County Climber Winter 2018

Winter 2017

County Climber

Magazine of the Northumbrian Mountaineering Club

CLUB NEWS

THE ROAD TO ULONGONG

WHEN #KEEP_ON_GOING IS NOT ENOUGH

CLIMBING, CYCLING AND BREXIT IN BERLIN

LEONIDIO - ANOTHER ‘NEW’ KALYMNOS?

OBITUARY: PETER KIRTON

THE BEST SEVERE IN THE COUNTY? ARC’TERYX ALPINE ACADEMY THE ARIEGE COUNTY ESOTERIA

‘WORKING CLASS’ STILL IN THE SWEET SHOP, CHASING THE WEATHER - AN ALPINE ROAD TRIP TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO

CONTENTS REGULARS About the Northumbrian Mountaineering Club The NMC is a meeting point for climbers, fell walkers and mountaineers of all abilities.

Our activities centre on rock-climbing and bouldering in summer, snow and ice climbing in winter and hill-walking in both.

Meets are held regularly throughout the year.

The NMC is not, however, a commercial organization and does not provide instructional courses directly.

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EL PRESIDENTE

Words of wisdom from the man at the helm

EDITORIAL

John Spencer gives us the background info on all the articles.

WEDNESDAY & WINTER WEEKEND MEETS

A look forward at what’s coming up on our events calendar. Get your diaries ready.

AND HONORARY 14 CEILIDH NEW MEMBERS

Report of December’s main social event

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THE NOSE IN A DAY

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

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OBITUARY- PETE KIRTON

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WORKING CLASS

An impressive assault on the plastic to raise funds for Children in Need

‘D Johnson’ alias Pete Kirton’s classic essay

Copyright The contents of this magazine are copyright and may not be reproduced without permission of the NMC. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the NMC.

Cover Shot: Al Horsfield on ‘God Lives Under Water’ (E2, 5b, M0), Crag Lough Photo : John Spencer

Background: The New Members’ Meet posse, Great Langdale, May 2017 Photo : Oliver Grady

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FEATURES

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THE ROAD TO ULONGONG

‘Sometimes the journey is the thing’, John Given 2017

WHEN #JUST_KEEP_GOING IS NOT ENOUGH Will Tapsfield recounts his valiant attempt on the Glencoe Skyline run

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ARIEGE SPORT CLIMBING

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LEONIDIO, GREECE; A FESTIVAL OF CLIMBING

Paul Quin waxes lyrical about this area of SW France

That man Quin waxing again, this time about Greece

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CLIMBING, CYCLING AND BREXIT IN BERLIN What it says, by Peter Flegg

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THE BEST SEVERE IN THE COUNTY?

Martin Cooper offers his choices; see if you agree

ESOTERIC NORTHUMBERLAND ROCK Al Horsfield is ‘drawn like a moth to a flame’ to seldom-done routes. Be similarly enthused!

THE WEATHER - AN ALPINE 73 CHASING ROAD TRIP Phil Behan drives a van back and forth across Alpine passes in serach of a good time

IN THE SWEETSHOP 83 STILL A sobering tale set on the remote Ilse of Mingulay from Lewis Preston

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ARC’TERYX ALPINE ACADEMY 2017

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NINETEEN NINETY-TWO

Clare White describes her experiences in Chamonix last summer

John Spencer looks back a quarter of a century for no good reason

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Franco Cookson on FA of ‘I am You’ (E7, 7b), Coquet View (Photo: Russell Lovett)

NMC Meets

Join the NMC

The NMC Members’ handbook (available to all members) and the NMC website list the dates and locations of all meets.

This magazine lists the meets arranged for the next few months.

You can subscribe online which is easier and faster. More information is available at: thenmc.org.uk

Non-members are always welcome to attend meets.

Payment of fees by GoCardlessDirect Debit is preferred; it’s easy to set up, just click here.

Membership Fees • Full £23 • Prospective £15

Photographs by author of article unless otherwise stated.

You can visit our community : WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/THENMC

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and you can visit our official website : WWW.THENMC.ORG.UK

Wall concessions £1 off the standard entry price at: - Sunderland Wall - Durham Climbing Centre - Newcastle Climbing Centre NEW £5 Entry on Mondays - Climb Newcastle (pool)

Guidebooks NORTHUMBERLAND BOULDERING

NO NOBLER COUNTY

The definitive and comprehensive guide to climbing in Northumberland – much more useful than ‘the other one’.

The sandstone of Northumberland offers some of the best bouldering in the Country, often in a remote and beautiful setting.

£12.50 to members (RRP £18.95) £2 P&P

£12.50 to members (RRP £19.95) £2 P&P

Celebrating the sport of rock climbing in Northumberland, from first hand accounts of nail-booted ascents in the 1940s to bouldering in the 1990s.

CONTACT: John Earl 0191 236 5922

CONTACT: John Earl 0191 236 5922

NORTHUMBERLAND CLIMBING

£2 to members (while stocks last CONTACT: Martin Cooper 0191 252 5707

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COMMITTEE

El Presidente Steve Blake

I

see from some adventures posted on some members’ Facebook pages that the winter season started relatively early, with some success in the Cairngorms (see photo below). If recent years are anything to go by the season will be a mixed bag, and getting things done will require a degree of flexibility and responsiveness to local conditions. It was ever so!

The arrival of our likely wet winter was presaged by a poor autumn. Conditions on the crags haven’t been the best but some notable and difficult routes were repeated in the last few months. This activity demonstrates that climbing in the County is in good shape and as bold as ever.

In the latter half of the year. David Murray (son of Club member Ian Murray) has repeated ‘Purgatory’ (E8) at Back Bowden, and in late September Tim Blake completed ‘Crocodile Arête’ (E7) at Ravensheugh. ‘Star Slinger’ a highball F8B+ at High Crag was repeated by a low key visitor Dan Turner, and Franco Cookson continues to work on some hard and difficult climbs that will further complement his Northumbrian CV. It’s an exciting period.

Conditions have delayed Tim Hakim’s planned attempt at the 1938 on the Eiger. I foresee an attempt next year when the right weather window appears. Tim was one of the team to catch those early conditions in the Cairngorms. I suspect the drive, climb, get cold, get wet, sleep – drive, climb etc routine is as effective as any preparation can be for the Eiger!

You will, or should have received some communication from the BMC about the

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recommendations for change being made by the Organisational Review Group (ORG). In addition the Club has been asked to respond, which we (the Committee) have done. I did take the time to read much of the report and attended a presentation by the ORG on their findings. My view is that the upshot of all of this, is that when implemented, the recommendations will be unseen and have little direct impact on individuals or clubs. The BMC will remain a representative body with a somewhat different set of rules. Nevertheless I encourage you to read and complete the electronic return and raise any concerns you may have to the ORG. They are very keen to receive feedback.

You will see this edition contains Peter Kirton’s obituary. Peter was a member of the club in the 70s and early 80s and made a lasting contribution to climbing in the County, establishing some very hard problems (‘Vienna’ and the ‘Pockets Traverse’),and making second ascents of ‘The Barbarian’, ‘Rising Damp’ and others. His prowess rippled through and influenced the early bouldering scene in the UK. It’s a sad loss.

On a more cheerful note, at this year’s Winter Ceilidh we inducted several very worthy Honorary Members: John Earl, Doug Blackett, Bob and Tommy Smith, Norman Haighton and the venerable Nev Hannaby. All have made a significant contribution to the Club and climbing in the county, their ‘bios’ make for an interesting read (see page 14).

The end of January sees the AGM upon us again. I urge you to attend. If you are interested in getting involved, there are always opportunities to contribute on the Committee. So on behalf of the Committee I wish you well for Christmas and have a new year safe but exciting climbing free from injury or accident! I hope to see you at the AGM, crag or wall.

Felix and Megan after climbing ‘Frozen Assets’ (IV, 6) in Coire an’t’Sneachda in November.

This was Megan’s first winter climb!

(Photo: Tim Hakim)

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Craig Harrison

Andrew Shanks

Adrian Wilson

Vice President

General Secretary

Membership Secretary

Felix Larieu Treasurer

John Spencer Magazine Editor

Committee Members Ciara Barrett-Smith; Megan Denman-Cleaver; Radoslaw Florczak; Peter Hubbard; Camilla Mapstone; Joe McCarty; Claire Robertson; Joe Rudin; Emma Smith

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EDITORIAL

I

write this as our mountains lie under a winter mantle, and the UKC Winter Conditions Logbook has sparked into action, albeit the reports thus far have been mostly of thigh-deep approaches, unconsolidated snow, as yet relatively little useful ice, and wild weather. Fingers crossed things continue to build, not least since the first Club weekend meet of the season is only two weeks away.

Anyway, welcome to the Winter 2017 issue, and what a bumper issue it is!

John Given gets the ball rolling with his description of a gruelling journey in Mongolia in the back of van, heading for the western mountains of Stylkhem National Park. The venue was chosen because he and his companions ‘could find no information about it bar a satellite image which looked promising.’ Alas, in the event, at least from a mountaineering point of view, it was disappointing.

As John said ‘Sometimes the journey is the thing.’

Will Tapsfield tells the story of his preparations for, and attempt on the Glencoe Skyline in September. In case you’ve never heard of it, this mountain marathon covers some spectacular ground, as the website says ‘high and mountainous terrain which is at times impossible to retreat from and may be subject to severe and rapidly changing weather.’ It’s an elite event, ‘a fusion of alpinism and mountaineering’, and entrants are vetted for both mountain running and climbing experience, so simply to be accepted is impressive. The title of Will’s article hints at the outcome on the day, but it was a jolly fine attempt nonetheless!

Paul Quin seems to have become our roving crag correspondent, with visits to two new venues: the Ariège in south-west France, and Leonidio on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece. The former area has a variety of rock types 9

– granite, gneiss, limestone and conglomerate – and over 50 venues, offering everything from bouldering to long (20+ pitch) multi-pitch routes. Leonidio is one of the ‘new kids on the block’, and a rapidly developing scene. I was there with John Vaughan in November 2016, and in the time between several new sectors have been opened up, sporting dozens more quality routes. My appetite for a visit to both areas has definitely been whetted!

Northumberland’s reputation in the ‘outside’ world is largely about brutal, poorly protected sandbags on windswept edges or desperate highballs on boulders hidden in the undergrowth, but Martin Cooper reminds us there are a host of mid-grade and easier climbs of great quality spread across the County. So what is the best severe out there? You decide.

Anyone who has climbed with, or in proximity, to Al Horsfield will have heard the crag ringing with his enthusiastic proclamations of ‘Superrrb!’ and ‘Tree-mendous!!’

You may also know of his predilection for the esoteric, something I (re)discovered one glorious afternoon last summer on a visit to the east end of Crag Lough when we udged our way up a handful of the finest esoterica, nettles, brambles, bracken, dodgy rock and all. The County is replete with such climbing, and Al reveals all, including a new grading system!

Have van, will travel.....as Phil Behan confirms in his article about last summer’s Alpine jaunt with Clare. Able and willing to chase the weather, crossing back and forth over the passes, they managed to notch up a very respectable tally of climbs, ranging from long Alpine classics to a via ferrata. Earlier in the summer, Clare had attended the Arc’teryx Alpine Academy in Chamonix which was clearly a great learning experience, damp bivouacs and all, and clearly set her up for their adventures.

In the summer Pete Flegg made a brief visit to Berlin where he had lived for a few years. In his article he describes some of the cycling and climbing opportunities in the city, and offers a pithy reflection on Brexit.

Seasoned stravaiger Lewis Preston is ‘still in the sweetshop’, a reference to the fact that after retiring two years ago he was ‘like a kid in a sweetshop’ since, with his new-found freedom, he was suddenly able to tick off all the places he’d been unable to visit due to pressures of work. In his article we stay with one venue – Mingulay – as he describes an incident which, but for the skills and clear headedness of the team, the resilience of the victim and a bit of luck, could have ended so much worse than it actually did.

Finally, I look back to 1992 through the ‘lens’ of the NMC Winter Newsletter and

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a stack of contemporary climbing magazines (I’m a hoarder!), and, comparing with the present the issues that prevailed in the ‘real world’ and those preoccupying the climbing world twenty five years ago, including the NMC, come to the staggering conclusion “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”.

And so there it is. As ever, feedback would be most welcome, and not just about any typos and grammatical errors (I’m looking at you John Vaughan!)......but even more, please do consider writing something for the magazine – it’s yours after all! The next (summer) issue will be published by the end of June/early July.

Meantime, whatever your proclivities and wherever you end up over the next few months, whether grappling with the white stuff, bouldering in the woods, dancing up sun-kissed rock, playing on the plastic or simply striding across the fells, have a good winter and spring!

Walking off Helvellyn, December 2017 (Photo: John Spencer)

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WEDNESDAY EVENING MEETS WEDNESDAY NIGHT MEETS SCHEDULE Herewith the schedule for the ‘official’ Wednesday night venue through the winter.

However note that there is no obligation to attend, either the ‘official’ venue or the recommended pub, The Cluny - some prefer The Cumberland Arms - which has a fire!

