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May 2009 Meet Reports
January 25th - Pot Scar - Duncan Lee
Present: Dan O'Brien, Scott Saddler, Geoff Hibbert, Trish Cranston,
Mike Farrel, James Hoyle, Kasia Hoyle, Heather Brooke, Andrew Ketley,
Rachel Ketley, Geraldine de Silva, Christine Stark, Rachel Flynn and
Katie.
The morning sunlight illuminated the crag nicely, but sadly revealed
lots of black wet streaks, as Scott and I parked up in Feizor. A good
drying "breeze" coupled with blinding optimism convinced us to head
straight to the crag rather than the café and we were rewarded with
finding a dry route amongst the drainage lines, the fun Mort's Crack
(HVS). Once at the top, whilst coiling the ropes in a zephyr, we got
to witness the main group of KMCers head DIRECTLY to the crag, the
shortest line is not always the best but thankfully the farmer didn't
notice which was a very good job because the next group approached
the escarpment via the same route. The Ketley's then failed their KMC
initiation test by managing to correctly navigate their way to the
cliff using the agreed access route.
What happened next was then a real shocker. The crag dried nicely and
everyone climbed lots and lots of routes. Mind you it wasn't really
the kind of day for sitting around leisurely eating lunch whilst
admiring the snowy views across the Forest of Bowland. Keeping moving
was a great way of staying warm whilst working off the frustrations
of all that time spent at boring indoor walls. Plus as the day
progressed the wind dropped and the temperature rose, but the
climbing frenzy continued unabated with numerous routes being
ascended including Payback (HS), Rebate(VDiff), Stone Soup (E1),
Nirvana (VS), Addiction (VS), Ring Groove (HVS) and the crag classic
Sunspot(E1). Virtually everyone was on the sharp end of the rope at
some stage or another, in fact the very sharp end for Andrew who did
a fine bit of "bleed" climbing on Equity (S), leaving a nice trail of
red holds that would not have looked out of place on a climbing wall.
James then took over the mantle of entertainer in chief whilst
stretching Geoff's rope by repeatedly falling of The Pusher. A trick
some little number at VS, not that he expressed that sentiment that
politely as he vowed to return for a rematch later in the year. The
last rays of the sun saw us all back in Feizor sat outside the café
doing some well deserved extensive research into the quality and
quantity of the homemade cakes. It was thumbs up all round.
Cheers to everyone who came along and helped to make it a very
enjoyable day.
February 28th/March 1st - Lagangarbh Hut, Glencoe - Brian Street
Members present: Dave Lygate, Sean Kelly, James Hoyle, Kasia Hoyle,
Brian Street.
Guests: Andrew Ketley, Rachel Ketley.
Friday 27th February
Dave Lygate and I had a plan! We had a
leisurely departure from Didsbury and headed up to the Lakes. The
plan was to whip up Hellvelyn via Striding Edge. We parked in a very
tranquil Glen Ridding (plenty of parking and no crowds) then set off
on the slog upwards. It quickly became apparent to me that Dave's
idea of whipping up Hellvelyn was somewhat different to my own.
Armed with his trekking poles, Dave shot off up the hill oblivious to
the fact that it was fairly steep and sustained going! The click,
click click of his trekking poles on the stony path bizarrely
reminded me of the sound of my gran knitting (she was quite quick at
knitting!) On nearing the ridge we met a guy coming back down.
"Don't suppose you've seen any glasses have you?" he enquired. We
hadn't but we offered to help him look, in truth not thinking how far
down he might have lost them! He declined our offer but before we
left him, we confirmed that he could indeed see well enough to find
the mislaid specs.
Dave Lygate on a misty but empty Striding Edge.
There was still some patchy snow along the top and although in the
cloud, Striding Edge was devoid of people - a first for me on this
route! Hence we were able to quickly traverse the ridge and plod up
to the summit of Hellvelyn for a well-earned break before heading
back down to the car. A quick change and we were heading off North
to Scotland to arrive at the King House by 9pm to meet up with Sean
Kelly and a pint of 80/
Sean had been in Scotland all week and over our drinks, he cheered
our weary souls with tales of relentless rain and wind (he had even
been blow off his belay seat at one stage). That day Sean had made
an attempt on Ben Lui and had managed to cross a few burns in spate
but when he found himself up to his thighs in water he finally
decided to retreat.
The three of us headed back to the Lagangarbh hut and found the home
fire already burning and the other four members of our party already
in residence. In addition, a party of about eight jovial souls from
the SMC were also staying at the hut.
