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January 2005 Meet Reports
April 3rd/4th - UK Climbing and Bivi - James Richardson
Unfortunately this meet received a poor turnout. The weather on
Saturday was shocking but Sunday looked a little better over in
Yorkshire, so Dave (Bone), Sheena and myself headed off for some
Yorkshire limestone. Two routes were done on two different crags
before we headed off for a cup of tea.
October 31st - Welsh Climbing - Fiona Roy
Absent meet leader shocker!!
Apologies for not being at my meet! I was very much looking forward
to it and seeing everyone.
I decided at the last minute that it would be a huge effort to get to
Wales as I couldn't get a lift from the Sheffield area. It is still
painful to carry a rucksack so I thought negotiating train stations
would be torturous. As I'm also unable to walk, climbing and hiking
are out of the question so I would have spent the weekend sitting
around at the hut recovering from the journey. So, I thought I
should catch up on my coursework at home instead. Very sorry I missed
you this time and if it caused inconvenience. To make up for this I
will be chopping veg for the Xmas meal!
November 28th - Wild Wales Walk - Dave Bone
Finally, this year's 'WWW' actually made it over the hills, though a
little later starting than intended due to the inherent time
consuming complexity of collecting 8 into 2 cars (and having certain
members still in bed at departure time). Just as the early inviting
blue skies sneaked off, the 8 set off up the track to Arenig Fawr,
with several other parties out on this side. The crags didn't show to
their advantage in the gloom but there are some worthwhile crags
around the hill, provided you can handle the rampant vegetation on
the approach. The hill had a bad influence, as camera failures seemed
to be a feature of the day. We took the standard, easy angled east
ridge route up the cloud topped hill, breaking out from the fading
path onto the North ridge in the hope of catching wider views. In the
mist, the final steep pull onto the rocky summit and comfy shelter
plus memorial plaque, felt like a long time coming. The big Arenig
was judged a worthy hill. Though rather cloudy, the Welsh weather
Gods were looking the other way, and we stayed dry from the calf up
through the day, with even a few minutes views during "elevenses".
Descending the saturated grass slopes of the hill to the south, James
demonstrated his grass skiing 'skills' prompting others to follow
during the day - the level of 'skill' being judged by the brown skid
marks on the rear. Still, some wonderful sun-lit, mid-wales views
opened up here. Down, and over the boggy col into solitude, and a
lunch break in an outcrop. Following a scattered departure, the KMC
showed its navigation skills by arriving at the knobbly top of Moel
Llyfnant from all directions. From here, the wildest section of the
walk could be seen, and following a swift descent to a mossy ruin,
the party entered into the truly rough (and wet) terrain. With a
couple of narrow escapes on the leap across the stream, the best line
of ascent to Foel Boeth up the side of a ravine, reducing the amount
of rough ground, was pointed out. The leader lost control of the
widely scattering party at this point, with the party arriving
individually at the tor of Foel Boeth N via differing routes, none of
them following the meet leader over the intended line!
From here it was a long wander though heather and bog along the ridge
northwards, with the spectacular skyline of the Rhinogs to the west,
and only a hint of a path to follow. Only a nuclear power station
intruded on the landscape. The party eventually struggled onto the
old railway track via a particularly luxuriant patch of reeds and a
final stream crossing, with 2 miles to the road to go. A faster
advance party was dispatched to proceed ahead, and do the extra 2
road miles, returning to pick the party up at the track end at 17:45.
The walk went down well, even with at least one set of wobbly knees,
so expect another WWW from my large stock of cunning plans (heh, heh)
next year.
Members present: Dave Bone, Dave Shotton, Dave Whittingham, James
Richardson & Cath Sanders.
Guests: Jennifer Gaineson, Chris Parsons & Sally Fryer.
January Newsletter Index.
Copyright © 2005 Karabiner Mountaineering Club
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