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March 2006 Meet Reports
October 16th -Laddow - Christine Beeston
After a misty start, we had good weather on a very warm day. Lots of
climbing got done - Roger and Andrew started straight away, even
before the first brew, and the last to leave were James and David,
who climbed until dark. Long Climb saw plenty of traffic - at least
Neville, Sheena, Scott, Kate and Ian. The meet leader, fuelled by
cake, actually managed to climb Staircase thanks to Roger and Cathy,
and so did the Mapleson family. Trish was spotted looking impressive
against the blue sky on Little Crowberry. With such an impressive
turnout I obviously didn't see most of the climbing! Ian, Phil,
Martin and John all stopped by for a cup of tea and a chat.
Thanks to everyone for trekking up with extra supplies of milk, water
and cake, and making this such a sociable meet. I'm glad to see
baking skills are taken so seriously by the KMC.
Cakes baked: Flapjack, Tiffin, Malt Loaf, Parkin.
Other cakes contributed: Genoa, Chocolate, Carrot, Tea Loaf, Caramel
Mini Rolls.
Members present: Christine Beeston, Lorna Marsland, Dave Wylie, Kate
Sparks, Roger Daley, Sheena Hendrie, Cathy Gordon, Neville McMillan,
Roger Dyke, John Cox, Midge Castick, Dave Dillon, Trish Cranston, Al
Metelko, Michelle Harvie, Mark Garrod, David Bishop, James
Richardson, Ian McCallum, Bridget Mapleson, Roger Mapleson, Phil
Ramsbottom, Martin Heaton, Scott Sadler, Ian Heginbotham, Kate
O'Regan, Julie O'Regan, Kevin Anderson, Peter Bamber.
Guests: Andrew Grantham, Owen and Carys Mapleson, Louise Logan and
Geoff Hibbert, Sarah and Alice.
December 4th - Kettleshulme - Joe Flynn
Members: (full tick for finishing the course): Joe Flynn, Roger Dyke,
Virginia Castick, Joanne Castick, Chris Thickett, Iain McCallum,
Lester Payne, Phil Ramsbottom, Derek Seddon, Christine Beeston, Jim
Gregson, Sandy Gregson, Lorna Marsland, Pete Walker, Alan Barber,
Dave Dillon, Dave Bish, Trish Cranston, Brian Taylor.
Members: (Half a tick for turning up at Len's): Len Stubbs (founder
member and host), Al Metelko, James Richardson, Roger Daly, Neville
McMillan, Pat Holt, Alan (L) Jones, Alan (H) & Margaret Jones (via
Marsden to Edale).
Guests: Karen Kennedy, Robert Skae, Suzanne Fielding, and Richard
Holt.
This meet has become an institution and on the previous two weekends
when I was doing my recce in rain, mud, wind and frost I was
beginning to think that is where I should be. But how wrong can you
be. The day was wonderful and the sun shone on us. Ok it was only
briefly, and it only rained once.
A detour early on in the walk made sure we did not get to the pub too
early. Great timing as the rain began 50 m before the Highwayman Inn.
A few well chosen words to the landlady's father who was power
washing the tables in the rain and we were granted entry. A haven of
Christmas decorations, real ale and puddings to die for (only Roger
and Karen were seduced ? by the sweet menu of course). The hostelry
was given the seal of approval by the Aldermen of the KMC who checked
if it was open for lunch on Thursdays.
Those of us who resisted the menu in the pub had a pleasant lunch,
taken in the shelter of a crumbing stone wall - sorry about that Iain
but I only touched the wall - honest. Lunch at the Common Barn tea
rooms was briefly contemplated but the tractor pumping slurry from
the cattle shed was all the excuse we need to save a few bob.
With the wisdom of local knowledge and several meet leaders the rest
of the walk was successfully navigated and the worst of the mud and
swamps avoided. The only trouble in the ranks was quickly dealt with
by Miss Discipline with a few sharp slaps and the friskiness abated.
Our welcome back at Len's was like that for returning heroes. Plenty
of soup provided by Ethel Hallam and enough cakes to run a shop
courtesy of Pat Holt. Len was eloquent in praise of Ethel who
insisted on carrying on a tradition that she and Eric had been so
well known for. Pat in her usual fashion refused to take anything to
recompense for all the wonderful baking so the Len Stubbs Old Cap
collection went to Hut funds.
Thanks to all who turned up and a special welcome to our new guests
Karen, Roger and Susanne. Very nice people but obviously unaware of
the KMC tradition of losing new people on walks.
January 7th/8th - Raeburn Hut, Scotland - Duncan Lee
Members present: Colin Maddison, Dave Bone, Roger Daley & Duncan Lee.
