BMC announces three new patrons to support its Route to Adventure strategy
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has appointed three new Patrons to help champion its Route to Adventure strategy and inspire more people to enjoy climbing, hill walking and mountaineering.
Broadcaster and hillwalker Mary-Ann Ochota, climber and international mountain guide Libby Peter, and Andy MacNae MP join the BMC’s existing Patrons – Sir Chris Bonington, Rab Carrington, Mick Fowler and Pat Littlejohn OBE.
Within the BMC, Patrons are distinguished figures from the world of climbing, hill walking and mountaineering who support the organisation by championing its work and helping promote the benefits of time spent adventuring.
BMC Chief Executive Officer, Paul Ratcliffe, said:
“Announcing Mary-Ann, Libby and Andy as Patrons alongside the launch of our Route to Adventure strategy at the start of 2026 marked an important and proud moment for the BMC.
“We’re especially proud to welcome Mary-Ann Ochota and Libby Peter as the first women to become BMC Patrons. Both bring enormous experience and passion for the outdoors, and their voices will help inspire more people to get involved in climbing, hill walking and mountaineering.
“Together with our existing Patrons, they represent the breadth, experience and values of our community and will play an important role in championing the ambitions set out in our strategy.”
Each of the new Patrons will support a key part of the BMC’s 2030 strategy.
Mary-Ann Ochota has long championed the wellbeing benefits of hill walking and worked to bring the outdoors to wider audiences. As Patron, she will support the Opening Up Activities for All and Grow Our Reach pillars.
Libby Peter, an accomplished climber and alpine mountaineer, has spent much of her career helping others develop the skills they need for their own adventures. As an international mountain guide and author of Rock Climbing, she reflects the Developing Skills for Adventure pillar and the importance of partnerships with organisations such as Mountain Training, National Indoor Climbing Award Schemes (NICAS) and Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC).
Andy MacNae MP, a former BMC National Officer, now chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Outdoor Recreation and Access to Nature. His work campaigning to expand public access to nature closely aligns with the BMC’s Campaigning for Access and Environment pillar.
Together, the seven Patrons form a group of advocates for climbing, hill walking and mountaineering. Alongside the BMC’s members, volunteers and staff, their experience and influence will help support the 2030 strategy and encourage more people to discover their own routes to adventure.
Related Content
Performance News
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) can today announce the athletes selected for the GB Paraclimbing Team for the 2026 season.
Access News
As part of The Climate Project from the BMC Access & Conservation Trust, £15,000 has been granted to the Seagrass Ocean Rescue to extend the role of Living Seas Project Officer, Rhys Bowen, by over a year.
Rock Climbing
Apply to become a Host at the 2026 BMC International Summer Meet between the 13 - 20 June 2026.
Access News
Our Get Stuck In volunteers are off to a flying start this year with 11,400 sphagnum moss plugs planted and 1,100 trees planted in the Peak District.
Access News
Thanks to your generous donations, the BMC Access & Conservation Trust are funding a two-year apprenticeship role within the National Trust path repair team in Eryri, part of the 2026 Mend Our Mountains campaign.
Performance
GB Ice Climbing Team athlete Emma Bush reports from Saas-Fee, where the World Cup event delivered breakthrough performances and a defining weekend for the British team at one of the most iconic venues on the tour.
Access News
The BMC Access & Conservation Trust are delighted to fund the first ever dedicated Wildfire Ranger for the Peak District's Eastern Moors area.
Performance News
Emma Edwards and Dayan Akhtar claimed the senior titles at the 2026 British Bouldering Championships, held this weekend at Depot Manchester. The early-season event also served as a key selection competition for the GB Climbing team.
Performance News
The qualification rounds at the British Bouldering Championships are complete, with the field cut dramatically from 295 athletes to just 24 per category ahead of Sunday’s semi-finals.
Performance News
Britain’s best boulderers return to Manchester to battle it out for the coveted title of British Boulder Champion.
Access News
The BMC Access & Conservation Trust have donated four heavy duty cargo nets to Fix the Fells to help them move large stones during path repair work.
Peak Area Walks
Join us during the Big Walking Weekend for a fundraising wildfire walk to help the BMC Access & Conservation Trust raise money to protect the Eastern Moor hiking and climbing areas from wildfires.
Access News
The BMC's Get Stuck In path repair and upland conservation events are going from strength to strength, with eight new path repair dates now available this year in Cumbria and North Wales.
Organisation
The BMC is moving together with our new strategy, setting out our vision for fairer access as demand for adventure grows.
Access News
Volunteers are the beating heart of the BMC so it's tremendous to celebrate almost 200 of our fantastic members coming together to repair paths, restore the landscape and carry out conservation work in 2025. Here are the latest stats.
Access News
In addition to welcoming four new trustees, the BMC Access & Conservation Trust has been busy in 2025, securing grants and creating fundraisers to support crag and mountain path repair, moorland restoration and landscape conservation in hill walking and climbing areas. Here are this year's highlights.
Rock Climbing Articles
When it comes to gift-giving, we know the best things in life aren't always 'things'! Team BMC have been hard at work putting together a list of really great Christmas gift ideas that are a bit ‘outside the box’...
Performance News
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has confirmed its GB Climbing Performance Programme for 2026, with reigning Olympic champion Toby Roberts and 2025 Overall Lead World Cup winner Erin McNeice among the headline selections.
