Mountaineering / Climbing and St Andrews

I wouldn't say it's a silly way to discriminate between universities at all - then again, I did pretty much exactly the same thing when I was choosing mine... Infact, one of the reasons I didn't apply to Oxford or Cambridge (though I'm doubtful I would have been successful anyway) was because they're just so flat! I didn't like the idea of being so far away from the places in which I could do the sports I love, i.e. mountain biking and mountaineering. I'm sure to many this'll seem well, stupid, but it's important to me. I have a bit of a silly aim in life to ultimately be happy in what I'm doing, rather than work myself to within an inch of my life, get the most fantastic degree and the biggest wage packet. If I'm spending 3 or 4 years of my life in a place, I want it to be somewhere I really enjoy and feel at home in.

Hello all.

Well, basically, I have an offer from St Andrews for History next year ( ) but am torn about putting either it or Edinburgh down as my insurance... and, though this may seem a very silly way to discriminate between two universities, was wondering if any St Andrews TSRians had any experience of the mountaineering society in St Andrews. Is it very active, does it do a lot of expeditions outside of the UK? Is there a climbing wall in St Andrews (faint hope, perhaps!) or alternatively easily accessible outdoor crags and bouldering sites?

Anyway, yes... hope this isn't too random a question!

HoVis (mountain-climbing-history-geek)

That reminds me of something George Mallory (my hero ) said:

"... Joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money, we eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life is and what life is for." (More or less...)

Anyway, random tangent over. Oxford is indeed a bit flat, but from what I've seen their Mountaineering Club is pretty sickeningly exciting... the "trailer" on their website shows them going all over the shop and doing some pretty intense stuff!

Anyway, thanks a lot for the advice!

Wow, I'm in nearly exactly the same situation! Rejected from Cambridge, and now have to choose between unconditionals at Edinburgh and St Andrew. I do like St Andrews more, and it is a better Uni, but I'm worried the climbing will be bad. They look like an active but fairly bumbly club, they might do quite a few activities, but I don't think it's the kind of place that will have really good climbers, guys opperating at the F8a or E5 level, who want to train hard every single day: I get the feeling that most people are in it for the fun, and aren't really bothered about getting good. I don't think they've got the facilities either - I don't even think there's a fingerboard of campus board at the uni, which is going to make it nails to stay fit. I'm not so bothered about the ability of the club to put on amazing trips every now and again and where they go cragging, more about how easy it would be to get something done, however grungy the wall or wherever, on a daily basis. I mean, they run one trip to the Dundee wall aweek, but could I find someone who wanted to go three times a week? In fact I get the impression that St Andrews is about the least sporty Uni in the world, unless you're into golf. And I'd take a 20m whipper onto a RP0 before I put on a diamond pattered jumper.

I believe if you rock up at the dundee wall you get a substantial discount, and its not that far away by bus so you could go it alone if you wanted.

I think the best thing to do is email the club directly though.

The ruggerbuggers seem committed to their sport, the frisbee lot won the scottish nationals and put up a good show at the british finals I believe. The sporting thing seems to be around if you want it.

I have a friend active in mountaineering; will email him about this post.