14 reasons why we can't ignore footpath erosion

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As we mark 25 years since the Countryside & Rights of Way Act (CROW), the BMC is calling for renewed action to make sure everyone can experience the benefits of being outdoors.

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.

Mountain Rescue teams are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year - whatever the weather. Across England and Wales, 47 volunteer teams stand ready to respond when people need help most, often in challenging and unpredictable conditions. 

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The BMC's Access & Conservation Trust has registered with the Charities Trust to allow you to donate pre-tax via your payroll.

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.

Today, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Outdoor Recreation and Access to Nature has launched a Call for Evidence to examine how to allow more people to access the outdoors.

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.

Fairy Cave Quarry requires access through a gate with a combination lock. Here's how climbers can gain access to the quarry.

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.

The BMC's Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) has joined the 1% for the Planet Environmental Partners network.

With the help from Chris Bonington and other legendary climbers, the BMC has reached an agreement with the Isle of Wight National Trust about rock climbing access at Skeleton Ridge on The Needles.

Last week, the Senedd in Cardiff passed the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill, effectively removing the threat of thousands of unrecorded footpaths being lost across Wales.

After lobbying from BMC Peak Area Access Reps and others, DEFRA has ruled that the landowner must now comply with an existing enforcement notice requiring them to remove a plastic matting track on Midhope Moor.

Cotswold Outdoor invite you to round up your payment at the till in aid of The Climate Project: Seagrass from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust until 30 June 2025.

Last summer's Get Stuck In event placed 187 stepping stones along a 50m stretch of footpath in Eryri (Snowdonia). Event creator Steve Charles reports on how the path is looking eight months later.

BMC volunteers have been using sheep fleeces to make sustainable footpaths below Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), North Wales. Why?

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our Eryri Apprentice Ranger fundraiser on Big Give this spring, the BMC's Mend Our Mountains campaign raised a grand total of £14,000!

BMC volunteers have planted a grand total of 55,845 sphagnum plugs in the Goyt Valley, Peak District, since our Get Stuck In volunteer events started planting this peatland restoring moss, in February 2024.

The BMC's Premium Partner, Cotswold Outdoor, has once again shown a hugely generous level of support to The Climate Project from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust, by sending staff to plant sphagnum moss in the Peak District.

Quick, buy that new pair of summer walking boots or waterproof you've been needing for ages and round up your payment at the till in any Cotswold Outdoor store to fund peatland and seagrass meadow restoration with the BMC.

This week you have the chance to DOUBLE your impact towards fixing eroded footpaths in the beautiful Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park by donating via the Big Give Green Match Fund.