Access News
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.
Rock Climbing Articles
Stuck for ideas on what you buy your adventurous friends and family members for Christmas? Cotswold Outdoor may have the answer. And BMC members get up to 15%* off in store and online. Have a browse for ideas.
Access News
The BMC Land & Property Trust - the charity responsible for the BMC's land and property assets - is seeking a new Chair and up to four Trustees to join its Board. There are also opportunities to join our Land Management Group. These voluntary roles present a unique opportunity to help oversee the management of some of the UK's most important climbing and hill walking sites.
Access News
The BMC's Access & Conservation Trust has donated £15,000 to the Seagrass Ocean Rescue programme in the popular climbing and hiking location of North Wales as part of The Climate Project.
Access & Conservation
The UK’s dramatic coastline isn’t just a world-class climbing venue – they’re also vital habitats for some of our most iconic marine mammals.
Performance News
Great Britain's Paraclimbing team closed their 2025 World Cup campaign with two bronze medals at the final round of the IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup in Laval, France.
Access News
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.
Access News
Storms and heavy rain couldn't dampen the spirits of the eleven volunteers who tackled the clogged drainage ditches below the famous Cuillin Ridge in a collaborative project with Mountaineering Scotland and the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS).
Access News
At the end of this summer, the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust donated 10 pairs of safety boots to Fix the Fells which will be free to borrow by volunteer path workers.
Access News
The BMC's Access & Conservation Trust is thrilled to confirm a hugely generous £30,000 donation to our Eryri Apprentice Ranger fund from Athletic Brewing Company's Two for the Trails grant programme.
Access News
At the end of September, twelve members of staff from the Lancashire Group volunteered on a Get Stuck In event in Eryri (Snowdonia) arranged by the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust as part of the Mend Our Mountains campaign, hosted and instructed by rangers from National Trust Cymru.
Performance News
GB Climbing's Erin McNeice has secured her place in the Lead World Championship finals, continuing a remarkable season that has already seen her crowned the overall Euroholds Lead World Cup champion.
Access News
This September, a team of 12 BMC volunteers laid stepping stones through boggy ground, planted acorns and collected hawthorn berries in Eryri (Snowdonia) as part of the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Get Stuck In programme.
Access News
As part of our collective mission to protect the places we love to climb, walk and explore, Cotswold Outdoor – the BMC’s Official Outdoor Retailer – has donated £21,040.91 to The Climate Project, supporting vital conservation work through the BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust.
Rock Climbing
We’re excited to announce that next year’s International Summer Meet will take place on: 13th – 21st June 2026 Llanberis, North Wales, UK
Performance News
Seventeen athletes from GB Climbing will take to the walls this week as the IFSC World Climbing Championships begin in Seoul, marking a major milestone in the sport’s journey towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Access News
This August, eight Get Stuck In volunteers, funded by the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust, cleared invasive rhododendrons on the edge of Kinder Scout with the National Trust.
Access News
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC), as a secretariat member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Outdoor Recreation and Access to Nature (APPG), has welcomed the launch in Parliament of the group’s landmark report, Outdoors for All: Recommendations to Government on Access to Nature.
Access News
This August, a team of 12 BMC volunteers helped to protect the mountains of the Glyderau, Eryri (Snowdonia) as part of the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Get Stuck In programme.
Rock Climbing
Access improvements, funded by the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust mean the new owners can reignite the popular MassonFest, a 'weekend of dry tooling fun' scheduled for 17-19 October 2025.
Hill Walking News
This August, 12 BMC volunteers spent two days on Scafell Pike, Lake District, making a 20m 'megabund' in the latest Get Stuck In event, funded by the Mend Our Mountains campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust.
Access News
The British Mountaineering Council and Peak District National Park Authority – working through Moors for the Future Partnership – have received a prestigious award for our work to conserve the moorlands of the Peak District and South Pennines.
Access News
This July, eight Get Stuck In volunteers, funded by the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust, removed 400m of barbed wire fence at Dalehead, near Edale, as part of the National Trust's Dalehead Nature Recovery Project.
Access News
Moors for the Future Partnership have been featured on the latest episode of Countryfile, raising awareness of wildfire risk and damage to the moorlands the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust have been helping them to restore in our longterm partnership.
Access News
This June, 13 BMC volunteers completed an 80m section of previously heavily eroded path below Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and cleared vast amounts of invasive Himalayan balsam in the Ogwen Valley in North Wales.
Performance News
20 GB Paraclimbing greats took to the wall in Innsbruck, showcasing skill, strength and tenacity in the second World Cup of the 2025 series.
Indoor Climbing
Don't let a rainy day stop play. Indoor climbing is great for children's mental and physical health, and helps them develop important life skills. Here are our top tips for taking the kids to the climbing wall...
Indoor Climbing
What does it take to set a championship climbing event? We caught up with professional route setter Zoë to find out.
Mountaineering Destinations
Triglav (2,864m) is Slovenia’s highest mountain and a symbolic peak in the Julian Alps, appearing on both the country’s coat of arms and flag and giving its name - meaning “three-headed” - to the surrounding Triglav National Park.
Access News
This June, 11 BMC volunteers took on a particularly boggy section of path along St Raven's Edge, above Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District.
Indoor Climbing News
BMC members can save money when using Graystone Action Centre in central Manchester.