Karabiner Mountaineering Club

May 2003 Meet Reports

7^th/13^th February - Alex Macintyre Memorial Hut - Andrew Croughton

Members present: John Evans, David K. Lygate, Colin Maddison, Craig Marsden, James Richardson & Dave Whittingham

Guests present: Richard Turner (John's Friend From London)

As Andy couldn't attend his meet, DKL stepped in as replacement meet leader for the weekend & John Evans took over for the mid week meet.

James & Dave W. decided to maximise their weekend, arriving on the Thursday night, they slept in the North face car park to get an early start on the Ben. Unfortunately, on reaching the CIC, the bad weather conditions, forced them to decide that there was nothing worth climbing & the best option was to retreat to Fort William. On Friday night, Craig, Colin & DKL arrived at the hut to find that the hotel next door had closed for the season & scuppered plans for last orders. However, we were not down hearted for long, as Colin came to the rescue with an emergency supply of beers. Once the car was emptied, we sat in the living room, chatting about the merits & history of the architecture we had seen from the M8, when Dave W. & James came in from the pub. They looked tired, so after some quick hellos & questioning on the state of the climbing conditions, they went to bed.

Craig, Colin & DKL got up at 6am after an almost sleepless night. The volume of the snoring had been deafening, however, we couldn't be angry. Especially since Dave W. had woken himself up with an especially loud snore & exclaimed "Oh, bloody hell, what was that?"

Despite Dave W's warnings of the previous evening, we decided to keep to our original plan & go to the Ben. When leaving the car park conditions looked pretty hopeful, however by the time we had passed the tree line, the high winds & driving rain had arrived. On reaching the CIC, it was obvious that climbing was out of the question, the gully's were full of wet heavy snow & you could imagine, high above the clag there were huge cornices just itching to drop. Additionally, the ridges weren't any more inviting due to the force of wind we were experiencing. Turning back was being contemplated when Craig stepped up to save the day, he let it slip that he'd never been to the summit of Ben Nevis. Suddenly, we had a task & instead of climbing & decided to go straight to the summit. The chosen route was via the Carn Mór Dearg arête going directly onto the ridge from the shelter above the CIC. Once on the ridge we quickly found out the true strength of the wind, being halted in our tracks by some of the stronger gusts. At the summit it was quite a relief to get out of the weather & in to the safety of the emergency shelter for a spot of lunch. A couple of drams later & the consumption of the bulk of our food, we couldn't put off leaving the shelter any longer. The conditions had to braved again, so we descended as quickly as possible via the red burn. On the way back to Onich, we stopped off at Nevisport, Craig wanted to buy some gaiters. Colin & DKL sat watching in total bemusement, as it took Craig over an hour of intense gaiter shopping before he could leave empty handed. Personally, I am planning to do a lot more shopping with Craig, as I haven't laughed as much in ages.

Returning to the Alex Mac we found out that Dave W. & James had gone home that morning. They didn't want to risk a second disappointing day & had felt the lure of the Peak district rock. We also finally caught up with John & Richard who had spent the day in Fort William, they had arrived at the hut at 7am that morning. On the Friday night, Richard's train had been late from London & John couldn't get away from work, so getting away early was impossible. On the journey north, passing Glasgow, John being the only driver, got so tired that they had to stop & sleep in the car. Sleep was found in the picturesque setting of a residential street in the shadow of Ibrox Stadium. Luckily they were both up for the week, so could afford to lose a day. That Saturday night, John was a star & cooked an incredible vegetable curry (thanks John), then after diner & a couple of glasses of wine, we all tottered off to the pub.

Sunday saw Colin, Craig & DKL on Stob Coire nan Lochan & another early start. After much deliberation, dorsal arête was chosen as the most appealing route. This route has a lowish grade since the fin itself can be avoided, however that would be missing out on all the fun, as it forms part of the best pitch. You climb out over a small gap in the fin on to an exposed ledge & following the ledge to it's conclusion takes you to a slightly overhanging corner, which is then dry tooled by torquing your axes to an exhilarated finish. Colin then convinced DKL to lead the last & far easier pitch, then we could all claim to have led that day. At the top of the route we noticed that the day had opened up & start to offer us some fantastic views. So it was up & onto the summit before bum sliding all the way down into the lost Valley. Here we had lunch, admired the views & swapped lost valley stories of previous trips (since it was another first for Craig), before heading for home with big smiles on our faces.

According to the warden, John & Richard decided on sleeping late, they apparently didn't get up before a well deserved 11am. Despite the late start, they still managed to complete the Ballachulish Horseshoe & enjoyed the good dry weather, bright sunny intervals & fantastic views as we had experienced.

