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January 2010 Meet Reports
August 2009 - Saas Grund (Alpine) - Andrew Grantham
A meet or a woolly gathering? It started off with two people, went up
to 3 for a few days, had 8 in the middle and ended up with three,
none of whom were there at the beginning. A happy event in any case
with a lot of good alpine work. Fair to good weather on the whole.
Meet leader Grantham started the ball rolling by forgetting his tent
pegs and having to sleep in the car. His serene companion Sara, who
had never been camping before, never mind mountaineering, didn't bat
an eyelid at this, nor was she fazed by overturned pasta and grass on
fire, lost ice axes at 5am or a myriad of other distractions which
would have had lesser women demanding to be taken to a hotel this
instant. He ran her up the Mittleruck at over 3,000m from the
Almageller hut, and then almost 2,000m back down to the valley again
on the same day, in order to meet the next person, who, unbeknownst
to them, had changed a flight and did not arrive until the following
morning. At this she complained only of mildly sore knees.
The Allalinhorn next, an interesting enough F+ acclimatisation route
from a Mittlestation, now for a small party of 3. Sara, who had never
had crampons on before, had to be asked to kindly fall over on them,
just for the sake of form, or at least to tread on the rope for a bit
so that someone could tell her to stop it.
The Weismies (PD) next and all was well at dawn until it became clear
that some equipment had gone walkabout in the middle of the night.
This got sorted, after a fashion, but by that time everyone else had
gone. In the distance they could be seen toiling slowly up the
glacier but how to get there? The tracks led to nothing but messy
crevasses. Being told to try 'that way' by two people pointing in
different directions at 6am is not much better than having a car full
who can all see different parking spaces. Tempers remained intact
though and the group knocked a good half hour off the guidebook time
and was back down by lunch. A good route full of interesting ice
cliffs, seracs, ice caves and crevasses.
Looking South towards Monte Rosa.
Others arrived in the form of Bob Kelly, Alex and Kirsten and they
went off to acclimatise on the Allalinhorn, but they got out at the
wrong station, and ended up doing a somewhat more exciting route over
the Holbhaugrat. A happy AD accident. Alex was sent up to find out
what it was all about.
This bigger party then went off to the Almageller hut (again for
some) to try the Weismiess traverse (PD). At 5am the skies were
starry, but by 6 there was an ugly red tinge to the dawn and by 7am
the cloud was down and grey filth was gathering in the valley. The
snow patch was icy and steep and full of rockfall in poor visibility.
One half of the party abandoned it for the ridge and started
scrambling in a rising wind and snow from the east that had started
to plaster the rock. Guides and their clients stood around getting
cold and prevaricating before going lower. Both parties ploughed on
though and after who knows how long, say it ever so quietly, the wind
dropped and the sun came out. The final knife edge arête was a
delicate breeze and the way down to the Hohsaas in a little summer
mist rounded off a grand day out.
Meanwhile, another party determined not to pay for anything as
frivolous as huts or uplift (Trish and Al) had been off to bivouac
below the Dri Hornli ridge and had done the aforementioned traverse
in wall to wall sunshine. And then they had walked down to Saas
Grund, and round their mountain, and back up to their bivouac. They
were a little tired, and only mildly hysterical the next day.
One of the more notable features of this meet were the size of the
tents which ranged from one person palatial affairs with anterooms
you could get lost in (Alex) to the poorest of hovels with barely
enough room for the occupant and her rucksack, never mind to swing a
cat. Mind you we might have liked to have swung one particular cat.
We thought it was a cat, it might have been a fox, it probably wasn't
camping Swiss pixies but whatever it was it had a good line in
dragging breakfast bread across the campsite, batting Tupperware
boxes tucked under tent flaps into the undergrowth and stealing eggs.
It turned its nose up at Kirsten's garlic sausage though.
Climbing came next. Three pairs set off for the Jagihorn at just over
3000m, one to climb the 14 pitch face and one to hang off the via
ferrata. A nice day was had by all. All parties missed each other b y
about 5 minutes on the top.
The 4,000m final slog was the Lagginhorn followed by the Monte Moro
pass and the Joderhorn in chilly in a white out and the Mittagshorn
before turning back to the world of dreams.
Overall, a great time was had by all. Now all we have to do is
decide where to go next year!
