been deeper and the client had been completely submerged.

2. During a “trip to the bathroom” on a glacier early in the morning a client left the track to “get out of sight”. Whilst out of sight of the Guide (and in an area that had not had a recce) they suffered a fall that resulted in a head injury and a broken arm.

3. A Trainee Guide (who had completed the summer test and the winter training) was working for another guide in Scotland in winter. He was undertaking a traverse in the Beinn Eighe area with 4 clients. During the day one of the clients fell and suffered a serious head injury that required helicopter evacuation.

An Inquiry Guide was appointed and a report produced. It was agreed that no further action was required.

However, it is worth reminding Guides of the guidance that exists on the BMG website “How Guides employ others”. It is also important that Guides, Aspirants and Trainees confirm that the work that is being of-fered (or accepted), together with the level of supervision, is appropri-ate to the skills and experience of all involved. Please note that there is no suggestion here that this was not the case.

4. A Guide was undertaking a scramble on Skye with 4 clients on his rope. One of the clients dislodged a block that fell and seriously injured another of the clients. A helicopter evacuation was required.

An Inquiry Guide was appointed and a report produced. It was agreed that no further action was required.

However the PSC wrote to the Guide pointing out that 5 on a rope was not normal practice and as such it required particularly careful route choice and supervision by the Guide.

5. A BMG Guide was climbing on an ice-fall where another Guide was operating with clients. The BMG Guide judged that his clients were out of the fall-line of ice dislodged by the other party. However, one of the other Guide’s clients climbed off-route and dislodged a quantity of ice that hit and injured one of the BMG Guide’s clients.

Once again this highlights the danger of operating in the vicinity of other parties on ice falls. immediately after the accident. Members should be aware that a particular focus of the investigation related to legal formalities govern-ing Mountain Guides working in Switzerland (in this case there were no issues arising or matters for concern).

6. A client suffered a lead fall on an Alpine rock climb when a fixed peg on which he was pulling came out.

This is the third accident in the last couple of years involving clients lead climbing on rock and it has been agreed that this area will be the subject of a session and discussion at this year’s Roger Payne Risk Management Seminar (following the AGM).

7. As was the case last winter, many of the ski accidents happened in relatively benign situations (easy off piste, on piste etc.). Nevertheless, ruptured ligaments and dislocated joints cannot, and must not, be con-sidered to be “minor injuries”.

I would make the following observations:

• Few of the accidents happened on serious terrain; most hap-pened either on the piste or near the piste.

• Many of the accidents happened at the end of the day when clients may have been fatigued.

• Some of the accidents happened out of sight of the Guide and this emphasises the need for supervision in even the most benign terrain (often the accidents occurred on marked pistes in good conditions!).

• Poor technique on behalf of the client is commonly identified as the cause of the accident. An alternative view could be that clients are skiing terrain or snow beyond their abilities (skill and physical ability)

• Guides need to be aware that they may put clients under extra pressure when they ski direct lines, long pitches or ski at speed (even on easy terrain).

. First Aid, Insurance and CPD

The Management Committee has decided that PSC will have respon-sibility for checking that BMG members submitting reports have valid insurance and their first aid and CPD records are up to date.

The BMG is currently in the process of producing new guidance on CPD and this, when it is agreed, will be found on the PSC area of the BMG website.

Incident Reporting

This year three Guides were late in reporting incidents. This is a real hassle to deal with and results in much extra work – the onus is firmly upon Guides to report in a timely fashion….. i.e. within 48 hours.

Guides employing other guides or instructors are responsible for reporting incidents and accidents to the BMG – this must not be delegated to others.

It is worth repeating advice previously provided by BMG:

The PSC recommends that BMG members who employ instructors,

whether qualified or unqualified, look again with some urgency at the

systems they have in place and take proper advice as to their legal re-

sponsibilities and insurance cover.