Date Venue Pub 10 Jan

The Church - NE6 2UQ The Cluny NE1 2PQ

17 Jan

The Valley - NE6 1 NW The Cluny NE1 2PQ

24 Jan

The Church - NE6 2UQ The Cluny NE1 2PQ

31 Jan

The Valley - NE6 1 NW The Cluny NE1 2PQ

07 Feb

The Church - NE6 2UQ The Cluny NE1 2PQ

14 Feb

The Valley - NE6 1 NW The Cluny NE1 2PQ

21 Feb

Sunderland – SR4 6TQ Check NMC FB chat to see who is going

28 Feb

The Church - NE6 2UQ The Cluny NE1 2PQ

07 Mar

The Valley - NE6 1 NW The Cluny NE1 2PQ

14 Mar

The Church - NE6 2UQ The Cluny NE1 2PQ

21 Mar

The Valley - NE6 1 NW The Cluny NE1 2PQ

28 Mar

The Church - NE6 2UQ The Cluny NE1 2PQ

New Honorary Member Bob Smith cranking at The Valley (Photo: Russell Lovett)

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The NMC Members’ Handbook (available to all members) and the NMC Facebook Page list the dates and locations of all meets.

WINTER WEEKEND MEETS WINTER WEEKEND MEETS SCHEDULE Below is the winter meet schedule, with contact details of the meet leaders. Places are limited, but although they usually get snapped up pretty quickly, people do drop out so it’s still worth contacting the leader to get your name on the reserve list.

12th-14th January, Karn House, Aviemore, Meet leader Joseph Rudin (Rudin.J.d.h@live. co.uk or 07891584747) 2nd-4th February, Lagangarbh, Glencoe, Meet leader Ciara Barrett (ciara.barrettsmith@ outlook.com) 23rd-25th February, Raeburn Hut, Laggan, Meet leader John Spencer (john.spencer@ ncl.ac.uk) 9th-11th March, Muir Cottage, Braemar, Meet leader Robin Sillem (robinsillem@gmail. com or 07450 238 592) 23rd-25th March, Alex Macintyre Hut, Meet leader Radek Florczak (radof79@gmail.com or 07403503550) 30th March – 2nd April, CIC Hut, Ben Nevis, Meet leader Eva Diran (Ediran@hotmail. com) Note priority for places will be given to NMC members, but securing a place promptly is important as places may be released to non-Club members a couple of weeks or so before the relevant weekend if there are still vacancies.

Please note also, that unlike a summer rock climbing meet, it is advisable not to just ‘show up’ expecting to find a partner on a winter meet - winter climbing is serious, daylight hours restricted, weather unpredictable, resulting in less flexibility, and, of particular note, ‘routine’ winter meets are not basic winter skills courses....so best to work out beforehand with whom you hope to climb or walk. The meet leader can tell you who else is attending the meet.

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CEILIDH & NEW HONORARY MEMBERS DECEMBER On Saturday 9th December six people had Honorary Membership bestowed upon them in a special ‘ceremony’ at The Sage, which preceded the ceilidh. This came about as a result of discussions within the Committee insitgated by Vice President Craig Harrison. It was noted that, to date, Honorary Membership had been granted to Founder Members of the Club; that only three such luminaries survived; and that there were several worthy ‘elder statesmen’ of Northumberland climbing who should be honoured.

President Steve Blake presided (!) and gave a potted biography of the recipients, after a brief preamble, as follows (note, neither Steve nor the Editor admit any responsibility for the content!): ‘Before I introduce our new Honorary Members, I would like to thank Craig our VP for organising tonight’s event and for raising the issue of Honorary Members to the Committee. We should also acknowledge the sacrifices the HM’s wives have made over the years. Living with a climbing addict isn’t easy, and we should acknowledge their forbearance in allowing our Honorary Members to play outside for so long! Thank you ladies.’

Nev Hannaby If you frequent the Church wall during the afternoon or early evening you may spot a strangely dressed elderly gentleman, sporting tracksuit bottoms and baggy shorts, several layers on top and a beanie, cruising his way up and down the auto-belay lines or having a cup of coffee and a piece of millionaire shortbread. That’s our Nev Hannaby! There are two distinct periods during which Nev was active in developments in the County: the mid 50s, and the 70s.

His first ascents include many County classics such as ‘Tacitation‘ and ‘Devil’s Edge’ at Kyloe, ‘Twin Cracks’ and ‘Green Line’ at Peel, the latter arguably the first extreme in the county (though the grade hadn’t yet been invented), and ‘The Witch’ and ‘Magic Flute’ at Back Bowden.

He climbed all over the UK, pioneering early ascents at Chudleigh Rocks in Devon with Tom Patey, as well as a few Alpine seasons. He no longer climbs outdoors but manages to get along to the wall at least Busy busy busy at the Corby’s Crag meet in once a week; he is a great inspiration to those ‘of a April | John Spencer certain age’....

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Norman Haighton Norman was responsible for the publication of no less than three climbing guides to Northumberland: in 1964, a hastily-put-together but much-needed revision of the 1950 guide; then 1971’s comprehensive guide which attempted to capture both the actual and the potential in the County; finally the 1979 guide which documented the monumental rise in standards of the 70s. He was an active County climber (much of it with Malcolm Lowerson who joined the club around the same time) and a member of the Club into the 80s; he was also a permanent fixture on the Committee and served as President from 1968 to 69 and again in 1982.

Although, by his own admission, was not a prolific new-router or pusher of standards, he brought his considerable skills of administration and production to the guidebook writing process. He passed on this knowledge of ‘herding cats’ to John Earl and mentored him through his adoption of the role.

He later became involved with the Fell and Rock Climbing Club and ended up as warden of Birkness, their Buttermere hut, for a decade. Since giving up climbing, he has tried his hand at sailboarding, windsurfing, mountain biking, and assorted racquet sports, but has lately taken to geocaching, which he finds highly addictive and describes thus: ‘Travelling long distances, going on long hikes and battling through all sorts of bizarre territory to find some little box with a piece of paper in it’!

John Earl John Earl’s contribution to the club and development of climbing in Northumberland is significant. He and his friend Bob Hutchinson were responsible for a surge in standards of difficulty, which initiated Northumberland’s ‘Golden Age’. This team produced some remarkable, classic and difficult routes in this period; ‘Endless Flight’, ‘The Tube’, and probably hardest of all, ‘Australia Crack’, still a fearsome route. They were a formidable team that set the bar very high.

After Bob H’s tragic death in 1978, John continued to climb and eventually developed a notable partnership with Bob Smith. More fine and difficult climbs followed.

John also took on the role of guidebook editor, responsi15

ble for the 1984 supplement through to the current bouldering and route guides. He also partnered Bob in the production of the FRCC Eastern Fells guide. He has been President and served on the committee for ever! John, I’m pleased to say, despite a lot of metalwork, is still very active.

Tommy and Bob Smith Moving on to Tommy and Bob…….

These two brothers have had a tremendous impact on climbing in Northumberland.

They emerged in the mid 70s as a hardnosed, no-nonsense, seemingly irascible team that revelled in the very competitive development scene of the period. Competitive between both themselves and others, they generated a phenomenal energy and were a climbing force to be reckoned

with. Each have produced classic hard and dangerous routes that reflect their character.

Tommy’s ‘Guardian Angel’ at Howlerhirst and ‘Greenford Road’ at Sandy Crag are very sobering excursions even now; still rarely climbed they are permanent examples of Tommy’s ability and guts. His multiple layoffs, have, however meant that Bob’s record of routes is somewhat ahead of him in both volume, quality and difficulty.

Bob’s record of difficult climbs and problems in the County is probably unequalled anywhere in the UK. Indeed the last of his routes awaiting a repeat (‘Kremlin’, E4 6c) at Shitlington was only repeated in the last eighteen months, in a modern style, with a lot of pads. That is quite something. I can’t think of anyone who has dominated a climbing scene in the way Bob did for so many years. It’s a remarkable feat.

Both have contributed to the various guidebook series and are carrying more than 16

their fair share of metalwork. Both remain very much in the game with Bob continuing to hunt for unclimbed rock in the County. Both are much more approachable that their reputation would suggest.

Doug Blackett Club’s aren’t all about development, hard routes and guidebooks. There are unsung individuals who have made, and make, significant contributions to the functioning of a Club such as ours. Doug Blackett is one such individual. Doug can’t be with us tonight, as he’s recuperating from an operation on his foot. He was a key figure in the maintenance and refurbishment of the Club’s Bowderstone Hut and spent countless days resolving issues associated with it. Hut work was always a thankless task, so much so that attending three hut maintenance meets used to be a mandatory requirement for membership!

Doug threw himself selflessly into this task for years – I presume he must have enjoyed it! Club members, and anyone else who used the hut, benefited tremendously as a result. Doug represents those thousands of hours poured into the Hut by numerous volunteers.’

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A light supper followed the presentations, then Dave Hume’s band ‘Snook’, which proved very popular last year, struck up and the ceilidh commenced. A total of around 75 people turned out in the end, and a jolly good time was had by all.

Thanks to Craig Harrison for organising the event.

(Photos of the ceilidh by Radek Florczak) 17

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THE NOSE IN A DAY - CHILDREN IN NEED As many will know, in November our illustrious President undertook a challenge to raise money for Children in Need: to climb the height of the Nose* on El Capitan in Yosemite in one wall session, all 900 metres of it! The day was successful, a very impressive achievement, and this is what Steve posted on Facebook the following day: ‘Yesterday, Rob (Robert Michael Lovell), Cas (Cassim Ladha) and Bronwen Blake turned up at Sunderland Wall to complete our climbing fundraiser in support of Children in Need. We are all blessed to be parents of healthy children. As Cas quite rightly said ‘Not everyone is that lucky, or can have had a much tougher hand dealt to them’. The money we raised through your very generous donations is going to an excellent charity that really does make a difference to the lives of children disadvantaged by illness, circumstances, or sadly both. At the time of writing the total raised is £1274* which was well worth the effort involved.

Thank you to Sunderland Climbing Wall for letting us hold the event. They also went above and beyond in entertaining Barney; at one point he was revelling in the attention of three staff!

Before

The aim of course was to climb the distance of the Nose on El Capitan, a 900m long route. It certainly felt quite epic.... Rob, Cas, Bronwen and myself arrived at Sunderland wall just after 10am and started climbing around 10.30. We all arrived with an outline strategy........

A military dictum I’m fond of, is that ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy’....Mine didn’t and I rapidly decided to climb routes in blocks of 10 instead of seven, I was belayed by Bronwen, while Rob and Cas climbed together. This would mean I would climb faster than them, but potentially get tired quicker. They had decided to climb in blocks of 1-200m, then swap around. But given I was climbing all the time, I was soon pulling ahead of them.

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During

In the interests of ‘full disclosure’: we top-roped most of the routes, and I was consciously making it a bit easier for myself, using any holds that kept the grade in the 5+/6a range. Cas and Rob did some sets of a long 6b+, and Rob managed to cleanly do the Yellow 6c on the Constant about 3/4 of the way through. A particularly stout effort!

About then Cas drifted onto the barrel’s Yellow 6a and suffered cramping thumbs. It was starting to become hard work. I had probably finished by then but my admin was a bit wonky and I ended up doing an extra block of 10, so I inadvertently ‘smashed it’ doing 1,106m.in just over three hours (including breaks). Cas and Rob were tracking their elapsed times and completed their 915m in

After (with Barney)

1:50 each The final route I did was the 6a on the Barrel on autopilot, it wasn’t too bad, but I could

tell at that stage I had 1100m behind me.

So a tough day, but for a really good cause, props to Cas and Rob for getting stuck in and a big thanks to Bronwen for belaying me. Thanks again to those who gave so generously.’

The JustGiving page is still open if you want to make a donation, at: www.justgiving.com/companyteams/ NoseinaDay

Notes * Steve climbed Muir Wall on El Cap in 1996 over six days ** The fund now stands at £1426.70

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Photos: Top: Left to right, Steve Blake, Scot Derben and Mike Smith on the top of El Capitan Right: Steve on Muir Wall

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A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY Portraits from the Edge January 17th, 8.30pm The Back Room, Cumberland Arms, Byker Clare Rowntree was a GP in Gateshead, but in retirement took up photography and has spent the last few years touring the world, most often in remote locations, focussing (excuse the pun!) mostly on portraiture. Visits to places such as Bhutan, Ladakh, Mongolia, Assam, Namibia and Romania have resulted in some stunning work – she seems able to put people completely at ease, thus there is a distinctive authenticity about the portraits she takes.

We are delighted that she’s offered to come and show us some of her work in a talk titled ‘Portraits from the edge’, comprising mainly pictures from some of the more off-the-beatentrack and mountainous areas she’s visited. And you never know, she may share a few tricks of the trade!

‘Here’s one of my favourite photos from Bhutan, a Brokpa lady turns my camera on me!’ (Clare Rowntree, April 2016) 23

ANOTHER DATE FOR YOUR DIARY Four Men on a Mountain: Everest The Hardest Way February 22nd, 7-9pm The Lecture Theatre, The Lit & Phil, Westgate Road, Newcastle (NE1 1SE) Around 3.40pm (Nepal time) on Thursday 12th May 1988 Stephen Venables stepped onto the summit of Everest, the first Briton to ascend the world’s highest mountain without bottled oxygen.

