Carlisle Mountaineering Club

Hosted by Freetime, Carlisle

Newsletter still by snail mail for this month but some members have indicated that E mail would be acceptable. If you have not told me yet please indicate on your new membership form in the new year.

LECTURE , just the week after next at the Tullie House, 7.30 on Tues, Nov 6 th by Ian Parnell. Phil at Freetime has sold about two thirds of the tickets but we need to get the place as full as possible, so if you and friends can come, please buy tickets soon.See Poster. Free Raffle too

MEMBERS SLIDE NIGHT

On Tuesday Nov 20 th at Morton 7.30 p.m. so just time to get your visual aids ready. Maybe another one in the New Year for more spectaculars.

AGM on Friday, 30 th November in the Studio at Morton Community Centre at 7.30 p.m. Convivial bar afterwards.

CLUB DINNER on day after AGM on Dec 1 st at Tirrell. See info in your last newsletter or ring 01228 596912 if you can`t locate it. There are a few places left so book up now for the 1 st turkey of the season.

MEETS

For John`s Meet, a fine day at Raven Crag ,Langdale on October 14 th with Martin and Harmony, prospective new members from Keswick experimenting with multi pitch belays, and the Johns ,Dave A, Phil and Sue enjoying warm dry routes, graced by Dennis at 2 p.m. (when he was sure it was warm and dry) for a variation of Savenake. Dennis thinks there used to be a handy holly root on Holly Tree Direct. A pity that it has disappeared! Open to discussion.

The Night Navigation with Alan happened but we await details at time of going to press.

KALYMNOS

Not a club meet but 12 of us enjoyed the varied challenges in very amenable temperatures on different types of rock in 10 craggy areas, always with blue sea sparkling nearby, changing partners, swapping ropes at times for harder climbs, attempting more diffficult leads and passing on ideas. 3 multi-pitch routes also presented sufficient problems to be interesting. Most of us left the Grande Grotta, a huge tuffa filled cave,starting at 6A+ for next time. We don`t want to do it all at once.

Evening dinners at the local restaurants were friendly, inexpensive and tasty .We either walked everywhere or got a few taxis or buses or posed along on a scooter (Brian and Tony, new and extremely enthusiastic climbers-no rest day for them) or raced at great speed on bikes (Dave H, Craig and Jo, joined by Phil on their off day duathlon )

Altogether, a great time! Highly recommended before it gets too polished. Some of the 2005 sharper routes are now just nicely smoothed and shaped too, for example,Oraia Stithi at Scool.

Ask for the translation.

NORWAY

Cheery marmot is back with his ice-axe, hoping for a big freeze this year.

At least four of us are interested in a return visit to Rjukan in Half-term, February. I shall be making plans very soon, so if you would like to join us, let me know. There are masses of routes to tackle still in this unique area with its amazing number of handy waterfalls. Costs for the week are very reasonable. Sue Greenwood 01228 596912.

PENRITH Climbing Wall out of action until later this month when bouldering wall completed.

Hope you have been out and about and had some good climbing if you have been lucky enough to catch the dry days. Scafell was unbelievably dry and warm towards the end of August which was a wonderful surprise. Sometimes the mist in Borrowdale floated away from Black Crag and Quayfoot and Shepherds but it created a certain anxiety and speed.

Vital Dates for your diary

1.**** A 3 star event: November 6 th , Tuesday, Tullie House;

IAN PARNELL, a TOP photographer and mountaineer(with Ranulph Fiennes on the Eiger) giving us “Journeying from British crags to the World`s toughest peaks”.Bar. Tickets £6 only.

Further details next time.

2.November 30 th Friday AGM Morton 7.30p.m.

3. Annual Dinner December 1 st Saturday Details in next newsletter.

Plans

1.Rescue techniques/ follow up or new session to be held in the spring by Allan and Phil , probably at Armathwaite. (Is this for Jo? I don`t think many of us would have known what to do with a firmly stuck Italian hitch and a body suspended on it! There is always excitement with Julie around.She completed a graceful severe on Jackdaw this week: the 23 rd climb of her climbing career!)

