BMC at Kendal Mountain Festival 2025
The BMC had a strong presence at Kendal Mountain Festival this year, with the BMC Access & Conservation Trust charity stand, Women In Adventure film competition and workshop, a local hike, talks by staff members and one BMC volunteer winning a prestigious award.
It was great to meet so many members and non-members of the BMC at this year's Kendal Mountain Festival in the Lake District. Thank you for coming along to our BMC Access & Conservation Trust stand or attending one of our pop up events running throughout the long weekend, Friday 21 - Sunday 22 November 2025. Events included the Women In Adventure film competition and workshop, talks by BMC staff about litter picking and wild camping in the mountains, and a confidence-building, supportive, local hike from nearby Staveley.
BMC Access & Conservation Trust
The BMC Access & Conservation Trust had a stand in the Basecamp charity tipi all weekend, manned by five incredible BMC volunteers. The aim was to raise awareness of the BMC's charity and its two campaigns - Mend Our Mountains and The Climate Project, and our Get Stuck In volunteer path repair and moorland restoration programme. All of our brilliant volunteers, Simon, Keith (Wolfie), Ellie, Nic and Jay had taken part in one or more Get Stuck In events and talked passionately about the work, encouraging others to sign up and enter our raffle to win prizes worth £1,792. BMC Access & Conservation Trust trustees Chris Coleman, Steve Charles (creator of Get Stuck In as BMC Hill Walking Rep) and Neal Hockley also attended, and Tom Spencer and Andy Clifford kindly represented Moors for the Future and Fix the Fells respectively.
- A lightweight Terra Nova tent worth £650
- Cotswold Outdoor voucher worth £200
- Deuter backpacks worth £60
- Keen hiking shoes worth £135
- Rock Climbing and Winter Skills Books worth £85
- Athletic Brewing Co. non-alcoholic beer worth £60
- A year's YHA membership worth £25 with £250 in accommodation vouchers
- Klean Kanteen insulated bottles and meal box worth £132
- Berghaus MTN Guide 45+ Backpack worth £200
BMC Access & Conservation Trust Comms and Fundraising Officer, Claire Maxted, says, "Thanks so much to all the brands that supported the BMC Access & Conservation Trust with these prizes, we raised £585 over the weekend towards footpath repair, conservation and moorland restoration."
Find out more about the BMC Access & Conservation Trust here and donate to our current campaigns here. As part of our Mend Our Mountains campaign we are still raising the last £22,000 for our footpath repair Apprentice Ranger role with the National Trust in Eryri, the successful candidate will start in January 2026. For The Climate Project campaign we will soon be launching an ambitious fundraiser to restore the Peak District moorlands affected by this year's wildfires. Please donate if you can, and thank you if you have already.
Deuter Bothy Stage chat
BMC Access & Conservation Officer for Wales, Tom Carrick, was joined by Dan Yates from EOCA (European Outdoor Conservation Association and Dom Ferris from Trash Free Trail to talk about their personal journeys from adventure to activism. The three shared stories from their travels locally and abroad that have led to their current roles safeguarding the environment and outdoor spaces, specifically the BMC's Big Clean Up on Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) this summer where volunteers and mountaineers abseiled and walked to collect 4,282 items of litter on the north side of the mountain.
Tom says, “There was a lot to talk about in 45mins - it’s a big subject, difficult to fit it into a short chat, but we talked about ways for people to get involved, and Trash Free Trails had an event running over the weekend. If nothing else, I hope we inspired people to care for their local crags, wild spaces and be active in their local areas."
Dates for next year's Big Clean Up on Yr Wyddfa are 30 July - 1 Aug 2026, with Deuter sponsoring the programme again, so sign up to follow the BMC on Eventbrite here to receive notifications about upcoming events including this one.
Standing up for wild camping talk
BMC Campaigns & Policy Officer, Eben Muse shared the Osprey Adventure Stage with Dr. Laura Cartwright from quality tent-maker Terra Nova to to share how the BMC's "We Wild Camp" campaign is going. With wild campers across England and Wales blamed for trashing the hill, and with a wealthy landowner attacking them in the courts, the BMC is standing up for the rights of responsible wild campers with this campaign. Eben says, "Laura and I spoke about how the We Wild Camp campaign is going and how the BMC are representing responsible wild campers.
"We are telling their stories and showing the social value of wild camping, while actively seeking creative and collaborative solutions to our impact as humans on the landscape, including fly camping. We also showed some interesting data collected from more than 600 wild campers, and showed an exclusive sneak peak of the upcoming BMC We Wild Camp film, sponsored by Terra Nova. We had some great questions from the audience so thank you to everyone who came along and listened or took part."
Find out more and join the BMC's We Wild Camp campaign here.