A small team of just four, a Briton, a Canadian and two Americans, had made the first ascent of a difficult new route up the Kangshung Face, but in the end only Venables was to summit (he also, unintentionally, set a new record for surviving a night alone in the open at extreme altitude). The retreat was harrowing and marginal; everyone survived but all suffered frostbite.

Stephen Venables in a crevasse (Photo: Ed Webster)

on a Mountain: Everest The Hardest Way”.

Thirty years on we are delighted to welcome Stephen back to Tyneside to describe what a chap Messner called ‘Probably the most adventurous ascent in Everest’s climbing history’ in “Four Men

The lecture will be free to members, but it is important that you book a ticket in advance as the venue capacity is limited, and we intend to open the talk up to the public in late January. Email john.spencer@ncl.ac.uk 24

Pictures courtesy of the Alpine Journal Note, in the left hand photo, the gully named after our very own ‘Big Al’ Horsfield (to be confirmed by Stephen Venables in due course!)

Just in case you fancy nipping out to bag this route before the talk, here’s the beta (from Wikipedia - couldn’t seem to find it on UKC Logbooks!): ‘To climb the face, the 3 kilometer (2 mile) wide base of the wall must be surpassed by climbing up either the deep gashes of avalanche-swept gullies or the vertical, overhanging rock buttresses, full of deadly ice towers and unsteady snow. Since the crux of the route is near the bottom, retreat is more difficult, making the climb more committing; the relative isolation of the face and probable lack of other climbers also add to the commitment factor. The hanging glaciers and snow slopes pose a large risk of avalanches, especially in the case of a storm, adding to the objective danger of the route.’

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The Road to Ulongong John Given

W

e loaded the van up in the dark outside the old Soviet-style apartment block where Amar, a lecturer in immunology at the University, had used a small two bed apartment to create his ten bed youth hostel. At four dollars per head per night he could double his monthly salary with four night’s full occupancy. Bags and boots thumped and bumped in narrow corridors. Voices muttered in the cupboard under the stairs.

Take another look the next time you pass a cupboard under the stairs. Imagine a small Macbeth style cauldron of steaming mutton with bones sticking out, a small, hunched old woman squatting on a three-foot-by-four platform, the disembodied voice of an old man buried somewhere in the bedclothes behind her, a portable television, and some family snaps stuck to the wall. I never got round to asking how much rent they paid.

The deal had been for exclusive use of the van but something must have been lost in translation, because by the time we cleared the stockaded ger (yurt) suburbs of Ulan Bataar and bumped back to the metalled road, there were five more Mongolians on board. A young couple

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with baby son, two women ‘traders’, one of them very large, and an older guy up front with the two drivers. With the realisation that this would not be a straightforward trip beginning to dawn with the day, we headed west into the vastness of the great Mongolian steppe.

The interior of the van was basic; a sliding door allowed access, two three-person benches faced each other, with room for three more at the back squashed up against the bags and gear piled against the back doors. Into this space were squeezed the twelve assorted travellers. We soon discovered that some seats were better than others, that the van’s springs were shot, and that the drivers’ road manners had been derived from the Mad Max School of Motoring.

We started with a 4 - 4 – 3 formation, an all-Mongolian front line facing back, with the Brits and Nassa, our translator, mostly on the two benches at the back, apart from frequent bouts of weightlessness as the van lurched and crashed round, over

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or through the numerous potholes. With every passing vehicle and with every bone jarring impact, choking clouds of fine dust filled the van. Seats on the outside of things, where you could wedge yourself against the body of the van, and just the one other body, were best. Stuck in the middle was worst, every adjustment of position a complex unspoken negotiation with the neighbours, nothing much to hang onto, and the gnawing conviction that yours was the most uncomfortable seat in the van.

Not knowing when it would stop didn’t help. We’d wondered a bit at the various estimates of three to six days we’d been given for the trip. Now all became clear. There was a tourist version that involved things like stopping to sleep. Then there was the Mongolian version that didn’t. We had apparently booked the Mongolian version. Given that it was a fixed-price trip the drivers were not for hanging about. We hadn’t packed the bivvy gear for access, nobody wanted to be the one to call a halt, and so on and on we went trailing an impressive cloud of dust and doubts across the steppe.

Buddhist monks in the temple in Ulan Bataar

The days developed a rough routine: breakfast about 6:00am, lunch about 12:00 am, dinner about 8:00 pm, tea about 3:00am. This latter break involved bowling up at some isolated ger, seemingly chosen at random, provoking a frenzied dog attack, shouting its occupants awake, and then piling in for a cross-legged encounter with a bowl of boiled marmots and some mare’s milk. The open handed and gracious hospitality with which we were received was such that offering payment often felt like offering offence. Steamed mutton dumplings known as ‘buuz’ quickly established themselves as the discerning carnivore’s snack of choice.

Get the worst seat for the night shift and you were stuck with it all through the slow small hours. For me the right back seat was the worst, especially when the driver or his mate retired to join us on the bench sometime through the night. You couldn’t see the road ahead very well in the dark and so couldn’t anticipate the jolts which smashed your head against the roof, or with a sharp crack against your neighbour’s skull. In front of you was an improvised seat which would slowly collapse and press

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harder and harder against your knees jammed up against it. With people on either side, the only way to keep yourself from repeatedly head butting the roof was to stick both hands between your legs Transporting a ger and lock your fingers off round a sharp metal undercling. I spent dusty desperate hours locked in this position, struggling with cramp, hunched up and swaying like some weird parrot trying to persuade myself that it was all ‘good training for the Alps’.

The first sun in the van would put the whole team to sleep, and then all heads would sway in synch to the broken rhythm of the road until dreams banged against bone and another day began. When the Mongolians woke up they would sing sad love songs and rummage in cloth bags filled with an assortment of dead animals bits; which bits of which animals we were never too clear about, but some tasted quite good. We drove for three days and two nights, covered well over a thousand miles, with the longest stop maybe three or four hours.

Apart from an agreement about the destination, details of the route were vague, communication with the drivers difficult, the maps sketchy, and one bit of the Mongolian steppe looked much like another to our untutored eyes. We rarely agreed where

Unimpressed local

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we where, where we were heading for, or when we were likely to get there.

In general we went a little north of west. The first morning crawling slowly up a rough mountain pass towards dawn, stopping now and then to let the engine cool. On top a huge ‘ovoo’, a sacred shamanistic cairn trimmed with strips of blue cloth, and raked poles fishing the wind. Wooden crutches and tokens of all sorts littered the cairn left by the faithful, the superstitious, or the just plain careful, who would all walk three clockwise times around praying as they went.

I’d had little sleep for three days by the time we’d left Ulan Bataar and the ensuing journey I remember as a rather dream like experience. Endless horizons of grass, horse‘We hired a ger for Base Camp....the door arrived men herding goats, a scatter first!’ of white gers, some with satellite dishes. Impressive Japanese-funded infrastructure projects pushing roads through forests and over mountain passes. Huge yellow earthmoving machines carving up and flattening out the land beneath the black silhouettes of mysterious wooden tepee like structures standing starkly on the heights.

Broad rivers sweeping through the grasslands. Bottles of vodka with the drivers and their drunken pals on the edge of a desolate wood fenced ger settlement beneath a dragon-toothed black rock ridge. The kid who never cried or complained the whole way. A night of nosing through rough scrub desert and dried riverbeds looking for the way. Dendritic wanderings around the edge of lakes the size of Yorkshire, the shrunken remnant left by 11,000 years or so of postglacial evaporation. Recorded winter lows hereabouts of minus 56 degrees. Dromedaries, shrunken dried-up bodies of cattle, goats and horses left where they fell. The stripped30

out carcasses of cars and trucks, the deserted ruins of Soviet settlements. A first glimpse of distant snow-capped peaks. A country where you could walk a thousand miles in any direction and never see a fence or sign that said ‘Private! Keep Out’.

Base camp - with door firmly in place on ger!

And so to Ulongong.

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When #just_keep_going is not enough.

Failing to meet the challenge of the Glencoe Skyline Will Tapsfield

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iven that I am slow and I don’t like training I wondered what I was doing at 6:45 a.m. on a beautiful September day in Kinlochleven waiting to set off on the Glencoe Skyline. Ahead of me was a route of 55 km (34 miles) and 4,750 metres (15,600ft) of ascent across rough Scottish hills including Curved Ridge and the Aonach Eagach, which I needed to finish in less than fourteen hours.

It had been my daughter Julia who had first suggested we should enter the Glencoe

Skyline the first year it was run in 2015. We had just completed the Glencoe Marathon which we had started together, although she had finished well ahead of me. I had loved it and felt good at the end but I took one look at the course for the Skyline and immediately decided it would be too far and too fast for me! We then both entered the Chamonix Marathon but motherhood intervened for her. I again loved the eight and a half hours I took in Chamonix, which is a stunning route with a wonderful atmosphere although I was pretty wrecked by the uphill and hot finish from La Flègére to Brévent.

Then I read Lizzie Hawker’s book ‘Runner’. Many years ago I had skied with Lizzie in the Canadian wilderness before she became a world class runner, winning the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc as an unknown the first time she entered it. Her tale of her journey as a runner inspired me to look for a new challenge and the thought of Glencoe beckoned again. Not for the first time I went over calculations about whether I could convert my Chamonix time (8 hours 20 minutes for 26 miles and 9,000 ft of ascent) to complete Glencoe (34 miles and 15,600 ft in 14 hours). Glencoe for good measure added a cutoff after 21 miles and about 12,000 ft which you had to pass in 8 hours. However often I went over the calculations I knew it would be very tight but what’s the point of setting a challenge that does not carry the risk of falling short!

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It was the first time I had ever entered an event that required a cv to be sent in order to get in! When I had run in Chamonix, a young, fast and very fit friend named Joe had also run. He was a serious athlete who had done well in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii and I’d supported him on a leg of his very comfortable Bob Graham round.

However, the cv demanded climbing experience, which he lacked, as well as running results. Clearly they were more worried about someone falling off than they were about someone failing to get round in time, since I got through the vetting process and he was devastated when he was turned down.

My preparation for the Skyline did include a recce weekend with Joe in foul Perfect downhill running from the Col du Montet weather and I think, after a traverse in the early morning cool (Chamonix Marathon) of the Aonach Eagach in pouring rain mist and wind, he understood a little more why he had not got through!

My dislike of training meant I had not done any formal programme or anything horrendous like hill reps, but I do love jogging, both locally and on longer days over

Still jogging on the gentle uphill from Tre la TĂŞte in the hot sun with the stunning Chamonix skyline in the background

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the hills of the Lakes, and had prepared well in terms of time on my feet.

An early trip soon after my entry had been confirmed was a winter’s day in the Lakes.

I set off from Seathwaite and crossed the snowline on Joe in white tee shirt, with team Helly Hansen in support, lookthe way up to ing good after over 16 hours of running Glaramara, then stayed on snow all the way to Scafell Pike and back by the Corridor Route, and over Great Gable. It was the first time I’d used microspikes and was delighted by the grip they offered.

This was one of several long rounds from Seathwaite with memorable moments, including View from the summit of Glaramara over Great End to Scafell Pike losing the

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Brocken spectre high on Halls Fell

Coire na Ghrunnda descent probably the right decision (!)

(Photo: John Spencer)

Pinnacle Ridge, Sgurr nan Gillean, in the sun (Photo: John Spencer)

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path descending the north west ridge of Yewbarrow and finding the direct route involved some steep and awkward scrambling. The same day I saw not a soul on my return to Borrowdale and had some anxious moments arriving at the summit of Scafell in the rain and cloud, realising my compass was at home and that I had never descended by Foxes Tarn before. All good preparation for the Skyline I decided.

Some of my favourite days involved triple ascents of Blencathra done in different ways, sometimes by longer routes starting from Dodd Wood with an initial traverse of Skiddaw. A wonderful route is to start up Mousthwaite Combe via Scales Tarn to end up on Sharp Edge. A quick traverse above Scales Tarn leads to the top of Doddick Fell. As you cautiously start the steep descent the view of the middle section of the ridge tempts you on and there’s a short section of perfect running ground with a gently downhill gradient on springy turf when you feel you could run forever. Then it’s round and up the relentlessly steep Hall’s Fell with its airy upper section to the summit plateau and round this before another wonderfully runnable downhill path on Blease Fell. Inevitably this is followed by more relentless steepness up Gategill which seems to go on and on, before the final steepening and then a quick jog back round the summit plateau and the final treat of the run down Scales Fell.

My preparation had also included an ambitious attempt on a one day traverse of the Cuillin Ridge with John Spencer. We had both done the ridge before, albeit 40 years ago, so there were certainly times we doubted the wisdom of our ambition. Our attempt ended in failure after a 4 a.m. start and hitting thick mist at about 2,000ft and then steady rain and even a little hail before the summit of Gars Bheinn. By the time we reached Sgurr nan Eag we decided to descend as in the conditions the going was slow We did not feel like tackling the Thearlaich Dubh gap without any realistic chance of completing the route, even if the forecast improvement in the weather did materialise. When we got down to the lochan in Coire a Ghrundda I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the difficulties were over. The huge convex boiler plate slabs pouring with water and dotted with occasional and entirely unhelpful cairns changed my mind about this, and only reading the guidebook later did I confirm that navigation in Coire a Ghrundda in poor visibility could be challenging!