2.The 1 st Aid course could do with a few more people and then it can be arranged, again for the spring term.

3.Members` Night in early December so time to concoct a disc of any of this years epics or interesting crags, new or old.

2.Sports Climbing

We found a lovely area near Foix in the foothills of the Pyrenees, just over an hour`s drive from Carcassone airport. The crags contained all that we could want from 3b to 6a (to be honest we only got to the hard corner on the 6a) in scenic locations with a choice of excellent granite at Auzat to very good limestone at Roquefixade, Sinsat and other places. There were a lot of much harder climbs around 7a etc and some multi pitches but we were content to enjoy 46 single pitch routes of up to 30 metres in our 7 dry, warm days in this beautiful part of France. No queueing to bag a route; just enough climbers for company on some days. Our French came back quickly as the Guide book was in French, with very clear topos and access plans. Highly recommended if you like Sports Climbing on crags without having to hump your bag far at all.

Dave,Sue,Ruth Greenwood and Dinny.

Real Climbing! Dolomites 2 weeks; Phil W and Sue G

Rifugio N.W.Ridge July 16th

Pitch 13: Belay in a niche, somewhat off route, but on a good thread. Below, a hotch-potch of pitches from grades5 to 2 but mainly 4. A lonely no.2 friend dangling below a broken yellow roof, evidence of another off-route retreat! A well-named mountain…the Refuge (Treviso) appearing as a tiny box 1500feet directly below. Would a return to the hut be possible within the day?

The 2 young Italians, pitching more directly on the ridge and struggling a little, offered us welcome handful of nuts at the belay, delaying the need for a full rest stop, even though breakfast was 9 and a half hours ago at 5 a.m.

Pitch 14: On 3+ ground slanting up a groove and short walls to a big ledge on the right. At least 4 parties ahead, now out of sight and sound, once sharing stances, ducking and diving, then strung out and gone. Only the Italian boys below and soon to join us.

Rucksacs off, sandwich time. Hard to determine where we are on the route. The walls across the valley and at its head still overlooked us, but remembering the “Rifugio” was a mere shoulder of the mighty Ortiga, it wasn`t a reason to worry. The pitch above our lunch ledge looked better with some tat on a thread about 5 metres up. The Italians` rope came past us and began to wrestle with the wall. Their thin 60 metres giving the edge over our 50 m ropes. 2 good pitches and some scrambling and we stood on the summit. An ebullient group whom we knew from the hut celebrated along with us, having done a route on the south face.( They had descended on our red path the previous day, so they preferred dodgy abseils rather than face it again)

4 p.m. Left alone on the summit! The guide book “ follow red markings down to col(2), descend and traverse North face to gap between Dente de Rifugio and Sasso d`Ortiga, down gully on South side, then horizontal path to cable assisted descent on wall into gully. Re-ascend to path and follow it to Passo Mughe summit, then down to hut =3 hours!!!”

5.30p.m. at the col “We`ll need the rope out” Delicate down climbing, traverse round a corner “ Oh good a peg” and down again. My God, now on pitch 20…get some gear in. Wet slabs, hundreds of feet of steep choss and cliffs await a slip. Another long pitch to safety, through the window and on to the sunny south side. Easier now, maybe a late dinner possible?

The aided cable descent! You`ve got to be kidding! Loose bolts on a vertical section! Out with the rope again for a safe abseil, more tension, the path ever more exposed and tricky. The pass reached and all the delights of the Dolomites can be enjoyed. Sunken clouds in the valley to the East, grey and orange towers rearing up into a crystal sky with a hint of emerging stars as the sun gradually loses its strength and releases a last gasp of light and warmth. The wrist watch firmly rooted inside trouser pocket –time seemed unimportant. Past the tent nestling in the hollow below the Punta Disparazione, our route of yesterday, certainly not disparate now, although the German lads by the tent couldn`t hide their astonishment as we chugged slowly past. (They would have given us a torch if necessary)

One head torch out, only 200 feet to go, through roots and trees and herbage all without a slip or a trip (at least for Sue!) to the safe haven of the Treviso Hut.(11.30 p.m.) Soup, tea and cake, then bed with a head full of images of a million steps to lull us to sleep as the seconds drained away from Saturday and into a new day.