[Bare photos supplied by Andrew G: Most are around the Allalinhorn].
September 6th - Bamford Edge - James Hoyle
Members Present: James and Kasia Hoyle, Al Metelko, Trish Cranston,
Dave Dillon, Dave Wylie, Chris Williams.
Guests (Many now members!) Alex Cropper, Jo and Mark Furniss,
Jane Atkinson.
Oh dear! I earned my first ever black spot for this missing report in
the last newsletter. My apologies if I have missed anyone off the
present list as it is rather a long time ago now.
As I remember it the day was rather blustery and quite cold but much
fun was had in the Great Tor area of the crag. Notable ascents by
several parties were made of Brown's Crack HS 4b, Sandy Crack Hs 4b
and Recess Crack VDiff. Brown's Crack was the best of these routes
with Sandy Crack proving quite a struggle for most of those giving it
a go and definitely seemed a lot harder than the previous route.
Further routes were done on the upper tier of the tor but the most
entertaining climbing of the day was definitely Gargoyle Flake VS 4c
which was led in superb style by Trish. Such was the significance of
this climb that a timely formation of Red Arrows shot past in the
valley below as she battled over the final overhanging jugs. With
Trish demystifying the climb and showing how it should be done most
of the rest of us were now ready to give it a go and agreed that it
is a great bit of climbing.
A few more routes were done including Mark and Jo having a go at a
few harder rotes in the Wrinkled wall area but the wind was beginning
to get maddening so we made a quick exit down to the Yorkshire bridge
for a beer and some food before setting off home.
November 1st - Arnside and Silverdale Walk - Brian Taylor
Present: Iain McCallum
Guest: Max the dog.
What with a dire wet and windy forecast and with rain lashing on my
car windows virtually the whole journey up the M6, the proposed meet
did not look too promising. I was half expecting that there would be
nobody at the departure point but I was wrong as there was Iain
keenly waiting to kick off (or maybe swim off!). The one and only
guest Max is a water dog anyway so there was no problems for him.
We set off in heavy rain but fortunately conditions did soon improve
and before long conditions were half decent. Given the mixed weather
we decided to walk a different version of my original planned route.
Arnside Knott was given a miss and instead we skirted Eaves wood and
headed for Hawes Water. From there we walked in a south easterly
directions towards Yealand Redmayne. The final section of the walk
took us through scenic woodland to the south of Yealand Conyers and
then it was back to Warton and the cars. A pleasant day out with good
company. Not much excitement except Max the dog spotting a squirrel;
fortunately I did have him securely on a lead.
November 7th/8th - Bonfire Bash - The KMC
Members: Mark Ashley, Trish Cranston, Michelle Harvie, Mark
Garrod, Dave Wylie, Al Metelko, Colin Maddison, Bob Kelly, Jo and Mark
Furniss, Christine Stark, Kirsten Mundt.
Guests: Roisin Maddison, Kathleen, Imogen.
A smaller gathering for the traditional bonfire than in previous
years, but the weather was at least kind on Saturday evening, where
we got a dry window between 9 and 11.30pm for the fire, fireworks,
sparklers, toffees, marshmallows (if a bit inflamed at times), mulled
wine, and banter (quote of the evening - "I just love stabbing and
burning" - related to marshmallows, of course). Thanks to Mark A for
setting of the fireworks without mishap, and Dave, Colin, Kirsten,
Michelle and Mark for the fire. Michelle's effort at pulling down a
whole tree that only resulted in a bloody head made it seem a bit
more like Halloween than bonfire night.
Mark F and Jo had an aquatic weekend, canoeing on the Conwy above
Swallow Falls on Saturday, and surfing on Anglesey Sunday. Bob had a
distant appointment with 2 hills near the Rhinogs on Saturday, and
left too early on Sunday to catch where he was bound. Colin
entertained Roisin and friends in Llanberis and the quarries. Dave,
Michelle and Mark had a Saturday walk round Llyn Padarn and up Cefn
Du before returning to Llanberis, then meeting Kirsten in the
quarries, who had escaped Manchester ahead of Trish, Christine and Al
who arrived (much) later. Christine and Al got one route in at
Tremadog on Sunday, while Trish, Kirsten, Michelle, Mark and Dave
headed through the quarries, skirting under Y Garn, then back to the
hut over Elidir Fawr in improving weather, missing Mark A who was
somewhere near Mynedd Perfydd having parked somewhere on the way over
to Bethesda
Mark Garrod (volunteer reporter).
november 22nd - Bowland Walk - Mike Graves
In the pre-write up for the walk, I said there will not be many
people walking in this area, how true this was!!!!
