Karabiner Mountaineering Club

November 2009 Meet Reports

July 12^th - Dovestones Fell Run - Roy Lee

Running Members: J Cox, J Symon, R Clark, R Lee. Guest: P Gilligan.

Climbers: H Brooke, D O'Brien.

After meeting at 10am, the climbers left for Rob's Rocks and the other five followed the route via Alphin, Wimberry Rocks and Chew reservoir, then descended down the old rail track to finish at Dovestones reservoir. A good outing with no exciting moments - afterwards we had an excellent lunch at the Farriers Arms.

[Reckon these would show the previous a thing or two?]

August 22^nd - Three Tarns and a River - Midge Castick/Michelle Harvie

Members: Midge and John Castick, Michelle Harvie, Mark Garrod, Sue and Graham Harkness, Jim and Sandy Gregson, Lester Payne, Mark Ashley, Christine Beeston, Kate Horgan, Mary Stuart (Cath Sanderson made a guest appearance at Blackmoss Pot and was out climbing and planning a dip downstream).

Guests: Fay Castick, Mark Anderson and Toby, David and Liz Gibson, Steve Cheslett.

The recent rainfall guaranteed enough water for swimming, but was bound to reduce the water temperature and enthusiasm for the meet. Surprisingly we seemed to have plenty of volunteers for this aquatic mountaineering adventure.

Mark and I arrived at chilly Stonewaite campsite at dusk on Friday Night to find Mark and Lester pitching Mark's new tent and the rest enjoying hospitality in the Lanstrathdale Inn.

The walk started from Seathwaite, although Mark and I walked from the campsite. The first target was Styhead tarn (150 m) which was windy and cold (11.5 0 C in the shallows). Despite this, 6 of us dived in wearing an eclectic range of swimwear; Midge and Fay (shortie wet suits and bobble hats), Mark Ashley (wet suit jacket and lycra shorts), Mark Anderson (wet suit), Liz (oversized cut down dry suit) and myself (no wet suit, neoprene hat and gloves) whilst the team plus Toby (Fay and Mark's dog) carried our bags round. A short ascent uphill and barely time to thaw out before myself, Midge, Fay, Mark Ashley Mark Anderson, Liz, joined by Katie (no wetsuit) crossed a balmy Sprinkling Tarn (200m 13°C) with great views of Gable.

Dog: "Are you really going in there? This is as close as I'm going!" [Photo M. Garrod]

We were really pleased to be joined by Christine, Mary and Steve who had come up from Manchester that morning and caught us up. The sun finally made an appearance as we carried up to Esk Hause and 6 swimmers I, Midge, Fay, Mark Ashley Mark Anderson, and Katie crossed our final tarn, Angle Tarn (225m 13.6°C).

Then our descent into a sunny Langstrathdale with beautiful Rowan trees and the river tumbling and hopefully warming over warm rocks. A few km downstream we came to Blackmoss Pot (GR SD 266 110) a magical natural Jacuzzi, crystal clear water and a 20 m swimming channel (16°C) with an optional jump entry. This aquatic highlight of the day lured in 9 in swimmers including Christine and Mark who enjoyed a few laps. A short walk back to the campsite and the end of a great day.

"We're going in..." Blackmoss Pot [Photo M. Garrod]

Stonewaite campsite has a great location, a fairly rough approach track (not a patch on the approach to Ty Powder), but comes with a bit of a health warning. There was no running drinking water at the time we were there, except greenish drinking water from a Bowser. Despite a "no large groups" sign there was an influx of large noisy groups who insisted on playing bad music loudly and worse still singing along. Having seen Sunday's weather forecast and our neighbours for the night, Mark and I returned to Manchester that night, and avoided one of the worst Lakes weather days Midge can recall!

Thanks to Midge for devising the route and all for making this a fun day out. Watch out for details of a Welsh adventure next summer.

August 29^th/31^st - Ty Powdwr - Peter Walker

Present: Guests. Jo and Mark Furniss, Dave England, Steve (Fluff) Miller, Mike Tempest.

Members: Scott Sadler, Julie O'Regan, Ann Sanderson, Steve Waters, Peter Walker.

Firstly, congratulations to the KMC, the hut was immaculate.

Solitary occupant Friday night, so set out for a solo walk on Saturday to Snowdon via Moel Eilio, Foels Grach and Gron etc but turned back in a storm of very cold rain on Cloggy - the tail end of Hurricane Billy I believe. The same storm caught Scott and Dave on the Glyders, Mark and Jo on the Mot (the Cracks), Steve and Mike on Merlin.