Conclusion

We continue to rely upon the expertise, guidance and advice of a great many members in completing the work of the PSC. Without exception all have given of their time and expertise generously and with dedication.

I have also asked Guide’s on a number of occasions to provide “support” to members who have been involved in accidents or are subject to PSC Inquiry. This is a crucial role, and at times difficult role.

I would like to formally thank the members of the Association who have contributed to the processes of the PSC. Their contribution is vital to the work and well being of the Association. I have been endlessly impressed by their commitment, dedication and expertise. The fact that they do this in an entirely voluntary capacity, often at short notice, is worthy of special mention.

I would finally like to thank the Directors of the Association (Paul, Hannah, Bruce and Tim) for all of their help with the management of our PSC sys-tems.

Iain Peter Chair, PSC Kingussie 1st November 2015

Publicity Officers Report – Annual Report 2015

2015 has been an extremely busy year and we have made some significant progress in the ongoing work of promoting the BMG and its membership.

Use of the BMG logo

We will continue to provide encouragement to the membership to use the BMG logo as much as possible.

The artwork for an ‘all weather’ poster was supplied to PyB, and the production and installation is underway. It is my intention to offer a similar product to Glenmore Lodge.

4 small commemorative plaques have been produced as part of our 40th celebra-tions. These plaques will be presented to Plas y Brenin, Glenmore Lodge, WL Gore and Arc’teryx. As well as making the 40th Anniversary they will also display the BMG logo in prominent positions and further enhance our relationship with our key brand partners.

Our brand partner Arc’teryx launched it flagship shop in London over the summer and thanks to Andy Perkins hard work the BMG has excellent representation, we will be continuing to provide support to this store in order to maintain the value of the BMG presence.

Image Library

Over the course of 2015 I was able to increase the stock image library with high resolution imagery depicting the work and environment of the BMG’s members. These images were very well received by our partners and will be used many times within our associated press. It is my intention for 2016 to further increase our stock of images by whatever means I can.

I was able to piggy back an existing photoshoot this July in Chamonix and was able to obtain 56 high res images of various alpine scenes for a minimal outlay. A selec-tion of images will be sent to Steve Long for use within the Professional Mountaineer magazine.

Selfies Project:

The BMG membership was asked to send in selfies of themselves or their clients during August. I believed that this would be an effective and non-onerous method of generating a large quantity of imagery which would represent the diverse nature of a BMG’s work. The response sadly didn’t generate the body of images that was expected. 19 guides provided multiple images. It is my intention to re launch this project at the AGM and to gently encourage the wider membership to contribute over the winter and summer season.

Professional Mountaineer Magazine

The production of this magazine by Vertebrate Graphics has improved the visual look of the product. There will be an on-going need for further content and imagery. The membership will be strongly encouraged to produce material for this magazine.

Many thanks to all the BMG members who have helped promote their association, without their hard work and willingness to help the publicity of the BMG would be almost impossible. I would also like to thank the BMG members who have not yet helped but who I will be harassing in the coming year!

Andy Townsend, Carrbridge, November 2015

Equipment and Partnerships Annual Report 2015

It has been a busy and productive year on the Equipment and Partnerships front, with consolidation of our existing partnerships being the main goal. In addition there have been other initiatives and activities in a variety of areas.

Our principal partners are Arc’teryx, Gore, Lyon Equipment and Facewest. I thank them all for their participation and engagement with the BMG this year.

Here are some highlights from each brand:

Arc’teryx

• Significant direct financial support to the association • Provision of clothing and footwear to this year’s trainee guides • Participation of Arc’teryx personnel at the Rock course in the Lake District • The Arc’teryx Alpine Academy in Chamonix which this year saw over 20

BMG members working at this major event in June 2015. In terms of exposure of the BMG and its partnership with Arc’teryx, the Academy is the most effective of all our initiatives by a significant margin. Thanks to Miles Bright in particular for his assistance in recruitment and organisation.