Only the very hardy turned out, Iain McCallum, Bob Kelly and I, that
was it!
The previous evening I phoned Pat Holt for the latest conditions in
that area. It seems her son and grandson were up to their waists in
water, and this was on ordinary fields!!! We had to cross two streams
twice; Pat suggested that I should forget this option and cut the
walk short.
The rain was quite heavy when we started our wet, squelchy tramp.
Passing Blindhurst Fell the rain stopped, and on the long pull up to
Fiendsdale Head, the sun popped out for a short time. The views were
great, Blackpool Tower was quite visible! From this point we started
the trudge onto Fairsnape Fell, it was quite hard going, you thought
your boots were being sucked off.
Lunch was taken at that well known eating establishment called
Paddy's Pole, it was here the rain and wind hit us, it was so bad I
did not need to shave that night; my face was very smooth on one
side. Iain set a cracking pace on the descent, just after 14.45 we
were back at the cars. The shortened walk was 8.12 miles with 1,600
ft of ascent, but it seemed a lot further than that. I must remind
myself to avoid this area in the wet. [Make that the whole of the UK,
Ed.]
November 29th - Langcliffe Walk - Phil Ramsbottom
Members: Lorna Marsland, Margaret Williams, Iain McCallum,
Chris Thickett, Bob Kelly, Brian Taylor, Frank Williams, Pete Walker,
Phil Ramsbottom
Guest: David Swindlehurst.
It was raining as we arrived and put on our boots.
It was raining when we passed Frank and Margaret's car a mile up the
hill.
It was raining when we caught up with Frank, Margaret and Pete.
It was raining harder when Frank, Margaret, Pete and Bob decided
enough was enough and opted for the shorter version of the walk.
It continued to rain hard when we stopped for the first time in the
dry? valley above Malham Cove.
It was still raining when we arrived dripping in the cafe at Malham.
It was raining even harder when we reluctantly left the cafe.
It was absolutely hammering down as we accompanied the waves of water
down the last mile of road back to the cars.
Did we have a good day?
OFF COURSE WE DID.
December 5th - Shropshire Walk - Dave Bone
Members present: Dave Bone & Bob Kelly.
As I suspected, only 2 KMC on the train and none hiding under the
stairs at Church Stretton station either. The weather forecast the
night before had a narrow window of opportunity in the incessant rain
- the day would be dry until about 15:00. This proved spot on with
glimpses of sun through the morning?
The train was on time, really an excellent way of covering the
distance, and we hopped out and set off right away, with some helpful
directions to get out of Church Stretton. The first lump of Ragleth
Hill (a fine grassy hill with a "lightning conductor" pole) was
shortly dispatched and we strode into Little Stretton past some fine
architecture. Apparently we could buy 'Merriements' at the village
shop for £6. On into the winding defile of Ashes Hollow, leaping back
and forth over the stream and balancing along narrow ledges - this
proved a fine secret way into the heart of the Long Mynd, arriving
quite suddenly on the plateau. The summit was only some 10mins away
with its view indicator. Visibility wasn't good enough for Cadair
Idris or Hay Bluff either, but the view was good enough - the Devil
being absent on the Stipperstones.
North along the moor on wide tracks and short cropped turf, to
descend in the direction of the northern end of Caer Caradoc where
once back on the 'lowlands' we finally had lunch at 13:15. Doing well
we crossed the valley and tackled the fierce but short climb to the
top of the hill fort - stones rolling off here would make mincemeat
of the Romans. On the descent, again steep, the rain arrived but
fortunately steady but light. And so back to the station where we
were ahead of time ensuring a long wait for the 15:37 train. Adults
were barred from the waiting room, which seemed to be a youth (very
youthful) party venue. It was a fine short day's walk made all the
better by the slot in a very dirty period of weather - thanks to Bob
for ensuring it wasn't a solo one.
January Newsletter Index.
Copyright © 2010 Karabiner Mountaineering Club
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