At something like 10.30pm, James popped his head into the room to say
that Andrew had got his car stuck on the track. The story goes that
Rachel had lost her head band whilst bringing gear up to the hut and
Andrew had moved the car to use the headlights to find it. For those
that have had the pleasure of parking at the Lagangarbh, it is not
for the faint hearted (or owners of low slung cars)! A careless
manoeuvre will quite happily remove your exhaust quicker than a
quick-fit-fitter. Andrew had, however, avoided the rocks but had
found a decent patch of mud in which he was well and truly stuck.
James jumped forth to the rescue in his own car and a toe rope but
alas, with half a burned out clutch it seemed to be to no avail. In
desperation the AA were called. Surely this is a record (even for
the KMC)! To have an epic getting from the car to the hut, almost
benighted in the car park, emergency rescue called. er? did I mention
that I had a part-time job making up stories for the tabloids. There
is a happy ending though. James discovered that whilst his car was
in gear and revving it's little engine out, Andrew's car was in
neutral and sat like a dead weight. Armed with this new information,
with two cars working in unison there was success. The AA was
cancelled (or so they thought) and all retired back to the hut for
some well earned alcohol. Plans were made for the next day (which
were changed anyway), more drink and then bed.
Saturday 28th February
Our combined forecasts were for an overcast
Saturday with showers but for a more promising Sunday. Did that deter
us? Well? not yet!
Dave, Sean and myself set out to do a gully approach to Bidean nam
bian. After a couple of hours or so of walking through the
waterlogged valley, we found ourselves looking up at the steep accent
to the snow filled gully which disappeared into the mist. As we ate
lunch, Sean reminisced about the last time that he had done this
route with perfect neve and clear blue skies. He then promptly
packed up his lunch and headed back down the valley!
Undeterred, Dave and I climbed up the steep slopes until we reached
the first of the snow, which was horribly wet. Unfortunately the
snow did not improve greatly as we climbed higher. However, we could
see that the ridge was not far off but alas? the snow virtually
disappeared in the last 30 feet leaving wet, sloping or vertical rock
between us and the ridge. I could feel an epic coming on! Dave took
a route to the left and from his cussing I thought that I was better
off moving to the right where I thought the vertical rock might yield
an easy climb to the top. Appearances can be deceptive! I reached
the vertical rock with some difficulty but found the hopeful route to
be a tad more difficult than it had looked especially with the rock
running with melted snow water! Dave meanwhile was telling me not to
come the way he had taken as it was "desperate". I fancied my choice
of route even less. One slip and it was a long way back down on the
wet snow in the gully. I reversed the few moves I had made and found
that Dave had managed to surmount the cornice (he later said that he
had used his trekking poles to spread the weight for his knee as he
pulled over - such was the poor condition of the snow). From his new
vantage point, Dave said that if we had taken the next gully to the
left there was a much easier exit route. The words "oh bugger" did
come to mind. With Dave urging me not to take the route he had just
taken I was resigned to retrace my steps back down the route we had
just come which was in itself none too easy. In any event, once on
the slope, I got into a steady rhythm and was soon back down to where
we had stopped for lunch.
Dave completed the route and came back down the lost valley to meet
back up at the car. All safe and well and another escapade to chalk
up to experience!
On the same day, James and Kasia went to climb Broad Gully but found
the snow conditions to be similar to those encountered by us. Having
disappeared up to their waists several times they decided on an
alternative plan and practiced making snow bollards, glissading and
other such antics. Thus we all returned back to the hut and made
more plans, over beer and wine, on what to do with the fine sunny
Sunday that was forecast?.
Sunday 1st March
The weather was the same as Saturday - robbed
again! On the plus side, two days in Scotland with only a bit of
rain - not bad! Sean made a start on his long journey back to Devon
(didn't envy him there). Andrew and Rachel had decided to stay
another day but today's plan was to walk up to the start of the
Aonach Eagach ridge. James and Kasia decided upon the Ice Factor.
Dave and myself opted to climb up the Buckle via the central gully
since it was on our doorstep and would be a quick route before the
drive home. Today the temperature was colder and when we reached the
snow line, to our relief, it was in much better condition than the
day before. It was therefore a very pleasant climb up the snow to
the col and then a plod up to the summit. Occasionally the cloud
even parted enough for us to see the lovely views? but only briefly!
Nonetheless we felt very satisfied to have done a very nice half-day
outing (epic-free!) before we headed back home.
Thanks to all who attended - good company, food, wine and venue -
what more can one ask for!
Lagangarbh hut with the Buachaille Etive Mor looming in the background.
March 7th/8th - FRCC Join Meet, Salving House Borrowdale - Chris Thickett
KMC Joint Meeters: Graham Harkness, John Castick, Midge Castick, Dave
Wylie, Kate Wels (G), James Hoyle, Kasia Hoyle, Alison Dixon (G), Bob
Kelly, Pete Kossowski (G), Trish Cranston.