• The opening of the first Arc’teryx brand store in Europe took place in Piccadilly this summer. The BMG has a significant presence there in the Community area of the store. Several BMG members attended the VIP opening, two members donated guiding days to the raffle in support of Community Action Nepal and a BMG member delivered a winter lecture at the store this autumn.

• Ultra-pro deals on packs and clothing for the alpine summer season • A special order on mid layer jackets to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the

BMG

• A meeting with our contact James Bronson in Chamonix in July where many new initiatives were discussed

• Thanks to Steve Long for taking James climbing on Gogarth in October

Gore

• Significant direct financial support to the association • Participation of Gore personnel at the Rock course in North Wales • A major PR event took place in Switzerland in June with over 20 BMG

members working on the Gore-Tex Experience Tour. An ascent of the Balmhorn along with Edurne Pasaban was flawlessly organised by Julie Ann Clyma and the weather cooperated to give an exceptional day for all concerned. This type of cooperation gives the BMG, Gore and our partner-ship exactly the right kind of exposure and is a template for projects in the future

• A meeting with key Gore personnel in Chamonix during the Arc’teryx Alpine Academy

• Thanks to Paul Moores for standing in for me at a meeting with our contact at Gore as the brand undergoes some significant restructuring in the UK.

Lyon Equipment

• Direct financial support to the association • Participation at the winter training course • Supply of Julbo sunglasses for 30 BMG members • Supply of Julbo ski goggles to support a photo competition to source

images for the new BMG website • Test programme of Petzl ropes involving 4 BMG members

Facewest

• This internet retailer continues to supply the BMG at zero profit and as such provides a great service to the BMG by allowing us to access a wide range of brands.

• We have a series of pro reviews running on the Facewest website, show-casing both our partners’ products and other leading brands. This provides support for our partner brands and at the same time gives great exposure to the BMG members who write those reports.

• Facewest have also helped in our cooperation with Lyon by acting as a despatch centre for Julbo eyewear

• An avalanche training course was delivered by a BMG member as part of a joint competition initiative organised by Arc’teryx and Facewest.

Other Equipment and Partnership activities

In addition to these activities with our major partners, here is a selection of other projects undertaken in the last 12 months:

• A feasibility study for a partnership with an internet guiding agency. This proved to be inappropriate and of little benefit to either the BMG or the agency

• A meeting with a supplier of merino wool products. This has not led to any-thing as yet and in any case there is some conflict of interest with Arc’teryx

• A concerted effort has been made to set up a partnership with K2, both at a European and UK level but, despite these efforts, we still have no progress on locating a ski partner for the BMG

• A partnership proposal was received from Avatech, who are marketing an innovative approach to snow profiling and information sharing of avalanche data. The BMG Management Committee felt that a partnership with an unproven brand would be inappropriate at this stage

• Following an incident of buckle slippage with a client’s harness during a crevasse rescue session being run by two BMG members, I spoke with the retailer, distributor and manufacturer of the harness. I have placed a full report on the BMG Yammer site.

• A bulk order for Brooks Range Rescue Sleds was organised following discussion of an incident at the post AGM seminar in December 2014

I will be standing down as Equipment and Partnerships Officer at this year’s AGM. At the time of writing, 2 potential candidates have expressed interest in taking over the post but, after some consideration, both have withdrawn their applications. The Management Committee would be pleased to hear from any BMG member interested in taking over this role. It brings in significant direct revenue to the BMG as an association, provides five figure sums worth of work to BMG members on an annual basis, and indirectly through deals provides many thousands of pounds worth of quality kit for members to use on a daily basis in their guiding work.

After two intensive years, I’d like to thank all our partners and the many BMG members who have contributed to the association with their time and energy in support of our partnerships. Every picture, social media post, pro review, donation of time and effort helps to cement the immensely valuable relation-ships the association has with such a great range of prestigious brands.

Andy Perkins Les Houches26 October 2015