Sunday was another damp day. Steve and Mike went off cycling at Dolgellau, Ann to walk the Clwyddians, Scott and Dave completed the Moel Eilio /Snowdon traverse, Julie and Fluff, Jo and Mark and myself did various local interest walks. Once again the drying room was on overtime! - but how did Fluff manage to keep his arm plaster dry?

The prize for the best equipped must go to Jo and Mark who brought their canoes.

Just to round off there was a hazardous weather warning for the drive home!

September 20^th - Bleaklow Bogtrot - Keith Williams

Present: Iain McCallum, Trudie Young, Bob Kelly, Alan Liverpool Jones, Peter Walker, Peter Scholefield, Sandy Gregson, Jim Gregson, Dave Wylie.

Guest: Ernie the dog.

Nine members presented themselves well before the scheduled departure time and with still ten minutes to kick-off were on their way. Hanging in deferentially for a possible late-comer, the meet leader was rewarded for his patience at 9.55 by Dave W carefully positioning his motor with a handbreak turn which would have brought tears to the eyes of Jeremy Clarkson.

"I'm travelling light", quoth he as he slipped into a holey pair of trainers.

"So you'll catch us up", the meet leader threw over his shoulder as he departed west like the proverbial Young Man.

Within six minutes thirty-three seconds all ten members (plus Ernie) were assembled at the bottom of Torside Clough. This is where the story really began, for although it was the only uphill of the day, it was a bit steep in places and soon the merely geriatric had out-stripped the zimmermatics while the meet leader attempted to retain a presence in both camps by rushing up and down in a manner which brought a derisive curl to the lip of Ernie the dog, who knew about these things.

An hour or so later, everyone was more or less on the top but with the really fast men cooling their heels on Wainstones which they remembered, unlike the meet leader, was on the published route. Meanwhile, the rest of the meet was having an early lunch at Bleaklow Head. Everyone marvelled about the magnificent weather and amazing views, which allowed us to note that the wind turbines on Scout Moor were (just about) turning, thus ensuring toast in Rochdale.

Having regrouped briefly, another breakaway was affected, this time by Pete Walker and ALJ who thought that they too would like to see Wainstones before descending back to Torside. They muttered something about they "might be gone some time" so the rest of the party fanned out on a range of bearings from east to south all looking for the vestiges of a footpath along the watershed. I McC and Dave Holey Trainers - separated by a mere 15 degrees - both managed to affect an air of total confidence that they alone were on the right line while the rest of us stumbled, slithered and slurrrrped through the peat as best we could somewhere between them. This triumph of navigational pragmatism ensured that everyone arrived more-or-less at the same time at Bleaklow Stones where a second breather was affected to the sound of cracking flags.

From here there is a slim apology for a track north west then north which meant that increasingly good time was made to the point where we broke back west to pick up an even better track down Far Black Clough. By this time most people were beginning to feel the exhilaration of a fell run and before you could say "Original Mountain Marathon" we were savouring the homely sound of HGVs grinding up the Woodhead Pass. Another rest break 'mang the heether - as they say in Dunford Bridge - proved very seductive for some members who were a mite reluctant to re-don their sacks. However, they caught up the pelaton and apart from Trudie having a girlie moment as she tried not to cross the stream at the bottom, it remained only to put the brain into neutral for the boring tramp along the Trans-Pennine Trail back to Torside. A great day, haunted only by the ghosts of Bowden Black and Len Stubbs. But no toast in Stockport. . . .

September 26^th/27^th - Northumberland Climbing - Dave Bone

Present: Meet leader, climbing partner Tony Major and surprise visitor Mark Ashley.

With the NW-SE split in the weather continuing, and frequently appearing holes in the veil of cloud N of Newcastle, the venue looked like a good bet for the weekend if you wanted to climb in the sun still. However not a peep of interest was heard so the 2 of us set off pre-dawn on the Saturday as if for a normal climbing weekend. The choice was vindicated as the cloud peeled back at Leeds, and the entire drive up the E side was under clear sunny skies (as it was to remain all day & night). Arrived at the verge parking for Bowden Doors at 10am - one other car there but no KMC. A bit of a cool breeze blew along the edge, but we started climbing and soon many more climbers were arriving and a warm sun swung round onto the edge. During this Mark turned up - sans climbing gear - but after attempting some soloing and seeing the routes we were attempting, retired to the coast for some walking and kite flying instead. Several routes on the immaculate, wonderfully featured rock were attempted, some successfully (the grades did seem a little variable), we got as far north as Hudson Bay on Canada Crack.