We were rewarded the following day with a glorious ascent of Pinnacle Ridge on Sgurr nan Gillean which made me wonder why I had never done the route before.

My final recce was with my old climbing partner Cairns, who was also putting in some training for the ‘Vertical K’. The weather was much kinder than it had been for Joe and me. We passed a couple of fell runners near the summit of Bidean who asked if we were preparing for the Skyline. One of them had tried it twice, succeeding on his second attempt, having picked up an injury the first time and 36

his message was “Just keep going”.

Cairns in traditional clothing nearing the shoulder of Stob Coire Sgreamhach

The weekend of the Skyline had started well and Kinlochleven was buzzing with four events over the three days, and a multitude of runners of all nationalities foregathered, including the elite of the mountain

running world. My wife Ginny came to support me and we arrived in Kinlochleven on Friday to meet up with Cairns who’d entered the ‘Vertical K’ up Na Grugaichean. The start was staggered over several hours and he was one of the earliest starters. He was definitely unique in appearance in his walking boots and carrying his 40 year old Karrimor canvas rucksack. This so struck the organisers that the photo of him leaving the start was used as the headline photo on their Facebook page!

He finished in a very respectable time, particularly considering his preparation had only really started when he’d joined me on my final recce and that his clothing and gear was from a bygone age. Saturday had some rough weather for the ‘Ring of Steall’ run, and only about 30% of the starters completed ‘The Ultra’, but the forecast for Sunday looked perfect for running and the early morning was stunning.

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Joe sent me a text the evening before the run using the exact same words I’d heard a couple of weeks earlier near the summit of Bidean: #just_keep_ going. Very soon after the start time of 7 a.m. I realised that all my calculations Cairns nearing the end of the ‘Vertical K’ of timing and ‘just keep going’ might not be enough as I found that being in a field when all the entries had been vetted was rather different from events I had done before. My usual experience is to settle in to a sizeable group near the back but also in touch with a good number of runners ahead. Today was different as despite pushing myself on the early slopes out of Kinlochleven, starting the long gentle ascent to the Devil’s Staircase, I found myself in a group of about half a dozen runners as the rest of the field gradually pulled away. There were 210 starters and in previous years around 30% of starters failed to finish, so it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that I was likely to be in this non-finishers group.

I settled in to a reasonably comfortable pace, perhaps going slightly faster than felt natural, but as planned I jogged most of the way to the top of the Devil’s Staircase. A quick run down the first descent of the day led to the first check point at Allt na Feadh, which I reached in 1hr 20m. About 12 hours later we were looking at the on-line GPS tracking and saw there were still 3 runners out on the course. The last of these was Emma and we imagined her tiredly jogging down the last 3 miles of the West Highland Way to the finishing line as the clock ticked down to fourteen hours. We were thrilled as she made the finish with 3 minutes to spare! Later I looked at her split times on the whole route and realised she’d overtaken me on the final climb to the top of the Devil’s Staircase and kept ahead on the descent reaching the check point 1.5 minutes ahead of me.

The next section was the steady climb up to the waterslide, mostly taken at a brisk walk. From here to the summit of the Buachaille was the most enjoyable part of the day for me as the ground steepened with sections of scrambling to the bottom of Curved Ridge. It was a delight to move steadily following the line of red

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On Curved Ridge flags with friendly marshals to provide encouragement, including 3 tied on to a long rope on the steepest section of the ridge, pointing out the best handholds to the hesitant!

All the runners coped well with the challenge but I managed to overtake about half a dozen, including Emma, on the more technical sections. She gained ground on me on the easier but steep path above Crowberry Gap and we reached the summit of the Buachaille together. She pulled ahead of me on the next climb up to Stob na Doire; looking at her timings from here she gained a minute or two between each checkpoint and made the 8 hour cut-off with 2 minutes to spare. I felt good jogging at a sustainable pace and walking the steeper uphills, but had I gone much faster I would have exhausted myself. Also all the downhills were very steep and I didn’t want to risk a fall by pushing the pace too fast and had resigned myself to missing the 8 hour cut-off.

I really enjoyed the next sections, which included the descent to the Lairig Gartain and then over the col on the little Buachaille and down to the Lairig Eilde. As the path is near the road here Cairns and Ginny met me to provide some moral support.

On my recce I had thought the ascent of the Lairig Eilde was mostly runnable and was pleased to find I managed this. At the checkpoint at the head of the valley a

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marshal suggested I was making good enough time to make the cut-off and I felt a glimmer of hope. As I set off up the ascent to Stob Coire Sgreamhach reality reasserted itself as I looked at the few runners on the slope ahead and back at the fewer behind me. I overtook a couple of people on the steep climb up a faint path to the col by point 778, and then on the steady slog up the broad shoulder to the summit ridge a woman named Kate strode strongly past me and I wondered if she might make the cut-off.

Looking up the Lost Valley, left to right: Beinn Fhada, Stob Coire Sgreamhach and Bidean nam Bian (Photo: John Spencer) At the summit of Stob Coire Sgreamhach a thin drizzle started dampening the rocks and making them a little slippery, and the mist swirled around giving added drama to the dramatic scenery. From here it was down and up to the summit of Bidean. The route then detours off to Stob Coire nan Lochan and then back to the summit of Bidean. By now I knew I would not make the cut-off, but as I started the steep descent towards there were lots runners heading back up to the summit and I wondered how many of them would make it. This is a steep descent and the previous year a friend had slipped here and had a fall that so unnerved him, that after getting down to Glencoe he vowed he would never attempt the Skyline again. Needless to say he was back again this year and did very well!

As I started the ascent to Stob Coire nan Lochan the number of runners coming the other way thinned out. As I passed Kate I thought she would have trouble making the cut-off although she was still going strongly. I regained the summit of

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Bidean with 43 minutes to spare before the 8 hour mark, and I knew the descent over Stob Coire nan Beith and down to Glencoe was steep and tricky. I also knew that low down was a tricky crossing of a slab near the waterfall where a friend had slipped while racing to beat the cut-off a couple of years earlier, so I focussed on enjoying the descent and staying on my feet.

Cairns and Ginny were waiting for me at the checkpoint by Loch Achtriochtan which I reached in 8 hours 28 minutes i.e. 28 minutes past the cut-off. I still felt I had plenty more running and climbing in my legs and felt good enough to have completed the route. Given that Killian Jornet (the winner) took 4 hours 10 minutes for the section I did and only 2 hours 15 for the remainder, I might even have finished within 14 hours. Kate also was there and was gutted to have missed the cut-off by 10 minutes. All in all, if I had set myself the challenge of competing 21 miles and 12000 ft of ascent over challenging Glencoe terrain, including Curved Ridge, in 8 and a half hours I would have felt well pleased. Sadly I had set myself the challenge of the Skyline so there was some disappointment to overcome.

Will I try again? No. I was well prepared and the conditions were good. I’m not going to start doing hill reps or a training programme and I’m not going to get any faster or younger (there was only one other starter over 60!). I will accept that the challenge was too fast for me. If they changed the cut-off times to 8½ and 15 hours I might find it difficult to refuse but I’m sure I’m safe because they never will!

Do I regret entering? No. I knew the challenge might be beyond me but I loved the preparation and it pushed me to having some wonderful days in the mountains, both solo and with friends.

Would I recommend it? Thoroughly. It was a wonderful weekend of running, and although I have been in the same event as elite runners before it felt rather different to be in a field of 210, with the Gods of mountain running, rather than being in a throng of 30,000 at the Great North Run. Also the route is truly inspirational crossing, as it does, some of Scotland’s finest scenery. Anyone who has a chance of completing it and has the time for preparation should definitely give it a go, and there is always the ‘Vertical K’ or ‘Ring of Steall’ to go for if the Skyline seems too much. And remember #just_keep_going......but make sure you are going fast enough!

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Ariège Sport Climbing Paul Quin

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n April NMC members Graham Williams, Nick Steen, Lewis Preston, Trevor Langhorne and Paul Quin were joined at Manchester Airport by Stockport climbers Tony Sawyer and Henry Tindall and by our friends Richard Hardwick and John Stockdale for a flight to Toulouse in SW France. We were heading for the Ariège sport climbing area in the foothills of the Pyrenees just an hour and a half by car from the airport.

The area surrounds the Ariège River that cuts its way through the foothills of the Pyrenees, flowing first west and then north and, as the Rockfax guide describes, the core area is roughly centred on the town of Tarascon-sur-Ariège. The guidebook area is not much more than 60km east to west and 40km north to south, approximately half the area of Northumberland. Despite the relatively small area there is a remarkable variety of rock types such as limestone, granite and gneiss to be found in roadside caves and high mountain crags alike, and all stops in between.

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We were lucky to find the perfect accommodation at Gite Base Calames (www.basecalames.com) in a small quiet hamlet outside Tarascon, run by a friendly British couple. We had the whole gite to ourselves including a large kitchen/dining room with a balcony where, on several occasions, members of the team produced culinary delights for the hungry mob. However, one of

Graham Williams leading the classic ‘Sabine’ (5+) at Auzat the best things about Base Calames is that it sits right underneath one of the best crags in the region, the superb

Team members at the summit of Calames

Relaxing in the hot thermal pool at Ax-les-Thermes

Paul high on ‘Prelude’ (5+) at Calames

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Appy mountain outcrop limestone ‘monster’ of Calames Crag.

Just 15 minutes’ walk up a pleasant path brings you to Calames where there are no less than 8 sectors, with a superb array of single and multi-pitch routes including the superb 7 pitch ‘Prelude’ (5+) and the equally superb

a few of them. One of the best was the lovely granite crag of Auzat where there are 184 routes on superb compact granite in a picturesque valley and where two visits were made. We also sampled the gneiss mountain outcrop of Appy which has great set

7 pitch ‘La Voie des Peres Tranquilles’ (5+), both of which were climbed by team members. Both routes finish at the top of the mountain where we had superb views of the snow-capped high Pyrenees. A gentle walk back down through the woods completed a perfect day out on the crag.

of mid and lower grade routes and magnificent views. Also visited was one of the three sectors near to the mountain spa town of Ax-les-Thermes where the road begins to head up to Andorra, ‘again a gneiss like crag’.

Due to temporary restrictions we didn’t climb at the monster south-facing Sinsat, or the Quie de Sinsat to give the mountain its correct name. Like a ‘mini-Dolomites’ it rises from the valley floor where there are 4 sectors to the towering buttresses of the 4 upper

In our short stay we only scratched the surface of the crag possibilities.

There are no less than 25 crags in the Rockfax guide and we only sampled

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sectors containing 7 and 8 pitch routes such as the classic 7 pitch ‘Peppermint’ (6a).

For the more adventurous, and not far from Ax-les-Thermes, there is Dent d’Orlu which is, to quote the guidebook, ‘a superb incisor of a mountain with a 2,222m summit and great long routes on its southern and eastern flanks’.

For example the route ‘Le Piller Sud’

Some cave exploration was also undertaken but there’s lots more fun to be had locally for non-climbing people or rest days. These include road biking, mountain biking, swimming, white water rafting, kayaking and canyoning. For most of the crags spring and autumn are the best times to visit although summer is a good time to sample the north facing venues. In winter the south facing crags can be

Activity at Calames (6a) on the south face has 1,000m of vertical ascent from the valley floor and is really an Alpine-style ascent of some 24 pitches all bolted (trad gear for the final ridge to the top). On the south east face there are fully equipped 400m routes with abseil descent, such as the classic ‘Les Enfants de la Dalle’, a 25 pitch 6a+ undertaking.

delightful although one must bear in mind that this is a mountain area and not Kalymnos.

There is no doubt that we were lucky to have 5 warm sunny days for our trip and I’m sure that my friends would all recommend Ariège as a superb sport climbing and holiday venue.

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Leonidio, Greece

A Festival of Climbing, November 2017 Paul Quin

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ver keen on finding new places to climb and inveterate guidebook purchaser, Graham Williams suggested a trip to Leonidio this Autumn and so NMC members Nick Steen, Lewis Preston, Graham Williams and Paul Quin set off to join friends Bryn Roberts, John Stockdale, Tony Sawyer and Richard Hardwick for a flight from Manchester to Athens. Although it wasn’t planned, our visit coincided with the 2017 Leonidio Climbing Festival sponsored by Petzl.

A scenic four hour drive from Athens, Leonidio lies on

Photo: John Spencer

the south east coast of the Peloponnese Peninsula and is the capital of the Tsakonia Region in the province of Arcadia. The town sits in a wide valley at the foot of Mount Parnon and combines mountain scenery with the Myrtoan Sea just a couple of kilometres away.

The climate is typically Mediterranean. Spring and autumn are warm with only occasional rainfall, whilst winters are mild with many days of sunshine but rainfall whilst brief can be very heavy. The area is home to a wide variety of wildlife

including eagles and wild tortoise.

The hub of climbing activity in the town is the not-for-profit Panjika Cooperative Café which is the Greek equivalent of Pete’s Eats but without the chips and pint mugs of tea. Panjika sell climbing gear, promote the area and produce the definitive guidebook, profits from which go to the bolt fund.

