JOIN IBEX
HOW TO JOIN IBEX
Ibex is a friendly club which welcomes hill walkers and mountaineers of all ages, social backgrounds and experience. Our affordable weekends away are a great way to explore the mountains and hills of England and Wales.
Reaching higher
Less experienced walkers can gain confidence with help from our experienced members. The club helps members develop their mountain skills with a focus on navigation and group leadership. Each year there may be some weekends offering training in winter skills, scrambling, climbing or navigation.
If you want to progress to more challenging expeditions, we have many members who can help you onwards and upwards.
Get to know us
Come to our next monthly Club night to meet members and find out what's planned or join us on our next day walk in the South East, not too far from London.
Try out the Club
If you're thinking of joining Ibex, you can check that it's the right club for you by coming on one day walk and one weekend trip within 3 months of each other without paying for a Club membership. Check the programmes for day walks and weekends to see what's planned.
To attend an Ibex day walk or weekend (and become a prospective member) you will need to create a WebCollect account. This can be done via the Payments menu item.
When you have created a WebCollect account, you will be sent the monthly newsletter email (on or around the 1st of the month).
See the Blog for recent trip reports.
If after this you would like to do more with the club, we would ask that you become a member before attending further events.
Membership
Ibex membership is currently £42 (plus PayPal fees) if you join before 1st July, otherwise £27.50 (plus PayPal fees) and expires on 31 December each year.
You may join online and pay your membership fee online using PayPal.
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Weekends away in the UK, usually every 3 or 4 weeks
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Week-long trips to Scotland and overseas
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Day walks in the London area
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Indoor climbing meets at London walls
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Monthly newsletter with the latest club news and events open for booking
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Access to the Club's OS maps membership
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'Club member' status of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC)
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10% - 15% discounts in most outdoor shops with your BMC membership card (which could pay for Ibex membership in itself)
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Meet new people who share your enthusiasm for walking, mountaineering and climbing.
If you have any other questions please contact us. We hope to see you at an event in the near future.
OUR MEMBERS
Ibex members make our club really special.
Jude
I joined the club in 2013 and do lots of trips each year so I now know the UK really well, and it's beautiful!
The club has a diverse variety of people and there will usually be a core group, who attend a lot of weekends; and some new faces, so there is always a nice balance of catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. There is also a range of walk options each weekend to cater for all needs - whether you want something challenging or like me, less strenuous.
Heather
I live in Oxford and work as a researcher. I came to Ibex in 2016, needing to expand my horizons after my husband died.
I go on 5-6 Ibex trips a year and I have explored many beautiful parts of the country from Exmoor to the Cairngorms.
Ibex has enriched my life in so many ways. This year, I went to the Swiss Alps with Ibex, where we hiked for 9 days. When I joined in 2016 I would never have imagined being fit enough to do that!
Ibex is a great way to learn new skills. I have not only learned to use a compass and navigate but also how to make chocolate bread and butter pudding for thirty.
David
My wife and I joined the club in preparation for the Inca trail many years ago, hoping to take advantage of a ready-made itinerary and great value for money. Fitness achieved and the Inca trail conquered, we are still members today because Ibex offers the chance to see more of the British hills with a friendly and diverse group.
I like the variety we can weave into weekends. There is nearly always a longer/harder walk and something easier; some go off climbing; and I've persuaded people to come kayaking or canoeing on a few trips.
More recently, having taken my fitness to new levels, I've been able to use the weekends to train for an Ironman Triathlon.
Judith
I've been a member of Ibex since it started in the 80s. The combination of good, tough walking and sociable evening meals - with great food that we cook ourselves - has proved pretty unbeatable!
I don't run a car and it meant I could go walking to all sorts of wonderful and remote places in the UK I could never have got to by train. I've also been on all the trips to the Alps that Ibex has organised over the last few years.
I've just completed the Munros (mountains in Scotland over 3,000 ft) and I don't think I could have done that without the friends I've made in Ibex who came up many of them with me.
Ian
Climbing and scrambling were high on my agenda when I joined the club 10 years ago and there are usually many others wanting that adrenaline rush so I'm never short of hill friends.
Ibex is one of the best ways to get to the hills without extravagant costs as the communal aspect ensures travel, accommodation and food can be done efficiently.
My favourite trip was a week-long stint in southwest Ireland - nothing to do with the fact that I was the organiser but everything to do with the wall-to-wall sunshine on some fantastic hills in a part of the world usually shrouded in rain. Great hills, beaches and just the odd Guinness.
Siobhan
I joined Ibex in 2013 after stumbling across a love of hiking in my early thirties.
Without the generosity of experienced members in sharing their skills, I'd never have moved on from being someone who gets slightly wobbly on a steep path to scrambling up and down Tryfan, and loving it!
I also discovered climbing through Ibex and now co-organised a monthly social climb for the club. More recently, I've started to venture outside, including on a club trip to Dartmoor this summer.
I feel fortunate to have discovered so many beautiful wild places that are the perfect antidote to the weekday city commute.
Zahidah
I wanted to take hiking to new levels and do more Scotland trips, so joined the club in 2011.
I achieved my first Munro in 2013, which also happened to be another member's final Munro (282 to be precise) and that was one of my biggest highlights.
I also appreciate the local day walks (free for non-members), as they give me the chance to escape London quickly and be amongst greenery for several splendid hours after a hard week at work.
What I really value about Ibex is that there is a real 'cooperative' feel about the club, with everyone mucking in with the organisation of hikes, food, and driving for each weekend.
Viv and Jim
We both joined Ibex at its beginning in the mid-80s.
We wanted to enjoy walking and climbing in all seasons, in all places with enthusiastic hill walkers and mountaineers. The added attraction was the friendly and inclusive atmosphere which has always been evident on weekends.
After all these years we still enjoy socialising with other members, not only on the hills and mountains but also in the evenings over a tasty communal meal.
We've made some lasting friendships along the way and agree that you're never likely to feel left out on an Ibex weekend.
CLUB HISTORY
A long time ago in the land of far away... actually in London in October 1984 a small group of friends who had met at one of London's multi-activity clubs decided to form their own mountaineering club. Their ambitions were modest in that they anticipated an eventual membership of around 80 to 100 people with the main remit being to maintain the friendly and hospitable atmosphere of their previous club. The aim was for the club to comprise competent walkers, mountaineers and climbers who would welcome newcomers both on the mountain and in the social and culinary aspects in the evenings in a variety of huts and locations.
By the end of the first year, the Ibex Mountaineering Club (the original name) had blossomed beyond expectations with membership eventually rising to over 200. New ambitions developed from this and extended to guided trips to the Alps, week holidays in Scotland as well as continuing with the staple fare of weekends away, monthly pub meets and presentations/slide shows.
In recent years members' main interests have been focused on mountain and hill walking, hence the current name of the club. Today the club continues to organise regular events and still provides a warm welcome to newcomers interested in roaming hills and mountains.
MUNRO COMPLEATORS
Scotland has 282 Munros - mountains over 3000 feet (914.4m). A.E. Robertson was the first person known to have climbed all the Munros in 1901 becoming the first official "Munro compleator".
Nine Ibex members have also rather more recently completed all the Munros and the club hopes to reach double figures soon.