A fine evening at Wooler and after a good night's (essential) rest, Sunday morning presented itself with a thin veil of cloud spreading in with a breeze. So the comparative shelter of Kyloe was chosen - here it was very comfortable and the fact that there was no sunshine was hardly noticed, again plenty of climbers on the superb rock but no KMC. We had started on Overhanging Buttress (perhaps not the best choice of start), and Mark arrived during our 2nd route, Coldstream Crack. A team effort eventually saw a member arrive on top from below. Mark then joined in for most of the many more routes climbed that day that included "Tacitation", "Slab & Groove", before tired arms and the need to get us on the long road back (<4hrs), called a halt at 16:45.

October 3^rd/4^th - Bowderstone Hut - Trish Cranston

The band of 7 hobbits met on a windy Friday night. The door nearly blew shut due to modern contraptions, and they might have been locked out for the weekend, but for the swift hand of one called Bob saved the drive back to Manchesterdale... Disappointed that Bilbo Baggins was not present they threatened to leave, until the meet leader told them there would be patches of sunshine on the morrow, and more thereafter... and curry and crumble for all and sundry the night to follow, and that we had to wait for another arrival, that of the lovely Katharine, who might have been lost forever due to a topsy turvy grid reference, but was dashingly collected from the car park by hobbitt Bob, twice a hero... and he said he was only popping out for a paper...

And so they went about shovelling coal and built a lovely blaze, a cheerful plume of smoke could be seen from far and wide, and the hobbits got beer and wine down their necks and enjoyed the flames whilst hatching plans to dodge the showers and bask in blue the day after... The coals were taken to the dorm by one bold hobbit called Al on a blazing shovel, to the horror of the other hobbits, and it was as much as we could do to stop him putting them in the beds. "Wisest in the hearth", we said, so he reluctantly agreed... The next day saw wet and windiness and patches of blue, which were but fleeting at times... and they all breakfasted and headed out.

Two brave young hobbits called Jo and Mark "Hollow Legs" Furniss decided that blazing saddles were what they needed for the day, so they hotfooted down to the mountain bike store and hired some such wheels, then they went all around Derwent water until they were lured by the smell of a giant A3 sized pizza at Nichol end, and giant football sized scones the likes of which they had never seen before, and they were the envy of us all after. The brave hobbits struggled against 60 mph winds, until they were lured once more by the smell of cooking at Shepherd's crag cafe where they were forced by the owner to eat cake, before returning to the hobbit fold, as fast as their slightly heavier legs could carry them...

The aforementioned hobbits, Bob and Katharine had their eyes on Glaramara, but as bad weather prevailed, they whiled away a wet morning at a climbing wall next to Castlerigg stone circle, which they said was not to bad at all... They then braved out into the eye of the storm to Ullswater, and ascended Arnison Crag at the top of which, hobbitt Bob was clear blown off his feet! "Let's have a cup of tea" they said, and spent a happy time supping in Glenridding.

The remaining hobbits headed out on a tour of ten crags, an ambitious undertaking...They managed only five, maybe there is a pattern emerging here - they visited and touched the rock of Bowder crag, Quayfoot Buttress, Brown crag, Reecastle crag, and Shepherd's crag, where they were lured by cake, again dragged in kicking and screaming by the owner, who had also kidnapped Pete Leeson who was with a band of energetic looking elves, who escaped while we distracted the owner, and hurried home for dinner and beverages awaiting them...

The arrival back at the fold saw the frantic lighting of fires and many a newspaper was used up to draw the chimney to full flame effect...and the arrival of the eighth hobbit, Brian who had been out a wandering that day and was ready for a good feed. The discussions of the day came to a rapid halt when the lovely Katharine announced to us with a cry of disdain that the toilets were no longer flushing. We had run out of water - and so with the incentive of an impending curry, three brave hobbits, namely Brian, Al and Dave, headed up the hill after pouring over the book of "what could go amiss at the cottage...siphoning for the expert". ...And so armed with a washing up liquid bottle "a la Blue Peter", which hobbit Trish thought would have made a very fine Dougal. Alas, she never got the chance to get her hands on it. They were gone a long time, and eventually they returned looking rather bedraggled, and Brian was wearing a very wet sleeve...

So crazy shaped poppadoms were formed by hobbit Jo and nan breads and chapatis were toasted on the fire by Bob and the curry was eaten anyway to fire seven of the hobbits up the hill, with pots pans and the desired squeegy bottle, while two minded the fire.

One hobbit, named Trish had her batteries run out half way, and so temporarily blinded, she resorted to using her saucepan as an ice axe to aid her progress up the hill, amusing to behold by the other hobbits, especially after the goblets of wine she had consumed beforehand...