The remaining 11 routes and 81 pitches of our trip were much more amenable, even (occasionally-editor) allowing time to relax before dinner!

Phil Wilkinson

It was a great adventure and I do like to have a full day! I was admiring thousands of stars while I was “chugging” down… Sue, editor.

Random recollections on Life in New Zealand by Dave Mounsey

I first became interested in New Zealand after reading a book on early Mt Cook guides. I found employment with Reid Containers printing firm internationally Drg as a Lathe Turner then General Motors in toolroom repair. If you are Welsh or Scot you were probably better treated. English or poms were known for wingeing.Kiwis reckon that English are the ace rock climbers and they are tops on ice. Titai Bay and Baring Head are the main rock climbing areas around Wellington where I lived. Lake Taupo the middle of the North Island I visited once has developed over the years. Graeme Dingle whom I met twice in New Zealand had the first outdoor pursuits centre and had climbed the North face of the Eiger. He climbed with Peter Hilary. I was an associate member of the New Zealand Alpine Club (Wellington).New Zealand is known for rugby but one match I played in found me with a torn shirt and a black eye!Grag Dhu and Hamish MacInnes lived in New Zealand for a while. Hamish lived on the west coast of South Island nearer the big mountains, prospecting for gold before manufacturing ice axes and mountain rescue stretchers in Glencoe. From Christchurch to Mt Cook National Park is a long way, needing 3 days food and travelling fast to talk to Kevin Helm. While most rock climbers discuss grades, Kevin said when a climber is suffering from a dry throat, the climbing is getting difficult. Mt Tutoku is in the Darrans area, one of New Zealand`s best rock climbing places,where we attempted a south west ridge of Tutoku in Forjdland but went off route minus food as usual, and glad to find a pub.

Peter Hilary instructed skiing for a season and I learned at Rhaphua in the centre of North Island, fightening on ice first thing but improving after mid day. My grandfather volunteered for South Africa in the Boer War so maybe I inherited his travel bug as a young man

LECTURES

The second attempt at Members` Slide Night was very enjoyable with Frank Grant sharing his climbing memories in different parts of the world for over 20 years, followed by Helen and Pete`s concise version of their Mont Blanc expedition, a brief view of Sue`s ice climbing in Rjukan this February, Ray`s colourful meanders including the one good piece of Lakes` ice this year on Dove Crag and Phil Tinning`s spectacular Glencoe ice routes in March.

From now on, we hope to be outside not just admiring epics on the screen.

However, CHECK on the BIRD BANS in the Lakes at this time of nesting; some crags like Falcons may be out of bounds.

COURSES

From www.thebmc.co.uk/event-det.asp?event-id=113

Jonathan Conville memorial Trust Alpine Mountaineering Training Courses 2007: the Trust is offering a number of subsidised 3-day Alpine courses in Chamonix to give top class introduction to Alpine mountaineering for minimal cost. Courses cover basic considerations such as use of equipment, glacier travel and crevasse rescue. Application forms available now. Deadline April 20 th .

GOOD START

The 1 st official Thursday evening meet on April 5 th at Jackdaw was chosen cunningly by Jane as it was the hottest day of the spring so far.. A very beautiful evening saw 9 of us experimenting with various routes with reasonable success, making up in enthusiasm for any deficiencies in style. Barry was in advisory capacity but not for long as his hand is looking good.

ENCLOSED

Please find the useful card listing all members plus your own membership card, useful for discounts.

INITIATIVE