FRCC Joint Meeters: Ron Chambers, Ruth Chambers, Ken Jackson, Graham
Townsend, Bob McAdam (CC), Anne Burbidge, Helen Garrett, David Evans,
Ann-Marie Handerson, Leslie Shore, Steve Riley (G).
Multiple Meeters Loosely Jointed: Bob Anderson, Chris Thickett.
Friday afternoon was lovely and sunny, spring-like even, and the
early arrivers, Ken, Bob A and myself, enjoyed a pleasant circular
walk taking in Dock Tarn.
Saturday was not so nice but not raining first thing. However, we all
encountered high winds and driving rain before long.
The main party of walkers 'followed' me on a walk up Dalehead then on
to Hindscarth, down the ridge to Little Town, over the pass to Grange
and back through the woods to the hut where everyone arrived back
very wet. I use the word 'followed' advisably as the walk was led
from the back although in my defence I claim I was never more than 3
miles behind at any point during the day. Ken was the only other
walker left within range when I reached the Grange teashop - so all
the others missed out on the treat of tea and Borrowdale tea-bread.
James led another party to climb the Cam Crag scramble from which
they almost got blown off before getting very wet. Graham T and Bob
Mc climbed Troutdale Pinnacle Direct then they got very wet. Ron with
Ruth and Bob K with Alison headed over towards Gable where they got
very wet. John did a circular via Honister Pass then got very wet.
Bob A walked in the Borrowdale woods then got very wet. Still, Friday
afternoon was fine!
Before evening meals were cooked, just about everyone retired for
refreshments in the Scafell Hotel, more or less taking over the bar.
During the evening, this atmosphere of conviviality continued round
the fire and tables of the hut - truly a proper joint meet between
the two clubs.
On Sunday the weather wasn't so bad but heavy hail showers kept us on
our toes. However, it was bad enough that even Graham T left his
climbing gear hung up in the hut. Another large mixed bunch of
members went out to meet the elements around Watendlath, Ladore and
Grange. Last to leave that morning was Bob A and myself. We headed up
Langstrath to find the secret cave, which still remains secret as far
as Bob and I are concerned.
Everyone who turned up seemed to enjoy themselves despite the weather
- still, Friday afternoon was fine!
March 15th - Derwent/Strines Walk - Iain McCallum
Members: John Castick, Virginia Castick, Joanne Castick, Alan(H)
Jones, Bob Kelly,
Iain McCallum, Phil Ramsbottom, Dave Shotton, Dave Wylie.
Guests: Margaret Baldock, Joe Callan, Angela Ison, Mark Heslop.
On a glorious day thirteen walkers and two dogs set off from the
lay-by through Fairholmes , up past the dam and then along the track
bordering the eastern edge of the Derwent Reservoir to the bottom of
Walker's Clough. From here we climbed up the hillside to the sign
post at junction of the paths. Here we re-grouped before heading east
to Lost Lad and Back Tor. The cairn at Lost Lad is said to
commemorate the legend of the thirteen years old shepherd boy who
died here in nineteenth century. At Back Tor we stopped for elevenses
in a sun trap just below the Trig Point. This spot proved to be most
popular with other walkers.
Leaving Back Tor we made our way at a smart pace down Foulstone Road
to Strines Bridge and then along the road and lane to Brogging. We
were now down to nine walkers and two dogs, the Castick Group having
opted for an alternative walk south along the Derwent edges. Below
Strines Reservoir we traversed the slope above Dale Dike Reservoir
towards Andrew Wood and the path leading out of the valley to
Blindside Lane and the disused quarry above. At the quarry we stopped
for lunch and a chat about films and books. Looking down on the still
waters of the reservoir below it was difficult to imagine the
catastophe which occurred in 1864 when the dam burst. It devastated
parts of Sheffield and killed 244 people.
From the quarry we climbed the hillside above following the path to
Wet Shaw Lane and Stake Hill Road. Suddenly the peace and quiet of
the countryside was shattered by the roar of trail bikers splashing
through the large muddy puddles as they passed us on the track. After
passing Moscar House we followed the old Sheffield to Ashopton road
past the ancient milestone to Cutthroat Bridge. It seems the Bridge
acquired its rather gruesome name following the murder of a man there
in 1635.
Leaving the old road, we followed the rough track up hill to the
Derwent Edge. From the Edge we tramped rapidly along the hillside
until we reached the path dropping down from the Edge below Wheel
Stones. Just below the wall we stopped for a drink. Our lofty perch
afforded us great views over the Derwent Valley and the hills beyond
- the Scout, Bleaklow and Mam Tor. We also had a grandstand view of
the mountain bikers peddling furiously, making their way slowly up
the track.
The final section of the walk took us down hill to the Ladybower
Reservoir and the track along its banks to Fairholmes (which was now
full of cars and thronged with people) and so back to our cars in the
lay-by.