After much grovelling in a cave of water and the passing of pans, the hitting of heads to the sound of much cursing on the cave roof, much pouring, bubbling, and valve opening and closing, testing and shouting to no avail, and eventual communication, and aaaaahhh! The toilet flush was thankfully restored, and the satisfied hobbits headed back to the cottage for crumble custard and more beverages, and the telling of stories and the shovelling of coals, this time by the fearless Katharine. There was only one hobbit who could not sleep because he was kept awake all night by all that crackling...

The next day saw a change in the weather and sunshine abounded. Hobbitt Brian, despite his disturbed night had the summit of Blencathra in his eyes at breakfast, so he bade an early departure and headed bravely off, but alas he was ne'er to be seen again... There was a mass assault by the remaining hobbitts on Shepherd's crag, on a day when only one shower fell, and the rest was bathed in sunniness...

Nice Little Hobitts'esss, come to Gollum. [Photo from Jo]

Hobbitt Bob and the fearless Katharine made an alpine start on the aforenamed crag, and Katharine lead her first multi-pitch route, then they were tempted off by the call of Brown slabbiness - and they were not seen again. ...leaving but a thermal and a pair of boots for us to remember them by.

Climbs known to have been conquered by them and the rest of the hobbits were namely Jackdaw Ridge (Diff), Chamonix (Diff), Little Chamonix (V Diff), where hobbit Trish was passed by a soloing man called Birkett who sighed and said what trouble he had to move his weary bones of a morning. ...much to her dismay mixed with disgust. Crescendo (HS), and Donkey's ears - the seat of many expletives, such as "Jesus wept!" ...as to pass between his ears on the second pitch was for small and flexible hobbits only, not large unfoldable ones, with a threatening spike below if one should not make it, which thankfully all the cursing hobbits did by various methods, including the traverse, where his ears were neatly avoided by two cunning hobbits, namly Jo and Mark. Oh and various permutations of Brown slabs by the dashing Bob and the intrepid Katharine...

Hobbitt Al who arrived at the crag without his climbing shoes said after all was done with a philosophical look in his eyes that it had made for a most interesting day...

And so the sun began to go down, and some hobbits were lured by that forceful farmer to eat high tea, some escaped, some goodbyes were said and a return to the hut to bid more farewells and to consume all leftovers was made until darkness fell...

And a strange howl was heard from the Bowderstone that night lit up by the fullest of moons...

Thank you to all attending hobbits for all your help, not to mention expert siphoning, firelighting, frying and toasting skills, making it such an enjoyable weekend!

THE END.

Saturday October 10^th - Fell Race - Roger Mapleson

Runners - 14 - see results.

Marshalls - Midge and John Castick, Frank and Margaret Williams, Joe Flynn, Chris Thickett, Steve Cheslet, Heather Brooke.

Non runners - Zoe Talks, Martin Heaton, Alex Heaton, Cathy Gordon, Paul Gledhill and some others.

Food and hospitality - Sabina Cosulich.

Course planning - Craig Marsden.

Course testing and race controller - me.

There was a lower turnout than last year despite assurances from me that the course would be shorter and with less climb. This was in fact absolutely true. Having said that, I have to concede that the going was certainly tougher at times, resulting in the expected ear bashing received from some participants who like their mountaineering to be conducted on well defined paths with regular signposts telling them where they are and where to go.

Checkpoints this year were carefully selected to minimise subsequent debate about whether or not they were in the right place and to try and ensure that finding them was in within the navigational abilities of participants. Checkpoint 1 was made for Midge who wasted no time in donning her wetsuit and setting up the checkpoint in the middle of Mermaid's Pool. Somewhat to my surprise no one failed to complete the course as a result of missing a checkpoint, though Al did try quite hard. Checkpoint locations were also selected in order to try and provide distinct choices of route on at least some of the legs.