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Climbing in Leonidio goes back to the 1980s when Greek pioneers opened several trad multi-pitch routes on the massive south facing Kokkinovrachos or ‘Red Rock’ which dominates the town, the most impressive and famous of which is the 185 metre, 8 pitch ‘Pillar of Fire’, 6a.

Pillar of Fire Now there are more than 1,000 bolted routes in no less than 51 different sectors around the town and associated valleys. The rock is highly featured limestone with grey slabs, tufa columns, caves and huge red walls. We didn’t encounter any loose rock and used no trad gear on well-bolted routes, many of which were put up by the Remy brothers. An 80 metre rope and 20 quickdraws are recommended with the majority of lower-offs requiring re-threading, however the team managed most routes with a 70 metre rope.

In all, team members visited 8 sectors: Mad Wall; Douvari; Skiadhianiko; Twin Caves; Aresos; Petalo; Hospital; and Red Rock.

• Mad Wall is in the valley nearer to the sea and was one of the first areas to be bolted by the Remy brothers. Good climbing on grey slabs.

• Douvari is part of the massive ‘Red Rock’ and lies above the town. The first 20 metres are slabby 5s which then jump to technical 6s in the extensions.

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• Skiadhianiko is currently the biggest sector in the valley with 50 routes and lies about 12k away by road. Lots of 5s in a pleasant wooded area but with caves and tufas for the harder climbers.

• Twin Caves is accessed via the winding road from Leonidio up the mountain towards Vaskina. There are easier routes on jugs and edges on grey walls and harder crimp and crack routes on vertical and overhanging walls on the outsides of the caves. It’s also the shortest approach walk in the valley.

• Aresos is in a great position looking down the valley across the town to the

Sectors Aresos and Pounta sea beyond. It’s shaded in the afternoons and has lower grade slabs and vertical rock.

• Petalo, meaning ‘horseshoe, is the sector which has four sport routes in the lower 6 grades and 12 fully bolted or trad style multi-pitch routes up to 200 metres including ‘The Pillar of Fire’ and ‘Mignonette’. Abseil is either back down the route or by direct vertical in-situ abseil anchors marked in red. Smart people leave a car at the top.

• Hospital and Red Rock are two adjacent sectors to the right of Petalo.

Hospital has long technical routes on solid grey rock up to 50 metres in length and Red Rock has long lower grade routes on sunny red rock. An 80 metres rope is advisable for these sectors.

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In separate groups the team completed the superb 7 pitch ‘Mignonette’ (5c) in sector Petalo. The route takes a line from the bottom of the ‘Red Rock’ to the plateau above on sound, well bolted rock with The Red Rock excellent situations. On both occasions team members drove a car to the top and left one in the town to avoid an abseil descent or a long winding descent by road. For those without cars it is possible to get a bus from Athens to Leonidio and many of the first class sectors are within walking distance from the town. Cycle and scooter hire is also available and there are good shops and restaurants both in the town and at Plaka, Leonidio’s seaside just a couple of kilometres down the road.

Nick and Paul finishing Mignonette (5c)

The Friday highlight of the Festival was a film, presented

by Claude Remy, about his 93 year old father Claud who extraordinarily can lead 5c on the indoor wall and was featured doing a multi- pitch Alpine route which included a bivi no less! Quite an extraordinary man and an inspiration to us all. The film was followed by an excellent outdoor buffet with music.

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Saturday included presentations by Alex Megos and Klemen Becan. Other events included the ‘Climbing Marathon’ (see how many metres you can climb in a day) and the Vertical Life ‘Zlagboard’ where contestants see how long they can hang by their fingers from a ridiculously small fingerboard. And, lthough I didn’t witness this myself, it Plaka (Photo: John Spencer) is rumoured that team members were seen dancing at the party with a music group! Apparently Alex Megos and Klemen Becan climbed some demonstration hard routes on Sunday but we didn’t want to show them up so we kept away.

People will inevitably ask “is it as good as Kalymnos?” and the answer is definitely yes but in a different way altogether. Kalymnos has the feel of a holiday island whereas Leonidio feels like a mountain town set in wonderful mountainous green scenery. The quality of the climbing in Leonidio is superb and we didn’t encounter a bad sector or one which we wouldn’t have returned to given more time. For the non-climber there’s plenty to do and see, including walks, visits to monasteries, the beach and wildlife to be spotted an photographed, in fact three team members took a day off climbing to do a 3 hour walk over the mountain through beautiful scenery with many coloured heathers and flowers. A tortoise was encountered on the path down from Sector Hospital.

Perhaps the most pleasing part of the visit was the wonderful generous hospitality of the Greeks. Everywhere we went they went out of their way to say hello and it seemed that we couldn’t go anywhere without someone giving us fruit, food and drinks. I would wholeheartedly recommend Leonidio to anyone who is comfortable climbing at grade 5 and above. We stayed in seaside hamlet of Plaka just outside of town which gave us access to the beach, two excellent tavernas and two small shops.

The last word however goes to the crazy owner of the Dolphins Taverna in Plaka, our favourite eating spot. In between courses he would shout “climbing people, the best people”, whilst dishing out free ouzo. How true!

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Climbing, Cycling and Brexit in Berlin Peter Flegg

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limbing in Berlin? But isn’t Berlin as flat as a pancake? That’s true, Berlin is flat, apart from a couple of post WW2 artificial hills made from war damage rubble.

Anyway the climbing comes later, but first...

The cycling...

I was there in Berlin in August this year to meet up with American mate Ray who had proposed a re-run of a bike ride we had done together in the spring of 1982, in the days when East and West Berlin were still separated by the Berlin Wall. In those days we had cycled round the inner Berlin Wall, containing the old West Berlin; this time we would follow the 160km ‘Mauerweg’, a walk or ride around the path of the old wall. We had come

American Ray on the left at the Eastside Gallery – the longest stretch of the original wall (showing the 1990 painted artwork ‘Fraternal Kiss’, a passionate embrace between the Soviet Union’s Brezhnev and GDR’s Honecker) (Photo: Ray Schwarz)

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dressed for typical Berlin summer weather (i.e. temperatures in the low 30s) but the unseasonably cold and wet weather made it a lot less fun than we had anticipated.

The climbing...

Berlin now has its own climbing guide ‘Dickes B - Climbing Guidebook Berlin -Brandenburg’, with both German and English text. The guide lists many indoor walls, I’ve only climbed at two of them: • Magic Mountain (Böttger Strasse 20, Wedding, see www.magicmountain.de) is similar to British style indoor venues except they have a cafe on the premises that sells beer!

• Der Kegel (Revaler Strasse 99, Friedrichshain see www.derkegel.de) is something else altogether – an old WW2 building, containing several rooms for bouldering and, on the outside of the large building, a series of rock routes using plastic holds in the summer. In winter they pour water down from the round pointed roof and, using Berlin’s natural cold winter weather, create ice climbing routes.

The day before I flew back home the sun finally appeared. I was staying with longtime friends, a German/Chilean family – Guenther had got into climbing late in life

Kirchbachspitze in Schoeneberg

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after his daughter showed an interest in climbing when still at school. They both have a slight link to the NMC... back in October 2006 they had climbed at Scugdale at an NMC meet, and in September 2016 Guenther climbed with an NMC group at Kalymnos.

So father, daughter Konstanza and her boyfriend Mathias took me a couple of stops on the S-Bahn (metro transport system) to the artificial outdoors venue of Kirchbachspitze in the Schoeneberg district.

Der Kegel in winter garb - note the melting ice!

Kirchbachspitze (similar but much higher than our own Whickham Boulder) is free to use, has four walls; three of the walls are about 12m high, and the fourth wall is about 4m high. Routes are graded from F3 to F8, but the majority are in the F6-F7 range. It uses mainly natural features but has some plastic holds, rings to clip and double lower-offs at the top of each route.

It is located in a small green square in a suburban setting surrounded by blocks of flats. Several such artificial walls have been created in Berlin by the German equivalent of the BMC, the DAV (1). Konstanza made the males in the group look useless – and that was after not having climbed for many months due to a shoulder injury she got bouldering!

If you are heading to Berlin for some culture (and it’s definitely worth the effort) you should also pack your shoes, harness, quickdraws and rope and fit in a visit to one of Berlin’s climbing venues.

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Brexit...

The topic comes up regularly when you get into discussion with any German, they can’t understand British reasoning for voting to leave the EU - and neither can I.

Footnotes 1. DAV = Deutscher Alpenverein 2. My top Berlin culture tips are: some great pubs/bars, cafes, particularly the Cafe Einstein chain, the Pergamon Museum (must see: reconstruction of the 6th century BC Ishtar Gate from Babylon), Holocaust Memorial, Topography of Terror (museum naming and shaming the Nazis), German Resistance memorial (about the German resistance movement during WW2.)

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At Chamonix

by Lewis Preston

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The Best Severe in The County?

Martin Cooper

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ull yourself onto the first flake and sink your fingers deep into the crevice behind it. Now step higher, reach for holds on the right wall, fix some gear into the crack above. The climb steepens. Work your feet higher, place a cam in the crack, use the fantastic friction for your feet, step high into the bottom of the crack – commitment. Another piece of gear perhaps, but you will have to go for the move to reach the top of the crack. It is briefly strenuous and exposed, followed by enormous jugs and flakes to the top. You have succeeded on ‘Flake Crack’ at Kyloe Out of the Woods....the best Severe in the County?

What follows has been in my head for years. Partly inspired by articles debating ‘The Best E1 in The County’ and ‘The Best HVS in The County’ etc. in the NMC Newsletter (long before the days of County Climber), as well as the discussions we all have comparing the merits of different routes, the question has come back to me again and again: what is the best Severe in Northumberland?

There are so many excellent routes at this grade in the County, including many I have repeated over and again. It is an accessible grade but still a good challenge. So which is the best one? Here are my top ten, approximately in order, and a few more to think about.

Sunset, Peel Crag; climber Will Tapsfield (Photo: John Spencer)

Sunset, Peel Crag, Mild Severe While graded only Mild Severe, Sunset became considerably harder to start after a hold disappeared some years ago. The real challenge begins with the bridging moves up the corner at half height, followed by an airy traverse left to the perched blocks below the top.

This is undoubtedly a classic route: clean rock, exposure and a satisfyingly direct line. Catch it late on a summer evening; the name is perfect.

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Sitting Duck, Curtis Crag, Hard Severe 4b You may consider this a surprising choice but the route will do wonders for your ego if Severe is your regular grade. Climb easily up a square block to a recess beneath an overhang that surely won’t go at the grade of Severe. Excellent cams will give you the confidence to move left and get your feet high. Still feeling unlikely at the grade, reach through to flutings over the top, select the right one and make an athletic move to finish. A gymnastic delight in a quiet location.

Wall and Crack, Back Bowden, Hard Severe 4b Although escapable at half height, Wall and Crack gives a route following an enticing line with a finish that makes you work hard to the very end. The lower flake crack is more strenuous to start than it looks but soon gives way to a juggy pull onto the ledge.

Now move right until you are forced into a steep corner. Bridge up this until you reach the final, steep crack. Either handjam the crack or move right to a short arête. There are much fiercer routes on offer at Back Bowden but Wall and Crack is still a good test of your commitment.

The Plonka, Corby’s Crag; climbers unknown (Photo: John Spencer)

The Plonka, Corby’s Crag, Severe Is this the most frequently climbed route in Northumberland? It might be. The obvious deep crack cannot be ignored, easy moves lead up to the obvious bulge. Continue with the crack or dance left up the slabs. A couple of delicate, pinchy moves take you to a wide crack and an awkward, slopey finish. The Plonka’s appeal is the quality of the rock, the delightful setting, with a gnarly oak at the top and a magnificent view to the distant

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Cheviots and, of course, the name! This is a route that never disappoints.

Idiot’s Delight, Great Wanney, Hard Severe 4c You will struggle to find Severes at The Wanneys but Idiot’s Delight is a gem, albeit right at the top of the grade. Don’t be put off by the green slab which gets you started. Soon your way is blocked directly above and it is now apparent that only steep climbing will get you out of here. First make a bold traverse to the left to an exposed nose. Now the cruxa high, steep step, takes you onto more amenable holds to finish. Pull through onto steep grass and enjoy the exhilaration which comes with finishing any route at Great Wanney.

Deception Crack, Kyloe Out, Hard Severe 4b Kyloe has so many excellent Severes. I have chosen two and Deception Crack has deceived me on many an occasion. Technical climbing is required, probably the reason for my frequent downfalls on this route.

The crack is at the back of a deep, V-shaped groove. Go into the crack to place gear, then keep out!

The secret of this climb is to bridge delicately using small holds at the edges of the V-groove.

Eventually you will be able to step into the Deception Crack, Kyloe Out; climber: Will Tapsfield groove and (Photo: John Spencer) stand on a good ledge at half height. The upper half of the climb and the finish are steep, strenuous but on more positive holds. You know you have achieved something when you top out on Deception Crack, not a soft touch by any stretch of the imagination.

Black and Tan, Bowden Doors, Severe 4b A fantastic route which requires strength, boldness and technique. Three routes at this point on the crag have almost identical starts: Grovel Groove, The Scoop, Black and Tan. A bold layback move takes you onto a steep, angular flake. Feet high and another 57

strenuous pull places you beneath the crux moves. Black and Tan can be a daunting route because it is not until this point that you will be able to place gear. No more to be found until the easier ground higher up. You will get a bomb-proof nut, however.