Others in Scotland (somewhere): Dan O'Brien & Carl Pulley.
This was definitely a meet for those who wished to stray from the
beaten and well strimmed path. Especially for Dan & Carl who, in true
KMC form, strayed so far that in Dan's own words "Couldn't find the
hut as incompetent so off to sleep on the couch with the SUMC. See
you tomorrow, D". It must have been a very cosy sofa because they
were never seen by the rest of the meet despite us all being on the
same crag on the Sunday. Dan reports that they had fun on Corrie an
t-Snechda on both days whilst climbing The Goat Track, Aladdin's
Mirror & Central Gully.
The four of us who actually found the hut managed to ingratiate
ourselves with a guide (no not a girl guide) the following morning by
disturbing his client's beauty sleep whilst carrying out a clumsy
last minute rucksack repack at 6.30 am. The poor dears!
Thus, with bleeding hearts, we headed off to Corrie Cas car park and
walked into Coire an Lochain on a brooding, breezy, grey day. The
conditions looked lean but we were all keen for the winter's first
play on the white stuff. By the time we were gearing up below the
crag the wind was lashing clouds of spindrift around the cwm and
there was a distinct chill on the fingers; we decided to adopt a one
route & out policy! Dave & Roger, once suitably attired, opted for
The Milky Way which proved to be nice & tasty. Colin & I initially
looked at The Vent before opting for Ventilator which had its
moments, especially the steep spindrift lashed exit onto the plateau,
from which we quickly scuttled.
Sunday saw the four hut people leaning into the wind whilst walking
into Sneachda, which was amazingly sheltered. The day then got
better, as the cloud cleared providing us with excellent views, as we
all trailed up the classic Spiral Gully before strolling back down
the ridge to reach the car for the long drive home.
Thanks to everyone who turned up. It's just a shame that there was
not more interest in the meet!
January 21st - Lawrencefield - James Richardson
Members: John Evans, David Whittingham, Duncan, Vicky, Robert Clark,
Roger Daley.
Guests: Steve Bowker, Tony Mays.
A very pleasant day was had on the Saturday sun bathing and climbing
at Lawrence Field. Lots of routes were done! On a historical note
this was the second weekend in a row that David Whittingham had been
out climbing on rock in January!!
January 22nd - Peak District Walk - James Richardson
Members: John Evans, David Whittingham, Dave Bone, Wavey Dave,
Trish, Alan Hyde Jones, lain McCallum, Brian (?), Dave Shotton, Dave
Wylie, James Richardson.
Guests: Richard Turner, Astrid, Steve Baley
5 Davids out of 14 attendees, that's a 35% Dave meet! There was a lot
of insistence at the end of the walk that there were 14 people on the
walk but vast amounts of head scratching could not reveal the name of
the mystery 14th person. I have since worked out that the 14th
attendee was in fact me!
14 members is even more impressive seeing as the synopsis was in the
November newsletter, but not the January one, and the venue was
changed via the pub and email the Thursday before (due to the bunch
of suits who run the railways and insist in taking the piss out of me
while making vast amounts of money).
Anyway on with the meet report....
We set off from Hayfield, only 15 minutes late (not bad considering
the amount of Sheffield rinse that had been drunk the night before),
and headed up to Mount Famine where only three people managed to
reach the summit (Dave Bone, Dave Shotton and myself) with most
others getting several metres away (except Wavey who listened to a
child that told him he wasn't allowed up there (likely story). We
then surmounted South Head and headed for Brown Knoll, most people
got the next tick by doing one lap through the peat around the Trig
Point. Finally it was lunch time, so off we went to Edale Rocks where
we found Iain McCallum.
A pleasant walk then followed after lunch along the western edge of
Kinder - we enjoyed the sun and got a lap in of the trig points at
Kinder Low and above Sandy Hays. As we headed past William Clough, we
still had lots of sun time left (we didn't want to have to carry
those head torches for no reason), and aimed for Mill Hill. Wavey and
Trish had enough and went home dropping the Dave count to 33%.
With time for another comedy hill name and another lap around a trig
point at Harry Hut we then headed off across the A624 and up towards
Lantern Pike. Somewhere near the bottom of Lantern Pike lain and
Brian headed home bringing the Dave count back to a respectable 40%.
There's not a trig point at the top of Lantern Pike but there is a
funny little cairn so we had to put up with doing a lap around that.
The sun was still up but we had run out of hills so we headed back to
the car. Somewhere on the way home most of the meet decided to follow
John instead of their dear meet leader, leaving just David
Whittingham and Dave Bone with me to finish the meet.
Not a bad end, finishing with a 66% Dave count and having lost 11
members of my meet! It will be hard to beat next year.