A really good day in the Peak blessed with a touch of Spring weather.
Thank you all for your support.
Large Packs for a Derwent Walk [Phil Ramsbottom].
March 21st/22nd - Alex MacIntyre hut - Mark Garrod
Members present: Colin Maddison, Andy Grantham, Roger Daley, James
Hoyle, Chris Williams, Dave Lygate, Tony Gask, Mark Ashley, Michelle
Harvie, Mark Garrod.
Guests: May Macleod, Sheila Grey.
The weather forecast was fantastic for the first part of the weekend,
and that helped fill the hut with keen KMC's from late Thursday
evening onwards. Andy and Roger took advantage of the sunshine to do
the Aonach Eagach in what they described as summer conditions, bar
about 20' on snow. I thought I heard Roger complain about it being
too hot! Michelle and I did some of the eastern Mamores, including
Sgurr Elide Mor and Binnein Mor. Meanwhile, the other
"in-Scotland-already" people also took advantage of the glorious day,
with May and Sheila attacking the steep slopes of Fort William high
street, Dave blagging some free runs on Meall a'Bhuiridh ski slopes,
and Tony getting half way up a Blackmount peak near Victoria Bridge
before deciding it was time for a beer. Coincidentally, the Aonach
Eagach and Fort William teams then met and conversed in the Clachaig,
despite not knowing each other.
Friday night (and a fair chunk of Saturday morning for some) involved
eating (especially the massive pile of fresh homemade scones brought
along by Sheila), drinking, and dancing, including a show by Dave and
May of the Death Dive, luckily with no death, probably only because
the whisky tasting had only just begun.
Saturday started very early for the Ben Nevis climbing teams of James
and Chris, and Colin and Dave - the latter having to be woken at
least three times due to having incinerated the candle at both ends.
They both enjoyed their routes, despite both missing their original
targets due to the mist being down. The weather did start misty and
with slight drizzle, but from between noon and 2pm it magically
cleared to give a sunny day again. Mark A, Andy and Roger did Stob
Ghabhar and Stob a'Choire Odhair, whilst Michelle, Tony and Mark G
did Bidean nam Bian. Sheila and May took themselves off to the
eastern Mamores. Tony then had to head off, as did Dave, to ensure
his kilt fitted ahead of a wedding on Sunday. Saturday evening saw
all remaining members head down to the Clachaig for some beers and
live musical entertainment - thanks to May and Mark A for driving.
Sunday was overcast, windy, and the occasional slight drizzle, so not
many high mountains were on the agenda. Some folks headed straight
off, others had walks of varying distance before hitting the road.
Chris's boots almost went for a walk minus their owner, but the guy
who picked them up realised his error and got them back while we were
still swithering on what to do. Thanks to everyone for coming and
making it a very enjoyable meet.
April 4th/5th - Bob Graham Walk - Des Chadderton
Attendees: Katie Horgan, David Bish, James Hoyle, Kasia Hoyle, Chris
Thickett, Al Metelko, John Cox.
Guest: Des Chadderton.
Six arrived on Friday evening to the warmth of the fire at Rawhead
Barn and good conversation.
Saturday saw three parties try their luck as Dave and Des ran in
challenging conditions from Threlkheld to Dunmail Rise via the
Helvellyn ridge. Dave then continued to New Dungeon Ghyll via Steel
Fell and High Raise. Chris, Kasia and James made for Blencathra to
climb Sharp Edge but retreated due to poor conditions and Katie went
running with her 'Lakeland 50' team mate at lower elevation.
After a day of troublesome weather, all visited the pub. Followed by
a sociable evening in Rawhead Barn, including the late-comer Al. Then
disturbed by a recurring Bob Graham nightmare Dave awoke Des at
midnight to go for a run and after five hours staggering atop the
summits of Skiddaw, Great Calva and Blencathra the recorded return
time was 6.30 am. And bed called!
Sunday saw the arrival of John Cox and because of said sleepy runners
a very late start. Kasia and James climbed at Scout Crags while
Katie kindly offered to recover walking victims at Wasdale Head. And
so Chris, John, Dave, Al and Des set off walking up to Pike of
Stickle where Chris set off to scramble up another peak before
returning to Rawhead Barn. John, Dave, Al and Des continued walking
to Wasdale Head via Rossett Pike, Bowfell, Esk Pike, Great End, Ill
Crag, Broad Crag and Scafell Pike. A wet Broadstand stopped the
party making it up Scafell.
From Scafell Pike it was a slog downhill. With beer and food as
compensation and Katie offering lifts via two of the scariest passes
in the lakes; Hardknott and Wrynose. Adrenaline junkies just drive
this road! It is unbelievable! [But not as unbelievable when you
meet a caravan!]
May Newsletter Index.
Copyright © 2009 Karabiner Mountaineering Club
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