Move purposefully up and make a delicate traverse to the right. Once you reach the ramp you have virtually done the route. The finish is on excellent holds and gear, up a broadening groove. One of Bowden’s many superb offerings.

College Grooves, The Henhole, Hard Severe 4b The Henhole Crag is a delight, shared by few these days. On a summer’s day, high on a long route, the College Burn far below, a curlew calling in the blue above, this wild location on the North side of Cheviot, is one of Northumberland’s best kept climbing secrets – lonely and idyllic. Here you will still find thick, lush grass at the foot of the crag and little wear on the holds to identify your route.

College Grooves is a thirty three metre route, undercut to give a tricky start, then easing into a long and committing, steep slab of Cheviot Granite with some long reaches but plenty of gear and a good feel of exposure as you near the top.

The rock may surprise you on a first visit to the crag; blocky and compact and reminiscent in places of the Lake District. However, take care. Loose rock is possible on what is effectively a mountain crag. A journey to The Henhole needs planning. Make the effort.

College Grooves is an excellent route in a fabulous location.

Flake Crack, Kyloe Crag, Severe 4b I have already described this route and it has long been one of my favourites. In the heat of summer with the heady scent of bracken like a drug, sun beating down as you approach the crag, anticipation building, you could spend the whole day climbing wonderful Severes at Kyloe. Enjoy Flake Crack, Kyloe Out; climber: John Vaughan (Photo: John Spencer) 58

each one for its unique character and savour Flake Crack, a really satisfying route.

Choosing one route to give the accolade of the best in the County is quite a task.

Flake Crack comes very close but, in my humble opinion, there is one route which just shades it.

Main Wall, Crag Lough, Hard Severe Although the Whin Sill crags are no longer so popular, Main Wall is a route you simply must do. Its historical significance is a good reason (FA around a century ago, probably by Marcus Beresford Heywood and friends) but a much better one is the quality of the climbing. The initial wall is steep and intimidating. Indeed, the crux comes after just fifteen metres where a long stretch and a hold that has always moved are utilised to reach the right hand side of the buttress. Climb up the right

Dan Adams on Main Wall (Photo: Mark Savage)

flank and follow a series of typical Crag Lough moves, using ledges and cracks to gain height, with space beneath your feet and, most likely, a pair of swans way below you on the Lough.

As you approach the top of the route, the final ledge is inside a narrowing chimney, where a bit of a wriggle is needed to make progress. Here I once disturbed a nesting

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jackdaw which was not pleased to see me. Pull through to finish on the Roman Wall itself, admire the magnificent view and take pleasure in completing ‘The Best Severe in the County’.

Other Routes to Consider Crag Lough – Hadrian’s Buttress, Peel Crag – Grooves, The Wanneys – Main Wall, Coe Crag – Raven’s Buttress, Black Walter Chimney, Selby’s Cove –Holly Tree Wall, Back Bowden – Straight Crack, Bowden Doors – Sue, Kyloe Crag – Saint’s Progress, Cloister Wall, Deception Wall, Chris’s Arete, Jack Rock – High Board Now what is The County’s Best VS? Happy climbing everyone!

Idiot’s Delight, Great Wanney; climber Chris Haworth (Photo: John Spencer)

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One that failed to make the final cut: Straight Crack, Back Bowden; climber Jim Rigg (Photo: John Spencer)

And another....Hadrian’s Buttress, Crag Lough; climber unkown (Photo: John Spencer)

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Esoteric Northumberland Rock Al Horsfield

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soteric: “Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a special interest or knowledge”.

Like a moth to a flame, seldom-done routes draw my attention. In this short article , I will try to explain my fascination with these adventures , concentrating on the best the County has to offer. Some are routes (or roots) to grapple with, others are clean but seldom done (because they are not at Bowden). Expect potential partners to have suddenly developed other plans.... but they’re there to enjoy.

The definition of an esoteric rock route is controversial. Some experts (in the pub) define them as having a rock-to-moss ratio of less than one (R:M<1). I tend to prefer the simpler ‘not often climbed’ as a better one. Let me entice you over the dull winter months (when you’re not climbing esoteric ice routes) to look forward to a summer of new discoveries across the grades, no crowds and getting bits of moss out of your eyes. I include a tick list to inspire and aspire to at the end, covering a range of grades, with the M grade included: ‘M0: Pristine, solid, no access problems’ (yawn) to ‘M3: A good growing ground and/or loose with difficult jungle access.’

Crag Lough Unfortunately synonymous with esoteric, this is a playground for those versed in jungle approaches and with a reputation for loose blocks. Try the far eastern end in high summer. A fascinating variety of toxic-smelling plants set in to the steep approach guard the wonders that await. John Spencer and myself made a foray to start on ‘Hoozit’s Crack Direct Start’, (about HVS, 4c, M2). Take some anti-histamines (nettle stings) and large cams and you will love it. John chose large hex protection to add to the feel of the day, and we were rewarded .

Move west and ignore the clean walls and fine routes of ‘Whinstone Churchill’ (E2 5b) and its Direct variation, E3 5c and M0. Instead gaze up and left to a greener, steep wall with fine cracks, sprouting some exotic plants to guide you up. This is ‘The Stone Warrior’ (E1,5b, M2).

It felt unsporting having climbed it only recently, but luckily some plants had re-established themselves , so the nut key had to be put to good use and we experienced a steep satisfying and seldom-done climb (I first climbed it 12 odd years ago with my now wife, and I expect that was the second ascent !)

Next, another old favourite , surprisingly modern and clean for an esoteric classic, Mark Savage’s ‘God Lives Under Water’ (E2,5b,M0) takes a direct line between ‘Main Wall’ and ‘Great Chimney’ with fantastic climbing in the upper reaches.

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Stone Warrior (E1, 5b, M2), Crag Lough Left: Al Horsfield from below Above: Jon Lee from above

Padda Crag Climbing with my long-suffering brother provides a fine opportunity to head for less popular areas. This year we revisited Padda Crag. Squeezed in between a secret military base and the Cumberland border it has fantastic views, shelter from north winds and amazing lichen-covered holds, with crack lines abundant in obstinate vegetation. We climbed the wonderful ‘Padda Wall’ (HS, 4b, M1), which could be spoilt by a pre-ascent brushing of the verdant flat crimps. ‘Churnsike Crack’ (Severe, M3) provides a fine line, with good holds, bats, and even some rock (although I suspect we reduced the grade to M2 after a couple of ascents). If you want something harder, try ‘Red Cloud’, allegedly HVS, 5b, M1. Many easier E2s are to be had in the County. Giles looked at the roof and overhang with an air of superiority and refused a go, having just conquered ‘Churnsike Crack’.

Linshiels One Try a trip to this fine crag, having first checked you will not be used for target practice. The approach, although short, is boggy and has the risk of unexploded shells and angry sheep. The reward is a fine south facing crag, sporting ‘Gully Wall’ (Severe, M2) and the fine ‘Flanking Arete’ (MVS, 4c, M0). Once Gully Wall is identified, possible special forces snipers removed and remaining wild life extricated, it provides a fine line. Flanking Arete is boringly clean and unimaginatively named, but is simply

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brilliant. ‘The Mirage’ (E3,5b,M0) is a superb, bold line, and try ‘Offensive’ (VS,5a,M1). Giles’s outbursts would have offended the most hardened squaddie , as he thrashed his way up this brilliantly undergraded line.

Other classic esoteric lines ‘Rampart Crack’ at Ravensheugh (HVS,5b, M1) is a fine example of a long walk-in combined with the ability to then walk past all the other classic lines to try your hand (or fists) at a brilliant overhanging jamming line.

Howlerhirst Crag sports many fine clean lines, including ‘April Fool’ (E2, 5b, M0) and the classic ‘Howlerhirst Chimney’ (Severe, M1). It may well defeat those used to pulling plastic at sanitised indoor walls. Having romped up most of the E grades I recall a certain Mr Joe Spoor grunting and shouting, throwing shapes in the chasm and getting my No.5 cam stuck. All good sport.

Coe Crag sits atop a hill overlooking Thrunton. It abounds in midges, grainy rock, dubious protection, indwelling plant life and is thus a rich vein for the enthusiast of the esoteric. Ignore the perfect

Top: The Red Cloud wall, Padda Crag Bottom: Al leading The Mirage, Linshiels One

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Honeycomb Wall, and scramble round to ‘Coe Crag Corner’ (HS, M2) and glance worryingly at ‘Coe Conut’ (VS,5a, M4) - I failed to do this under current conditions.

By the by, the descent gullies can provide fine winter climbs in a hard season (‘Brown Ice Grooves’ 2/3 and ‘Chocolate Chimney’ 2/3). Or drop down a level and try ‘Pig Crack’ (HVS, 5b, M2). Seldom seen, offwidth, grainy and hard to protect.

Sandy Crag provides some reasonable hard climbs , but our attention is grabbed by ‘Fang Crack ‘(VS, 5a, M3) which requires a constant gardening approach and the superb ‘McAlpine’s Groove’ (Severe, M3, R:M = 0.35). It was also found to have a non-loose section of rock, a tree and an overhanging belvedere of heather to top-out . A must for the enthusiast!

Spadeadam Crag . Well ,it’s JUST in Cumbria but en route to Padda Crag. Some wonderful vegetated lines. A classic E3 5b M1 (for effort) ‘Backstreet Crawler’ and many, many others .

In conclusion....get out there and enjoy . You may just have some fun!

Esoterica tick-list - ‘Denture Route’ (Diff, M2) Sandy Crag - ‘Zig Zag’ (Diff, M1) Hen Hole - ‘Hoozit’s Crack’ (Severe, M2)

Crag Lough - ‘McAlpine’s Groove’ (Severe, M3)

Sandy Crag - ‘Churnsike Crack’ (Severe, M3)

Padda Crag - ‘Holly Tree Crack’ (MVS, 4b, M3 unless wearing Kevlar trousers)

Back Bowden - ‘Harris Tweed’ (VS, 5a, M1) - for

effort - Howlerhirst Crag - ‘Callerhues Chimney’ (VS, 4c, M2) Callerhues – just go and try

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- ‘Stormbringer’ (HVS, 5a, M2) Simonside - ‘Lord of The Flies’ (E1, 5b, M2) Thrunton Crag - ‘Rampart Wall’ (E2, 5b, M2) Coe Crag - ‘Mutiny Mr Christian’ (E2, 5c, M2) Harehope Canyon –a Catterall classic!

- ‘Dry Run’ (E2, 5b, M2) Simonside - ‘On The Brink’ (E3, 5c, M2) Simonside

Photos: Opposite top left: Al leading ‘Backstreet Crawler’, Spadeadam Bottom left: Sam Webb on ‘Blackadder’ (E1, 5c, M1), Spadeadam Crag This page, top: Al Horsfield in his element, Crag Lough Right: Joe Spoor on ‘April Fool’, Howlerhirst

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Obituary Peter Kirton 1960-2017

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n October, Peter Kirton, a former club member and important activist in the County in the 80s, died from a head injury. Most people will be unaware of it, but bouldering in the UK owes a lot to Peter.

Peter was a remarkable climber who made an early and key distinction between pure bouldering, even in the late 70s. He was himself influenced by John Gill in the US, who was something of a guru for him. He probably saw similarities between his own raw power and that of John Gill. At that time we were engaged in hybrid climbing/bouldering, with so many well defined lines around that demanded attention, that it would be a little while before people would pay attention to what Pete was focussing his considerable strength and ability on.

While we were looking at these ‘lines’, he was, even then, interested in the ‘move’ and finding the hardest one possible.

Peter Kirton in 1979

Prior to leaving the North East in 1980 Peter and I climbed together for about eight months.

We developed Heckley near Alnwick and repeated a number of the hard routes of the day.

This was before he hit his best form, honed by his battles with Bob Smith over a number of classic problems and climbs in the County. One such prolonged joust was over what became the ‘Kremlin’ on the Red Wall at Shitlington (E4 6c) - at that time he was the only person around who could compete with Bob at this level. They were, as Peter put it in his ‘Working Class’ article, the Roscoe Tanner and Ilea Nastase of the climbing world. A 1980s tennis metaphor that was very apt.

His remarkable strength was always self-evident. Climbing at Bowden with him I watched him do the second ascent of ‘Rising Damp’; he bounded along the traverse and made it all look pathetically easy - and it isn’t, indeed it rarely gets done today. It was all the more unusual, as at that time he was quite nervous anywhere above 10 feet! Later he was to establish Vienna, the ridiculous, direct dyno to the middle of the ‘Rising Damp’ break. Its present 67

Pete on probably the 2nd ascent of the Barbarian, Bowden Doors (E5, 6b) in the late 70s/early 80s

condition is very unlike what Pete climbed, the current scooped footholds and finger jugs are a ladder compared with the singular small fingertip flake he lunged from.

Later in the eighties he completed the ‘Pockets Traverse’ at Back Bowden, probably his hardest problem in the County.