David K. Lygate by default.

Sun 23^rd February - Winter Run - Sabina Cosulich

Members present: Jim and Judith Symon, Peter Walker, Roy Lee, Al Metelko, Sue Brooke, Duncan Lee, Christine (what- fell running?) Beeston, Dave Wylie, Dave Dillon, Alan (Liverpool) Jones, Craig Marsden, Kevin Anderson, Frank (ultra-fit) Williams, Roger (chain saw) Dyke, Mark Ashley, James Richardson.

Guests: Ivy Limbrick, Ivy Lee, Peter Gilligan, Paul O'Neil, Ian Crook, Scott ?

The start of the day didn't look too promising at the Whaley Bridge Cafe:

1. had I cooked enough soup for everyone?
2. was I going to stop eating the delicious cakes Ethel Hallam had made before everyone else got a look in?

Roy arrived first, to claim his biscuits and cakes. The crowds followed in looking keen; I was running out of excuses.

The first group of walkers set off with an ambitious plan but not many maps. However, I knew that in Sue's capable hands they were going to make it back for certain (!).

For the runners, the plan was to start off as a pack, with one group turning back from Taxal Edge to make a shorter loop (~5-6 miles) and one group continuing on to extend the run to 10 (!!) miles. I, of course, had to lead the former group home, in order to get back and prepare the food. Duncan had to lead the long run. The weather had turned to glorious sunshine by now.

At the point of splitting off, the interesting dynamics of the group meant that, although they may have wanted to, the testosterone levels of some members of the pack would not allow them to admit to being tired, so they carried on the long route. Unbeknown to them, Roy and Peter, who had been very kind in putting up with the easy gentle pace until then, had decided to show the youngsters what running is actually all about.

This meant that upon their return, about 12 miles later, Craig, Duncan, Al and Kevin looked the worst for wear, whereas Roy and Peter looked like they had just been for a gentle stroll in the park. At this point, I was wondering why Roy was covered in blood. Was this the youngsters revenge? I was assured it had been only a minor incident with a bush, but I was not convinced.

Notwithstanding the fact that some people could not stand up any more, a lot of soup (!) was had by all (two bowls compulsory!). Luckily even a group of climbers turned up to help finish the food. Removing Kevin from the sofa and dispatching him home was the only hard task left for the day.

Many thanks to all those who took part, all those who kindly took some soup home, to Ethel for being extremely helpful yet again and to Al for chopping all the vegetables for the soup!!

8^th/10^th March - Braemar Telemark Festival - David K. Lygate

This meet was cancelled at the last minute due to lack of snow.

29^th/30^th March - Southern Sea cliff odyssey (part 2) Dorset rock - Rick Davies

Present: R.Davies, A. Metelko, F. Roy, T. Major, M. Wiltshire

Following a precisely orchestrated dawn raid the team assembled at Subliminal with the principal aim of tackling some of the enemies perceived weaknesses, a Swanage easy route! After a short briefing the team was deployed into a pincer formation with privates Roy and Wiltshire, under the guidance (or perhaps mis-guidance) of captain Metelko, attacking an un-named VS; whilst corporal Major and Field Marshal Davies took on the slightly more tricky target of Freda VS 5a, which following initial skirmishes became a hard fought Grandma's groove (E2 5b). Having taken only minor casualties the squadron regrouped to take on the next target, Cattle Troughs.

The manoeuvre to Cattle Troughs was made without opposition so the squadron was able to take on a series of progressively more challenging targets, culminating in the capture of Bunneys wall VS 5a, Peacemaker HVS 5a, Hangover VS 5a, and Old Lags Corner VS 4c without taking any casualties. Unfortunately shortly after this private Roy was seen fighting with Isis VS 4c, reinforcements were called to the scene, but arrived too late, only to see private Roy sustain catastrophic injuries and have to be withdrawn from action. Having sustained this loss the team pulled back to a late base camp at the Ship Inn, Langton Matravers - generous rations consumed by all.

After some much needed rest the squadron rose at dawn (well actually about 9am), and bathed in early morning sunshine struck direct at the capital, Boulder Ruckle. Strikes were made on Finale Groove HVS 4c, Jo HVS 4c,5a and Thunderball HVS 5a,5a although the squadron did sustain a casualty of Captain Metelko on Directors Groove HVS 5a, 4c. With an 80% hit rate on its sorties the squadron returned to base via a fish and chip shop - troops were required to provide their own rations at this late juncture!

So as promised, no tanks got stuck in any bank holiday traffic, crags were crowd free and the rock was bathed in glorious sunshine - so need any more reasons to be on the next southern sea cliffs meet?

May Newsletter Index.

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