The Runners all missed out the true checkpoint - shaking flippers with the "mermaid" [Photo J. Castick]

From the start to no. 1 presented a choice of going north or south of the Kinder reservoir. Both routes have rough going on them but the southern route is slightly longer and involves some wasted ascent and the northern option would be quicker for most. In fact only Sheena and Dave Bish took the southerly route. 1 to 2 was tackled by pretty much the same route by everyone with the exception of Al who headed straight off to checkpoint 3 and made it most of the way before realizing there was actually a checkpoint no 2, adding around 7km to the distance he covered. 2 to 3 was intended to present a dilemma; whether to run around the rim of the plateau and descend to The Knott, or to take the shorter option of descending to the reservoir and climbing back up to The Knott, the saving in distance countered by additional climb. In the event only Steve Bowker and Bob Kelly took the low level route, the rest were swayed by the more attractive option of staying high in the pleasant conditions. The low level route is in fact considerably quicker, with the time for this leg reduced by at least 20% over the high level route. Those that took the high level route were frustrated by thick, deep heather on what would otherwise have been a very rapid descent over Leygatehead Moor. By contrast the descent to the reservoir is on good ground and very fast. The final 2 legs didn't really offer much by way of route choice but a few tried deviations to avoid further sections of trackless heather and one or two got a little confused crossing the fields to the finish.

All participants, non participants, marshals etc enjoyed superb hospitality courtesy of Sabina with loads of good food and an endless supply of tea.

Winners as follows:

• First male - Duncan Lee.
• First Female - Michelle Harvie.
• Handicap - Bob Kelly.
• Concordia - as far as I can tell no one met the criteria as all club members participating have previously participated.

Runner		Start Bowden bridge	Checkpoint 1 Mermaid's Pool	Checkpoint 2 Noe Stool	Checkpoint 3 The Knott	Checkpoint 4 Gate in Wall	Finish Sabina's House
Steve Bowker	Time from start	00:00:00	00:32:00	01:00:00	01:45:00	01:54:00	02:18:00	1
	Split time	00:00:00	00:32:00	00:28:00	00:45:00	00:09:00	00:24:00
Duncan Lee	Time from start	00:00:00	00:34:00	01:02:00	01:54:00	02:09:00	02:33:00	2
	Split time	00:00:00	00:34:00	00:28:00	00:52:00	00:15:00	00:24:00
Scott Sadler	Time from start	00:00:00	00:35:00	01:10:00	02:00:00	02:09:00	02:49:00	3
	Split time	00:00:00	00:35:00	00:35:00	00:50:00	00:09:00	00:40:00
Dave Bish	Time from start	00:00:00	00:39:00	01:17:00	02:16:00	02:24:00	02:54:00	4
	Split time	00:00:00	00:39:00	00:38:00	00:59:00	00:08:00	00:30:00
Michelle Harvie	Time from start	00:00:00	00:41:00	01:11:00	02:17:00	02:30:00	02:56:00	5
	Split time	00:00:00	00:41:00	00:30:00	01:06:00	00:13:00	00:26:00
Mark Garrod	Time from start	00:00:00	00:41:00	01:11:00	02:16:00	02:30:00	02:56:00	5
	Split time	00:00:00	00:41:00	00:30:00	01:05:00	00:14:00	00:26:00
Dave Wylie	Time from start	00:00:00	00:48:00	01:24:00	02:38:00	02:52:00	03:24:00	7
	Split time	00:00:00	00:48:00	00:36:00	01:14:00	00:14:00	00:32:00
Colin Maddison	Time from start	00:00:00	00:41:00	01:25:00	02:41:00	02:55:00	03:40:00	8
	Split time	00:00:00	00:41:00	00:44:00	01:16:00	00:14:00	00:45:00
Bob Kelly	Time from start	00:00:00	00:49:00	01:33:00	02:48:00	03:08:00	03:42:00	9
	Split time	00:00:00	00:49:00	00:44:00	01:15:00	00:20:00	00:34:00
Sheena Hendrie	Time from start	00:00:00	00:54:00	01:48:00	03:14:00	03:31:00	04:14:00	10
	Split time	00:00:00	00:54:00	00:54:00	01:26:00	00:17:00	00:43:00
Al Metelko	Time from start	00:00:00	00:46:00	02:24:00	03:46:00	04:06:00	04:50:00	11
	Split time	00:00:00	00:46:00	01:38:00	01:22:00	00:20:00	00:44:00
Jane Atkinson	Time from start	00:00:00	01:17:00	02:27:00	04:43:00	05:12:00	06:33:00	12
	Split time	00:00:00	01:17:00	01:10:00	02:16:00	00:29:00	01:21:00
Dave Dillon	Time from start	00:00:00	01:17:00	02:27:00	04:43:00	05:12:00	06:33:00	12
	Split time	00:00:00	01:17:00	01:10:00	02:16:00	00:29:00	01:21:00
Kate Horgan	Time from start	00:00:00	00:58:00					retired
	Split time	00:00:00	00:58:00

A big thank you from me to all the marshals and to Sabina and Craig for ensuring a good time was had by all (I think?).

November Newsletter Index.

Copyright © 2009 Karabiner Mountaineering Club