Kings College London Mountaineering Club

President - Mr Edward Hofman
Vice President - Mr Oliver Lister
Treasurer - Mr James Chidgey
Team Captain - Mr Martin Davies
Secretary - Miss Claire Field

Gear Secretary - Mr Joe Mealor
Trip Secretary - Miss Helena Lightbody
Hill-walking Secretary - Miss Anika Flower
Publicity Officer - Miss Rosie Spragg
Social Secretary - Mr Sam Vaughan

EDD – President

Long Edd, KCLMC’s President 2010/2011, is so named because of his great gangling height. Climbers of shorter stature might be tempted to say that this gives him an advantage when reaching for holds way beyond most people’s stretch, but in fact it can be a real issue for the neat crouching sit-starts required for some boulder problems....how does he fold away his limbs!? His fortes are sport and trad, with a real penchant for multi-pitch trad. Edd has spent last year enjoying the Crags of Southern France (and learning a bit of French as well), and returns with his tan to lead the club with aplomb. He is in his final year studying Film and French (check out the excellent Alps 2010 video, it’s Edd’s handiwork).

OLLIE – Vice President

At one extreme of Ollie’s climbing is the grace and style with which he approaches a route, at the other is the red mist which descends when a route is getting the better of him. He took on more than required by his role of Safety Sec in last year’s committee, organising a great deal of the inaugural LUBE. His performance in the competition was also vital (after staying up well into the small hours of the morning making the banners for the comp). More of a climber than a mountaineer, he can work a boulder problem with enviable patience, and will spend his summers on as much real rock as possible – Continental sport, English trad, any boulders,  anywhere. Ollie is in his final year studying geography.

CHIDGE – Treasurer

Chidge is a real veteran of KCLMC, although this is his first year on committee. He is currently taking a break from his medicine degree...to do a pHd...and he anticipates being at King’s for a total of over ten years! He is a fan of mountaineering, Scottish and Alpine particularly, and may perhaps be tempted into taking advantage of KCLMC’s expansion to hill walking for the new academic year. As treasurer he wi ll be looking after our accounts with unparalleled diligence and thoroughness, with the odd pie chart thrown in. In fact, if people aren’t paying enough attention to the accounts, they may well get a pie chart in the face (sorry).

DAVE – Team Captain

Heralding from the beautiful Lake District, Martin was raised by mountain goats. He boulders, and climbs trad, sport and ice, all to a sickeningly high standard. When coaxed inside for competitions, he’ll probably win, or at the very least he’ll make everyone else look bad. He is the perfect man for the job of team captain; he’ll be leading from the front and heading up a strong team. He will also be a key man in the organisation of this year’s LUBE. Martin is known to all as Dave, for his unhealthy admiration for Dave Birkett...It must be a Northern thing. He is a medical student on an intercalated BSc in physiology.

CLAIRE – Secretary

The Claire at the start of a climbing trip is very much the same as the Claire at the end of a climbing trip...with the addition of a very bruised pair of knees! You may one day meet a purist who will tell you that using knees is not ok...they’re wrong. Claire has a lovely balancy style of climbing, and she likes to push her grade – if the only way to get over a bulge is to jam a knee in a crack, then so be it! Claire is a philosophy student going into her final year, and so her minutes are a delight to read, and the meetings are chaired with the excellent form and structure we expect of all philosophers.

JOE – Gear Sec

Joe is a mature student. By which we mean that he’s a tad older than some of us, not that he uses the wisdom of a few extra years to influence his decisions...If he asks himself ‘should I get the last tube home, or should I go to Walkabout?’ he’ll make the same (excellent) decision as every other member of the club, and end the evening air-guitaring to ‘Summer of 69’. He was elected to the committee as Gear Sec because, in his own words, he likes shiny things, and he like putting things in order. He will also be great at reclaiming gear hoarded by forgetful club members; this is one of the toughest parts of the job, so beware of Joe’s wrath if you hold on to a set of quickdraws a week too long! Joe is in his second year studying physiotherapy.

HELENA - Trip Sec

Helena A.K.A. Gigglesbody is not only a fantastic climber but also the brains and the brawn behind Crafty Climber, her very own company which designs hand-made chalkbags and climbing related knitwear. She adores the outdoors and if she could she would probably be quite happy living in a tree for the rest of her life, as long as she could take her sewing kit! She is the trip secretary for this year's committee which is no small role as she will be the driving force behind the KCLMC's famous trips around the world. She is the person to talk to if you want advice on trips or a chalkbag. Just try not to make her laugh or you'll be for a good quarter-hour waiting for her to stop!

ANIKA – Hill Walking Sec

Anika is forging out a new role on the KCLMC committee as Hill Walking Secretary. She will be organising regular hill walking trips throughout the year, possibly in parallel to the climbing trips, and is offering hill walking on both days of the Freshers trip. She also enjoys mountaineering and is a climber of enviable elegance. Anika is the perfect committee member – taking on jobs beyond her remit, including organising a charity climb for the coming term. She has also mooted ideas about a big expedition, so have a word with her if you have any thoughts on this sort of thing. She is studying medicine.

ROSIE – Publicity Sec

Rosie is this year’s Publicity Sec. This means letting everyone at King’s, and beyond, know about what a great club we are! This is a great role for Rosie, who has an artistic flair and would doubtless charm any potential sponsors of the club into giving us lots of stuff. Rosie has been an active member of the club all year. She is a keen climber and boulderer and has enjoyed competing, which is particularly great to see as we normally enter more guys than girls in the competitions, hopefully she’ll encourage more girls to compete this year. Rosie is studying biochemistry.

SAM – Social Sec

Have you seen a man in a red morph suit, wrestling topless competitors (male) on a dark Alpine night, in pursuit of the flagon trophy? You haven’t? Oh, well keep an eye out for him, as the man behind the mask is Sam, our Social Sec for this year. Even when he isn’t wearing some ridiculous costume, he can be relied upon to organise a good party/pub crawl/night out. If you’re very lucky, he might even do his morph suit dancing for you – check it out on the uncensored Alps video! Sam is, of course, a medic.