BMC Hike
The BMC's Partnerships Manager, Cressida Allwood and Liz Jollie, BMC Area Rep for the Lake District took nine people out on a soggy, windy, 12km Social Hike from Staveley on the Sunday of Kendal Mountain Festival. Cressida says, "We did a circular walk along the Dales Way and up to two man-made tarns where we learnt about the fact that they were dug out for the water mill at Staveley Mill Yard below. The weather was pretty grim - rainy and windy, so the three newcomers to Lake District hill walking did particularly well. Our youngest participant was delighted to achieve her longest walk in inclement weather, proudly wearing her new boots and waterproofs.
"It's important to offer a walk for people to feel included and confident locally to Kendal, don’t have to go too high or be too challenged or have nice weather, and can be done with a family. It was lovely to welcome new people and support them on a gloomy day’s walk, with a lovely cafe at the end! And it was great to make some new people aware of the BMC and our fantastic volunteers - many thanks go to Liz Jollie, BMC Area Rep for the Lake District for her help with leading, and Pete Salenieks formerly on the BMC Board Director."
The BMC runs an extensive programme of Social Hikes throughout England and Wales at all times of the year, please check for your nearest here.
BMC volunteer wins prestigious award!
We are delighted that long-serving BMC Area Rep Iain Peters has won the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, one of the highest accolades an outdoor author can achieve. His memoir, The Corridor, shone out from 28 other entries as an immensely brave undertaking. In his book, Iain recounts his life as a climber and teacher, revealing how his passion for wild places and adventure served as a means of survival and a form of recovery from childhood sexual abuse. He candidly explores the long-term impact of this trauma on his psyche and relationships, finding strength in the mountains in the emotional journey of healing. The book is a powerful story of hope, resilience, and the creation of a life fulfilled despite an early, horrific trauma.
Iain says, "When I sat down to write about how climbing and wilderness had helped me survive the trauma of sexual abuse as a child I had absolutely no idea that a decade and 340 pages later I would be sitting in The Malt Room of The Brewery Centre with six eminent outdoor writers, fellows on the shortlist, listening to Rehan Siddiqui, past president of the BMC, announcing that my book The Corridor had won the 42nd Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. Looking through the list of all the past winners, who between them represent some of the finest mountaineers and authors of their generation makes me realise what an amazing honour it is to have my book chosen to join them."
Read our interview with Iain Peters about The Corridor here.
Find out more about this year's Boardman Tasker award and the other authors and books on the shortlist here.
Women In Adventure
The Women In Adventure film competition had scores of entries and the workshop was sold out at Kendal Mountain Festival 2025.
The competition called for short films of up to 10 minutes in length. The longlist is now on BMC TV and was watched by our judges, freelance outdoor filmmaker and photographer, Rachel Sarah; award-winning filmmaker, director, producer, editor and co-founder of Sourcy Film, Alexis Tymon, and writer, visual poet and rock climber Faye Latham. The shortlist of 10 was screened at this year's festival, awaiting the judges' decisions for the categories of:
- Best Film Award: £400
- Best Professional Award: £200
- Make a Difference Award: £200
- Judges Special Mention Award: £100
- Best Reel (NEW!): £200
For more info and the 2025 Women In Adventure film competition winners, click here.
The workshop aimed to empower and support new voices in filmmaking, hosted by Faye Latham and featuring filmmakers Emma Crome, Alexis Tymon, Tanya Naville and Beki Henderson. It was an interactive workshop designed for women and non-binary folks passionate about filmmaking, covering the following topics:
First Steps into the Wild: A Guide to Starting Out in Adventure TV with BAFTA-nominated TV producer, Beki Henderson.
How to craft stories with impact with award-winning documentary filmmaker and Creative Director at Coldhouse Collective, Emma Crome.
How to turn your passion project into a paid adventure documentary with award-winning filmmaker, director, producer, editor and co-founder of Sourcy Film, Alexis Tymon.
The power of media exposure, collective action and getting more women behind the camera with Tanya Naville, Founder and Director of Femmes en Montagne, a French film festival and year-round program promoting gender equality and inclusion in mountain sports and filmmaking.
Mynediad Newyddion
The BMC had a strong presence at Kendal Mountain Festival this year, with the BMC Access & Conservation Trust charity stand, Women In Adventure film competition and workshop, a local hike, talks by staff members and one BMC volunteer winning a prestigious award.
Disciplines
Join other BMC members to help Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (DWT) plant trees in an area of upland pasture on the edge of high moorland.
Mynediad Newyddion
This October, BMC and Mountain Training Association volunteers joined forces with the National Trust to cut down faster-growing, competitor trees to protect native oak trees in the Upper Derwent Valley of the Peak District.
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Eryri Apprentice Ranger fund
Help the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust raise £63,000 in funding for a new a 2-year Apprentice Ranger role within the National Trust Cymru Footpath Team in Eryri, as part of our wider Mend Our Mountains campaign.
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