Karabiner Mountaineering Club

June 2002 Forthcoming Meets

All note the following small print when taking part in meets :-

26^th May - Climbing - Christine Beeston

Kinder Scout Downfall area: Western Buttresses (SK 073 892)

Parking in Hayfield, various walk-in's aiming to be at the downfall around lunch time. Contact me for more details.

1^st/4^th June (BH) - NW Scotland (Old Man of Stoer) - Michelle Harvie

LOCATION: Reiff, Sutherland (and Old Man of Stoer) - North West Scotland
LEADER: Michelle Harvie & Duncan Lee

One key target for the weekend is "The Old Man of Stoer", a 60m sea stack, which has 2 classic routes, one a VS and the other an E2. The swim across, and the tyroleans, could also prove to be classics. However, this is the chance of generally sampling the delights of this stunning area, and trying to escape the masses (fat chance!). The campsite is close to Reiff, a sea-cliff area with loads of 10-20m routes of all grades. Other climbing options include Stac Polly, which is also a super short walk - scramble half day out. Sutherland also has numerous other superb walks, such as Suilven, Ben Mor Coigach, Quinag, and Ben More Assynt.

Current plan is to camp at the Brae of Achnahaird campsite (grid ref 016135, OS sheet 15), which is in the middle of nowhere apart from a few miles from Reiff, and right next to the sea. Maybe the latter is just as well, as it only has toilets and cold water wash basins. I'm told showers are available at certain times at Achiltibuie Community Hall, approx 3-4 miles away. Pubs and shops are also that sort of distance away. I would suggest, given where the site is, we plan on Saturday and Sunday night as the "core" meet nights, although making it up there for Friday, and staying longer, is clearly no problem. We would like to let the campsite know rough nos before arriving, so please liaise with Duncan or Mark G (in lieu of Michelle) if you are planning to come. Other reason is the need for flexibility in case of, well, anything.

Cost for camping is £6 per night for car, 2 people, (& 1 tent?), then £1 for each extra person in car. Campsite is head north from Ullapool, taking A835, then turning left onto Achiltibiue road after approx 10 miles. Turn right after (very) approx 15 miles, probably signed Reiff and / or Brae of Achnahaird, and right again after 1 mile. Site is quite a large area, so look hard for others before pitching.

9^th June - Yorkshire Limestone - Sheena Hendrie

I have a (half-baked) plan:

• get map, find Yorkshire
• stick pin in map, select one (of only two) crags I have previously visited in Yorkshire
• select Attermire Scar (Yorkshire Limestone guide, GR SD 834642)
• head for Moonshine, HS *** at the RH end of the crag
• work back left along the crag from there

I will probably park in the centre of Settle and walk up to the crag from there. Suggested arrival time at Moonshine will be 1100. Routes of all grades are available, but if you want any detailed recommendations, find a local expert who speaks Yorkshire! (Rick and Dave Bone seem to be knowledgeable.) I opted to fill in a space in the meets list and selected Yorkshire because if it's near enough to go for a walk in winter, it must surely be near enough for a days climbing in summer and makes a change from the Peak District and Wales.

Hope to see a good turn out.

15^th/16^th June - The Southern Seacliff Odyssey (Part Two) - Rick Davis

Swanage, Dorset - Also known as The Beach Boys Saga!

This is the second part of my sea cliff odyssey this year it was meant to be a trilogy, but like Douglas Adams my numeracy is a little bit on the dodgy side!

Anyway, Swanage is a superb venue for a weekend's summer climbing with vast amounts of sun-kissed limestone by the sea!

So, what's there for you? Well there are routes of all grades, but to get the most out of this meet you really need to be able to climb VS (at one end of the rope anyway), as this is the starting point of the best routes. In the area there are so many quality routes that its hard to pick out some that grab the attention, at VS Freda and Old Faithful are the obvious *** routes, in the HVS range why not try Lightning Wall, Fraggle Rock, Finale Groove The Golden Fleece or perhaps the pick of the crop, Behemoth.

In the higher grades there are at least as many *** routes, Mars and Elysium stand out at E1, Gypsy and Buccaneer at E2, and Soul Sacrifice at E3.

So, where to stay? I'll be camping at Tom's Field (which does have facilities such as showers), which is near to the village of Langton Matravers, from which you can easily walk to any of the crags or most importantly, the pub! Of course if this seems all a bit to stressful there are also some superb beaches in the area which you could take advantage of (or use to soothe the ego if you find the routes a bit nasty!).

As for the weather well??. I'm picking up good vibrations; she's giving me excitations, good, good vibrations??..

22^nd/23^rd June - Wye valley, Bristol - Dave Bone

To all those who might have gone to Dow Crag in the Lakes this weekend for my meet:
Don't - I've moved it!!

As suspected, summer ended today - the forecast for the lakes is wet today, particularly this afternoon/evening (the Keswick webcam looks grim - the bottom of the hills can be seen thru the water drops). Tomorrow is to be rather cloudy with occaisional heavy showers, so Dow crag won't be dry! Sunday still showery so chances of climbing in the lakes not good.