He explained his natural strength as being the result of too much tree climbing as a child. There was a more to it than that I think. He was genetically blessed with a remarkable physique, ‘an anatomy lesson for idiots’. I recall we used to go to the gym in Cramlington, this would have been in 1979. We would dismay the ‘strong blokes’ moving metal with our odd climbers antics, all topped by Pete casually pulling three one arm pull ups, left and right off the trot; he reckoned he’d always been able to do them!

He eventually left the North East and moved to Sheffield where his strength and attitude had a significant impact on the rather insular Sheffield climbing world. This then rippled through the UK’s emergent bouldering scene. Eventually he all but stopped climbing and bouldering, and became a very respected mental health practitioner. The respect he earned in both the climbing and medical world is clear to see in the UKC forum and article that followed the news of his death (see: https:// www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=673650 and https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=674027).

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He was fun, clever and very literate, with a sharp wit that sometimes got him into trouble, but was also very self-deprecating. He had a fine sense of how ridiculous the climbing game is. A talented writer; his ‘Working Class’ which you will see alongside this, is a classic piece of climbing writing, it’s a shame he didn’t do more.

The last time I spoke with Pete was to get his permission to use ‘Working Class’ in the current bouldering guide, and I’d only just texted him to arrange a meeting in the new year to interview him for an anniversary book the NMC are producing with Mark Savage. Sadly that interview won’t happen now.

Above: 2nd ascent of Rising Damp, Bowden Doors (E4, 6b); Below: Rising Damp again!

Our condolences go to his family and many friends.

(Photographs kindly supplied by Peter’s daughter, Katrina Murphy)

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Pete bouldering out the bottom of Prime Time, Kyloe Out (E4, 6b). This was how it was done back in the day...EBs, hardmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crashmat (some canvas) and no chalk...

Pete bouldering on the Bowderstone

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Working Class ‘D. Johnson’ alias Pete Kirton Working Class was a 20 foot gauntlet of adamantine sandstone, gracing the more manly, northern end of Bowden Doors. Leaning slightly towards the Cheviot Hills and tendinitis it was a blatant unthinkable challenge, striking Robert Smith and myself all the more painfully because of its tantalising almost possibility. So it was nothing more than a presumptuous name and a mutual aim, the only thing we did share apart from thermos flasks and spectacularly rococo legs. Blonde moustachioed guru versus unsightly stooge we bouldered, bitched and competed with each other over three Northumbrian winters and Working Class offered a tough battleground for our wildly differing climbing styles.

Smith was gnarlier than me by almost ten years, a decade of hard, uncomfortable graft keeping other people warm and amorous by felting the roofs of Tyneside. Arriving at Bowden Doors like a case history from a Sociology text, on day release from a distant world of Embassy No 6, pub dominoes, bent deals and straight sex, he would roll up his sweater sleeve to boast, crowning cliche, a tattooed forearm. But bickering our way leftwards along the crag, bouldering at half throttle to save skin, energy and ego for the Class, he displayed a spontaneous fluid dynamism breezily divorced from monotonous toil, with a grace and timing I have never witnessed the equal of. He had already capitalised on this aerial talent by greedily sandwiching Working Class between sister problems Toffs and Poverty. Both demanded crux jumps off the ground, so as climbs they were unique; once settled on the rock you gained a valid tick. Which I never did. Poverty (‘because there’s nowt there’) was Smith’s showpiece, and so specialist it must have been personally tailored. Starting by standing diagonally left of the problem, he sprinted aggressively towards it then, time for bed, boing, snatched at poor holds and frantically clamped on. All he missed was Margot Fonteyn.

Fortunately for me, Working Class itself promised to be far less effete, no place for Morris Dancing. Fortunately, because although Smith’s adolescent biceps were passably masculine, disparate ly weak fingers condemned him to history, not mythology. All that balletic finesse throttled by his own dud tips, then trampled upon by my brutish storm-trooping rock attack.

Beauty and The Beast, our similar reach and span sharpened a fine dichotomy by ensuring that we fought on a symmetrical court. My only other weapons was an outspoken cultivated arrogance. Knowledge acquired by much obsequious toadying to the country’s top climbers had impressed upon me the importance of a well nurtured ego in sapping one’s opponent confidence. With practice, to catatonia.

The blistered and creased upper part of the Class was weeny riddled, so the problem was reaching the first creases at 12 feet. A rounded ear-shaped layway gained at such a stretch from the ground was the sol employable hold in that slippery pre-resin era. Well, confronted by overhanging slopeys Smith reacted like a nun in a kipper shed, so moving and thinking laterally, he concocted a bizarre and subtle solution begging a sort of off-beat pansy dynamic.

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After the initial southpaw crank onto the wall he crouched sideways and then he stood up on nothing in an attempt to grab the crease with his left hand. This rash dismissal of the only decent hold was compounded by the move’s off-balance nature, forcing a token pirouette out and away from the wall, not so much hitting the crease as waving it a dizzy farewell. My own prosaic answer was of course the antithesis of Smith’s febrile choreography. A savage full frontal layback linking the ear to the crease was my over ambitious intention, shot down by screaming fingers and overawed overrated arms.

By Christmas 84 I had quite climbing, a two month blender precipitating long-term admission to St Nick’s on diagnosis of bipolar syndrome. Phil Davidson hit the County the week following my hospitalisation in Sprin 85 and managed a three fall rockover on lousy holds, stabbing us with a contemptuous and shaming 6b grade. This kicked the old man back into his second childhood and success on the dynamic one Wednesday evening in June. A ward orderly told me all this with solicitous but needless regard for my condition. After all, nobody likes to see Nastase beaten by Roscoe Tanner.

And besides, the food’s very nice in here.

(This article was first published in the NMC Newsletter in 1985, then reprinted in ‘No Nobler County’ in 1995. It has since appeared on UKclimbing.com and climbonline.com)

Nic Crawshaw on ‘Working Class’

(Photo: Mark Somerville, reproduced with permission)

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Chasing the weather – an Alpine road trip Phil Behan

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brief flashback.....

Clare and I tried something new last year: rather than hiring a car we hired a van for our road trip to the Alps. As with many such things the idea came from necessity. We were simply looking at carrying too much luggage to afford flying out because we wanted to carry a range of gear that would let us do whatever route or climb we fancied on any given day. A long story made short: as a foot passenger on P&O there is no luggage limit and you can hire a van at the ferry terminal in Calais. Neither of our small cars seemed right for the job and a van gave us the option of emergency shelter. So we set off across Europe following the weather forecast in a Renault Trafic. We crossed the Alps eastto-west over the narrow passes in our van and it proved to work out realVan life 1 ly well.

Itchy feet After spending a month of our previous year in the Alps, Clare and I couldn’t quite manage on just a long weekend in Chamonix this year, although it did prove fun (see Clare’s article).

We quickly settled on a van-based road trip being needed again as we wanted a cheap trip where we could get more committing routes done, but also have the flexibility to follow the weather. And so started the planning, guide book trawling, UKC stalking, questioning people at walls, guide interrogating, map examining and all the general excited prep of such things.

One country stood out for us - Switzerland. We’d driven through it the year before and fell in love with a couple of areas. That year the weather had limited us to cragging from the Furka Pass and in Saas Fee. It wasn’t hard to find guides who agreed with us about the places to go, either, which added to the feeling of unfinished business!

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Furka what?

After the best part of three days behind the wheel of, mostly this time in a giant Iveco Daily, we were somewhere useful. The Furka Pass forms something of an eastwest divide in Southern Switzerland, while also forming a steep wall at the end of the Rhône Valley. There’s also some decent climbing to be had here. The nearby Grimsel Pass gets a little more British footfall, but we were the only Brits we saw over a few days.

Our first route was the SE Grat of Galenstock: a lovely AD+ route approached from the road or Sidelen Hut. It proved to have better climbing than billed across online forums - the much complained-about choss was easily avoided in favour of good solid rock. There was a great measure of exposure on the rock that contrasted well with the snowy summit ridge. Descending down the ‘normal route’ is definitely pretty, if much longer than the alternative abseils, but mostly gave us the chance to get up close and personal with the labyrinth-like Rhône Glacier.

After thirteen hours on our feet the day before, we took a more relaxed approach the following day, sport climbing near Gletsch at the base of the pass. Good rock and fine routes taken at a very leisurely pace proved just the antidote to sore legs and renal failure from the day before.

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Above: On the Galenstock

Above: Walk in to the Galenstock

Clare on summit ridge of the Galenstock

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Fancying ourselves as proper fast and light types, our next target was the Gross Furkahorn ESE Grat (IV). After a depressingly early start we made our way back up onto the glacier and up to the route. Sadly, as the alpenglow faded so did Clare’s will to fight the bug she’d been harbouring since the start of our trip. We abseiled off and headed for the van. It was shaping up to be another great route but it seemed better to retreat and look after ourselves. Sadly the weather was on the turn as we got back to the van, so we decided to drive for several hours across Switzerland….as you do.

Bregaglia to Italia The next day started with views of Piz Bernina and the famous Biancograt from the Julier Pass in the far west of Switzerland. This wasn’t something that went unnoticed, as we had Piz Bernina on the list of 4000ers to tick off on the road trip. We took the opportunity to go and explore a new area and went to have a look at Albigna and it turns out half of the NMC have climbed here. We enjoyed Lewis’s write-up.

For those that haven’t, the area is accessed by a cable car from the valley floor leading up to a dam with some stunning views. The climbing is made up of a good mix of long bolted multi-pitch routes with a great atmosphere - it also catches the weather well so you can get no lovely views at all! We managed to get the complete spectrum of weather conditions, which was starting to become a theme. In fact it was enough of an issue that we decided it was best not to have an epic at 4000m in the coming days. Having put aside three days to do the Biancograt there was one obvious alternative in the area to take its place - Piz Bernina.

After a night over the border eating far more than is reasonable (and for next-to-no expenditure) we squeezed (a little too literally) our van up the little road to the car park for the north side of Piz Badile. If this road is still accessible and hasn’t been destroyed by the recent landslide, the walks from the Val Bondasca would be highly recommended as the area is stunning. If you believe the guide book, the Sciora Hut gives access to a wealth of nice routes (we heard the approaches were iffy with loose rock at the time). We chose to walk in to the Sasc Furä Hut (our base) more directly giving access to our target without putting ourselves in the way of potential rockfall - our target being the Nordkante (3305m, D), which also turns out to have been done by half of the NMC! The climb got off to an inauspicious start. Rain was pouring down as we dragged ourselves into the breakfast room for a 4am start. Thankfully things settled by 5am and with a delayed departure we headed for the route. Despite this we were rapidly upon the teams that had suffered the last of the rain. Clare gets a special mention at this point for impressively rapid changeovers and impeccable belay organisation.

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The issue with starting late is that you’re at the back of the queue and this impacted us in two ways: we were slowed by the other groups and victim to the guides following up with clients that tied us in knots. All said and done the climbing was great. The ridge is brilliantly exposed and the rock lovely. The only rubbish bit is the 10+ abseils to get back down the other side to our chosen bivvy site... don’t worry there’s another very nice hut you can use instead and carry far less gear too!

The following morning we made an unconventional decision. We chose to descend into northern Italy and take 2 buses and 2 trains back around the mountain. The normal way is to go over a pass to the west, back to the Sasc Furä Hut, or take a tortuous abseil back down the Nordkante. Our choice descended a pleasant valley to a popular tourist trap and picnic spot for Italians and did not require us to carry the ice axe and crampons we’d Clare on the Nordkante, Piz Badile

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Clare at the summit, Piz Badile

Summit selfie

One of many abseils down the Italian side

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Post Piz Badile bivvy

have needed for the pass. We also skipped the pass because reports were that it was in bad condition and that there’d been a recent fatality because of this. I’d say our choice was a good one (only to be improved upon by having a car at each side like one Italian group or by getting a helicopter home like another - this actually happened).

Oops OK, so the next bit was a bit of a booboo - we mistook the weather forecast in western Switzerland as being good for a couple of days. Keen to tick off a couple of routes at the top of the Klein Matterhorn lift in Zermatt we set off through northern Italy and over yet more alpine passes back to Switzerland. In actual fact the French, Swiss, Austrian and most of the Italian Alps had a chance stormy weather. As we approached Sion the inevitable happened. Thankfully a quick check showed that the Aosta Valley was clear so we hot footed it there over the St-Bernard Pass (the tunnel is €75 for a van).

The huts on Gran Paradiso were full on the night of our planned Another day, another bivvy - Gran Paradiso 79

attempt, which was an opportunity of sorts: this is the only circumstance in which you can camp or bivvy in the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso... bring on another chilly night under the tarp half way up an alp!

The day started colder than expected, but after coffee and porridge the overnight gear was stashed before the first headtorches appeared.

Gran Paradiso: on the glacier, with good weather to start We met the first party from the Chabod Hut on the path, and walked with them to the glacier under torchlight. This year the glaciers have been pretty open and there has been talk from guides about avoiding some routes. This was evident for us with some pretty awkward crevasses to cross and circumvent as we climbed, but there were no major difficulties underfoot.

Gran Paradiso approach

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The weather had other ideas - the temperature dropped quite markedly and the wind gradually built, with the odd flurry of snow. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at times like this that the tourist industry surrounding these routes becomes most obvious.