Hope everyone had fun! (Ed. He plays a mean set of pipes?).
P.s. Most members of the meet have been seen again since (sorry).
January 28th/29th - Working Meet - James Richardson
Members: John Evans, Iain McCallum, James Richardson, John Castick,
Midge Castick, Robert Clark, Roger Daley, David Bish, Christine
Beeston, Lorna Marsland.
Guests: Colin Nicholson.
A very successful working meet, thank you very much to everyone who
attended and provided the elbow grease.
Work done:
- Living room floor tidied up.
- Books sorted out- all paper backs have been sent to charity. all
duplicates of non welsh climbing guides removed.
- Magazines sorted out - all duplicates removed plus non climbing
related magazines removed.
- Mens shower cleaned.
- Ceiling of mens shower painted.
- Females shower cleaned.
- Water run off trench cleared.
- Collected a large amount of wood from Sally Brown for the fireworks
bash this year (please say thank you to her if you see her).
February 4th/5th - Peak Walk/run/scramble/climb - Al Metelko
Saturday
Members: Roger Dyke, Dave Wylie, Al Metelko.
The weather was dry and cloudy on the tops, warmer then of late but
the ground was still frozen. After being a little surprised to see
Roger who had driven up from the depths of Cheshire we headed up to
Dovestone Edge and the first scramble. The crag was covered in thick
layer of green slime but undeterred we climbed a fairly steep decent
route in the centre of the crag. Then we headed across the moor in a
southerly direction. Navigation was a little difficult as it was
misty but keeping right we came across the path that led us to Robs
Rocks, my word that was thick in green too and amazingly there were
two climbers there. It was down to the road where Roger decided he'd
had enough as our next objective was a very icy looking Wilderness
Gully so we arranged to meet up again at Chew Reservoir. The decent
from the road to the gully is steep and I dislodged a couple of large
boulders which went crashing dramatically into the stream. Dave,
unsure why he was here with me gave me a wide berth and also chose to
bypass the first icy obstacle at the start of the gully. It turned
out it wasn't difficult as the ice could be kicked off the rock.
Higher up we had to cut steps with hand held rocks. Totally absorbed
in the job of getting to the top each of use taking turns to climb
the various obstacles in front, I hoped neither of us would slip here
because what would rescue have to say about climbing an ice fall in
trainers. At the top we shook hands big grin on Dave's face. We
rejoined Roger who was having lunch with someone who I didn't know,
he decided that he would prefer to make his own way back to the start
even though we were not now going to Black Hill. Dave and myself
headed north from the eastern tip of the reservoir and at this point
felt the need to use a compass as visibility was around 100m. After
half an hour or so we found ourselves in the valley which would take
us back along the Greenfield and Yeoman Hey Reservoirs and back to
the cars. In the sprit of the meet we ran this section when we
reached the dirt road. We'd beaten Roger back but we had run.
Sunday
Members: Mark Ashley, Andrew Grantham, Jenny Varley, Al Metelko.
I woke up to see the other side of the street obscured by fog and
worse, the ground was wet. The forecast at 8 suggested that there
might be a little sun out to the east but the meet was in the Peak!
This was my meet and it is the duty of a meet leader to attend their
meet and it wasn't actually raining. Having picked up Mark, we drove
through, the usually sunny Stockport in the rain on the way to
Macclesfield where we were to pick up Jenny. Amazingly she turn up
too, I thought she had more sense but at least she was late. We
arrived at the car park somewhat late and I don't know if I was
disappointed or happy as there where only two cars parked at the
wrong end of the car park, we were on our own, in the drizzle. A
rather large dark blue car parked up next to mine and a walker got
out. He went to his boot and picked up a large sack, which sent alarm
bells going in my head, could this be a climber, he's certainly
parked on the right side of the car park. He then asked if we had
anything to do with the KMC. We admitted we were and I eventually let
him know that I was the meet leader and we were going to the crag
because that is where the meet was and in any case there might be
other members there! I did mention that there was one occasion I
climbed here when it started to rain and all the rock below the gash
stayed dry. I asked Andrew what grade he led at, he didn't, he didn't
even have a rope, what he had in his sack I never did find out, I
suspect now it was bivi gear. Sure enough it was dry with the odd bit
of seepage higher up. I led up to the chain via 'Stagnation' and
'Nocturne' and brought the rest of the meet up and decided as a team
the E# routes to the right were out and the thorn to the top even if
it was dry we would still have finished in the dark. So the decision
was made to abseil and have an early bath. Thanks to all who came on
the meet.
March Newsletter Index.
Copyright © 2006 Karabiner Mountaineering Club
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