So I propose not going, but going south instead where only a few showers may be expected and there is a high chance of doing something.

Current best choice is the Wye valley, Bristol, camping at the Beeches campsite (OS162 GR549006), travelling down early Saturday. The Bristol webcam shows it is fairly sunny, with no indication of rain so far! The Bristol local forecast is for some light showers today, bright. Weekend bright and breezy with the chance of the odd light shower. The further west & north you go the poorer it gets.

Anyone interested in going climbing, not in the boring Peaks, are advised to call me on Friday evening after 8 to check the plan...

Dow High Camp & Climb, Lakes - Dave Bone

(+pagan rituals)

Everyone should get to the Lakes more often, and Dow Crag is a good example why - plenty for everyone here, the rock's good and the gear not bad. Even I can find a few routes left to do. Recommendations - too may to list (eg Catacomb, Leopards Crawl, Isengard/Samba Pa Ti...) so see me. The thing to note about Dow is it's a morning crag, hence the addition of a high camp/bivvy down below Goats Water. Those who stay then have the advantage of being at the head of the queue for Eliminate A on Sunday.

The aim is to meet at the crag on Saturday, starting from the Walna scar road end out of Coniston, complete with bivvy gear for those aiming for the full tick, climb till evening then set up camp somewhere below the outflow of Goats Water at approx. GR266973. It's close enough to be a solstice meet, so bring a bottle or two for some druidic celebrations. Beat the queues on Dow on Sunday or do a crag crawl of the craglets around the Old Man in the unlikely event of running out of routes.

Get away from home for once and be there! I shall be in the Pub on the Thursday before to make sure of it and to arrange alternatives should Summer not occur this year.

30^th June - Froggatt - Heather Brooke

Meet at Tody's for a late breakfast at 9am

6^th/7th July - Pembroke - Sheena Hendrie

I've opted for Pembroke rather than the Gower because it offers more choice, I know it better, and there are more driving options to avoid traffic jams!

Tides are low at 1000 and 1100 in the morning so those who get up early will have best choice of crags to visit. I intend to camp at St Petrox (GR 971976) - the prospect of hot showers beats the convenience of Bosherton.

Routes of all standards are available from VDiffs in the Flimston Slab area to E grades all over the place. I can also vouch for the walking and swimming potential.

If the weather is looking awful, I will change the venue on the Thursday evening in the pub to somewhere nearer home. I suggest you check with me before travelling.

14^th July - Peaks Climbing - Martin Heaton

Burbage North.

Meet at Hollyash Wall area (P.62 in the Froggatt Guide) around 10:30. Lots of easy routes (hurrah) and families welcome (baby-handling practice urgently required!).

20^th/21^st July - Ty Powdwr, Family Meet - Sue Marsden

A meet for children of any age.

28^th July - Climbing - Dave Dillion

Nether Tor

Sunday, 10:30 a.m., Nether Tor, on the southern edge of Kinder Scout. Park at Edale (bring coins for the machines), start up the pennine way and then sneak off rightward to the sky line. If, and when, Nether Tor is climbed out the mystery of Secret Buttress followed by Upper Tor and Grindsbrook Rocks should keep the interest until perhaps 11:27. Then it's back down for a refreshing pint of your own fancy.

Grades - from Mod (4 of 'em) to E6 6b (only one) with 12 starred VS's. Guide book - Kinder Alleged grid ref - SK 123876, or approx Lat 53deg23'10"n Long 1deg49'w Wet weather alternative - Bring a cagoule.

See you there.

4^th August - Lake District Scramble - Zoe Talks

(note - not a weekend meet)

Classic Lake District Scramble: Patterdale - Pinnacle Ridge - St, Sunday Crag - Fairfield. Climbers - escape from those tiny gritstone crags and get up a mountain. Walkers - try a classic horseshoe with a bit of added spice. Pinnacle Ridge is a fairly short, but steep, scramble onto the Fairfield ridge (the northern one, much better than the southern). Optional ghyll scramble descent. As featured in the current High mag (May). Meet Cow Bridge car park (GR 404134) near Brothers Water, at 10:00 for a 10:15 start.

17^th/18^th August - Climbing - Robert Clark

Climbing & Camping at Turner Hall Farm, Duddon Valley.

This will be a meet for everyone, with climbing on either low level or mountain crags, hill walking and camping in one of the quieter Lake District valley's. This area is in the South West of the Lakes; you can walk onto the Coniston Hills, or drive a little further to the Scafells, Pillar, Bowfell & Langdale areas. Crags in the vicinity include Dow Crag, Esk Buttress, and Wallowbarrow. The campsite is about 10 minutes walk/2 minutes drive from the village of Seathwaite and the Newfield Inn.

I hope to see lots of you there - this is the weekend before the Bank Holiday - so hopefully it will be quiet.

June Newsletter Index.

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