Approximately 200m from the top we were in weather and visibility that was at best poor. Some of the clients with the guides had clearly little or no experience with their kit and were suffering.

To continue in the snake to the rocky top would have been easy, but had we lost them the navigation would have become exceptionally challenging. Paid

to do so, the guides we were around in the line pressed on, but remarking how rubbish it was and how this was a day they wished they could be at home (especially the one with hot aches!).

We decided to call it quits - this was not a day to be at 4000m unless someone was paying you a substantial sum to do so. Sitting in the Chabod Hut drinking coffee and hot chocolate neither of us regretted our decision as we watched the clouds and wind pummel the summit. And so we happily trotted down yet another alpine path back to the valley floor and our now beloved van for another long drive.

Back over the St Bernard Recognising that the time remaining for our trip was limited, and the cost of the Zermatt lifts required a multi-day expedition - eg. 100 CHF for the Klein Matterhorn! - our Zermatt plans were shelved for another year. Instead we headed for Saas Fee and a better forecast than Italy. More importantly, it took us a step closer to Calais!

Having been either climbing or driving every day of our trip we thought it time for more of a rest in Saas. Our first day started after a well-earned lie-in. The via ferrata on the Jegihorn fitted the bill for a stretch of the legs and a bit of interest nicely, especially the rather high suspension bridge that seemed to freak out some climbers behind Van life 2 us. We also encountered a first for me: one or two places had pieces of rock bolted to the cliff face to make holds. A useful note: staying in Saas allows you a tourist pass that gets you on all but a couple of lifts for free, including the one to the route mentioned here. For our last day we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like just jumping straight in the van so we stayed in Saas and played on a local sport crag tucking off a few nice routes. Clare even upped her lead grade!

What followed was a lot of driving back to Newcastle, but we can assure you it was most definitely worth it!

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Via ferrata, Jegihorn

Sport climbing, Saas

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Still in the sweetshop.....

Lewis Preston

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n the last issue of County Climber we left our small band of six NMC adventurers having just arrived on the Isle of Mingulay.......

.......We rejoin them on June 3rd 2016, day 7 of an eight-day visit. The entire team - Tim Catterall, Kenny Summers, Mike Frost and Carolyn Horrocks, John Stockdale and myself - all set off in unison to climb on the west coast cliff of Guarsay Beag’s Black Geo. While Mike and Carolyn abseil down to The Shield, John and I share the other two’s ab rope and climb ‘Cod Philosophy’, while Tim and Kenny, just out of sight, climb ‘The Wreck of the Edward Fitzgerald’.

John has just finished our first pitch when we hear an horrendous, mono-syllabic shriek:

Landing on Mingulay

‘Fuck!!’ followed by a splash into the geo. We shout ‘Are you OK?’ and from round the corner ‘Kenny’s off!’

He is dangling, some way from Tim’s belay, having fallen while leading the second pitch.

Useless to help where we are, I lead our second pitch, bring John up, and we run round to the top of the geo, to look down to Tim’s belay, well backed-up and intact, while Kenny hangs, thankfully conscious and able to communicate. He thinks both his ankles are broken.

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Alerted, Mike and Carolyn join us, and a rescue plan is formulated. On this island there is no mobile signal and Tim finds the batteries for the phone he’s borrowed from Donald the boatman are dead. Carolyn is despatched to run up the ridge of Mingulay to find ‘bird-lady’ Laura to request she calls for a helicopter rescue.

Meanwhile we lower painkillers to Kenny and I descend to support him while the remaining three rig a pulley system to aid the hauling of his dead-weight so no that pressure need be applied to either leg. I try to place myself between him and the rock face, climbing as the others haul.

At first fearing he may drift into unconsciousness, he responds to the painkillers and bravely balances off the rock on one or other of his knees, thus squashing me less. The hauling team efficiently bring him to the top of the Black Geo, perhaps aided a little by the strong up-draught.

Kenny has been explaining to me en route how a series of connected issues have contributed to the accident: for the first 10 metres above the belay the rock seemed solid and there were good runners, then for a further 8 metres there was no gear, then a dubious thread, above which he placed an inadequate wire, knowing it would be virtually unable to hold a fall; he then continued up until a handhold flake, which looked fine, snapped off; falling backwards he ripped out the wire, and exploded the thread, and thus fell seaward, hitting a small ledge on the way, until held by Tim on his solid stance.

He was eventually eased over the top of the cliff and onto horizontal ground. Anxious rescuers crowded around to make him comfortable and warm, to quiz him as the nature and intensity of the pain from his leg injuries, and to be certain of no other complications: back, neck, chest or head. Kenny obviously so relieved to be off the rock face and surrounded by friendly faces, his sense of humour and well-being is encouraged so as to mitigate the still-serious position we’re in: on an uninhabited island, with no expectation of early evacuation unless radio contact with emergency services is achieved.

A waving of arms high on the main ridge of the island and later Carolyn running back to us to confirm she found and requested bird-lady Laura to find a signal and make the call for Air-Sea Rescue. Three hours later, a helicopter is first sighted, in clear conditions. It approaches, turns away, hovers out to sea, returns to scope the geo (possibly searching for a body

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The campsite hanging from a rope, or in the water), is buffeted in the huge up-draught, then responds to our wild waving and pointing at Kenny, wrapped up prone on the cliff top.

It then circles away again and drops rescuer Nam Macleod before again retreating to a safe distance out to sea.

Nam runs over to our group, introduces himself and addresses Kenny and establishes the details of the incident, the nature of Kennyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s injuries and enquires how we got Kenny up the cliff from the end of his rope. He turns to the rest of us and comments that, due the updraught over the geo and the difficulties the pilot would have keeping the helicopter steady immediately over the rock face, their job is now safer and will be much more quickly achieved and Kenny removed as a result of the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-rescue efforts. He radios for the helicopter to return.

There is some problem with communications and a short delay before it can drop a stretcher twenty metres away which we carry back up to where Kenny is lying. Nam enlists careful hands to get the casualty into an insulated one-piece suit and strapped tightly into the stretcher, before carrying him to less sloping territory where the helicopter attempts to land, sinking into boggy ground, so hovers to house Nam and Kenny, spinning skyward in the stretcher.

With a final wave from Nam to we ground-crew, the helicopter heads northwards up the Outer Hebrides chain to base in Stornoway, Lewis. It is six hours since the accident. We pack gear and ropes, and shoulder Kennyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sac and hike back over the col and back to the camp. Our diminished team of five is joined by Laura for a whisky toast and a magic lantern launch for Kenny......

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Postscript Kenny was taken to the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway, some 150 miles NE of Mingulay, where he was assessed by an orthopaedic surgeon. This involved a well-intentioned but ultimately unsuccessful and excruciatingly painful attempt by the surgeon to manipulate Kenny’s shattered and disrupted ankle joint – without anaesthetic (OK, he had morphine and gas and air, but still....).

He was transferred the next day to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, where he underwent surgery - under general anaesthetic this time! - to his left ankle; the fracture of his right ankle was uncomplicated and was left alone. He was discharged home a week later, in a wheelchair with both legs encased in purple moon boots.

Since when he has made a steady recovery, even making a guest appearance at Tim Catterall’s 50th birthday ceilidh some 5 months after the accident, when he took to the dance floor!

Lewis spoke to him on the phone just before Christmas and reported that he has regained some of his former fitness, largely through road biking, has returned to the hills for some gentle walking, and is now back on the plastic – outdoor climbing may have to wait a while yet, but great news nonetheless.

Lewis on the top of the island

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Arc’teryx Alpine Academy Clare White

F

or the last six years Arc’teyx have descended upon Chamonix to host a weekend of mountaineering clinics and events, bringing with them a collected of sponsored athletes.

Easily distracted by springtime revision I spotted the online advert and found the dates matched one of my rare weekends off - a weekend in Chamonix certainly sounded tempting!

After a little online research I found a few resoundingly positive blog posts and remembered the guides from last year’s Conville Course saying they enjoyed being part of the Arc’teryx weekend. Clinics offered ranged from an introductory glacier hike, 7a+ sport coaching, trail running and mountain medicine, all supported by 120 mountain guides - a large number of whom were British mountain guides - and even better, they were affordable. Would this really be the mutually inspiring and educational event the advertising promised or turn into an elabChamonix centre during the Academy

orate sales pitch for Arc’teryx? Despite the possibility of more hype than substance a

weekend in Chamonix is never a bad thing….

Choice It turns out the combination of affordability and advertising means it is rather popular all One HUNDRED-plus clinic places were sold out in 8 minutes (as Phil sadly found out).

I wanted to squeeze in as much as I could, managing to blag three clinics in three days.

Firstly I booked an overnight bivi - I may spend as much time as possible in my tent in the UK but preparing for a bivi on glaciers and ledges sounded a good use of the Friday night.

I opted to head straight from the bivi to the ‘advanced’ alpine clinic hoping this would force me to be a bit more bold. Unusually I picked a women’s ice climbing clinic for the final day 87

given I have particular strong feelings against this current trend for women’s specific outdoor stuff this was admittedly an odd choice but I am glad I made it.

Bivi night The AcadeMSR ‘bivi clinic’ on the Aiguille du Plan; with terrible weather forecast my weekend overnight.....I bagged the bivi shelter coincided with seemingly half of NMC already being in Chamonix, which made the trip a very sociable one! As Phil and Joe headed across the telepherique to the Italian side I packed my bag for the bivi and the following day and got the bus to town. After registering and picking up my little goody bag I soaked up the sun watching free talks at the ‘Alpine Village’ with several coffees (free from the epic tv stand). After some questionable levels of organisation we headed off for the night. The forecast was terrible - lightning and fresh snowfall - and this changed the plan from a snowfilled bivi to a damp wild camp at Aiguille du Plan….. and that was about it. We even walked to the nearest hut for a beer - less ‘bivi’ tips, more ‘bevy’.… On to the Saturday…

Advanced Alpine We woke to fresh snow and hail covering the tents. Luckily some of the MSR-provided tents were orange, meaning we could find each other. By this point I was fairly convinced the weather was going to keep us down in the valley and predicted an unpleasant day showing myself up cragging in big boots - thankfully our guide had other plans! There weres 3 participants with one guide; Jon and I had met the previous night on the bivi and were joined by Marcus from Holland, with little climbing experience. After checking our experience our guide Olivier told me to crack on and short-rope Jon down the Midi Arete - most guides were roping all

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Photos: Top: Me on the crux pitch of the Cosmiques Arete - not the most flattering but least its an action shot!

Above: Marcus and Jon approaching the final ladder Above right: Olivier, our guide, with a steady stream of participants coming down the arete Right: Descending from the Aiguille du Midi station

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of their group together until they were down on the glacier but ours set the tone for the rest of the day: ‘This is the advanced course, you are the guides today - I am your rubbish client!’

Jon and I took turns to lead each other over the Cosmiques with Olivier setting tasks along the way. We swapped halfway along with Olivier falling over three times to test my short-roping skills - sideways, uphill and downhill. At the crux it was Jon’s and my turn to lead and coach our ‘clients’ movement. Once we had been greeted by the usual tourists at the top the snow started again - Marcus felt he’d been introduced to alpine routes and Jon and I felt we’d been taught some guiding tips and improved our confidence - definitely not brand-based hype! More coffee and talks in the town and back to the tent for tea. Staying in Argentière meant I missed the Saturday night party but I was quickly asleep in the tent.

Women’s ice climbing Staying in Argentière also made Sunday morning awkward - my clinic was meeting in town before the buses starts so I headed down on the first train and the ran to the meeting point in my B2s, only to find the Montenvers train was late and we had an hour to spare…. time for more coffee and croissant. The women ice clinic was lead by Heike and Descending the ladders to the Mer de Glace Tanja Schmitt. If you haven’t heard of them then look them up, they are seriously committed to ice and mixed climbing. Heike had qualified as an IFGM guide the week before and it was nice to see the camaraderie, with all the guides we met congratulating her. I knew the day was going to be a top-rope ‘up and down’ kinda day but hoped it would be confidence-building and any coaching a bonus. Due to the walk up the Mer du Glace from Montenvers we didn’t have a huge amount of time to climb, but after 5 or 6 pitches I felt like my technique had totally changed. Tanja identified very small improvements that could be made each pitch of climbing - suddenly climbing on ice didn’t feel exhausting and felt much more in control. My opinion about ‘women’s only’ stuff has also softened; I’m still in touch with the girl I spent most of the day climbing with. The generic clinic next door, which incidentally was all male, provid90

ed plenty of entertainment in the form of Will Gadd demonstrating ice climbing techniques from the decades and then one of the French guides descending a practically vertical section in the style of Hillary et al - scary! We spent most of the trip back to town chatting to Heike and Tanjia about climbing in various destinations from Cogne to Colorado.

Summary Yes the bivi night was a disappointment, but overall the weekend surpassed my expectations; certainly my day on Cosmiques would have been twice the price if not part of the Academy and I would probably never have had the chance to learn as much about ice technique without many more years of scratching my crampons around. I even barely noticed Chamonix being any busier Will Gadd demonstrating ice climbing than a normal July weekend despite the techniques - ‘It’s not ballet, it’s f**cking ice Academy taking over the town centre. climbing!

I should also note there were lots of other free talks and seminars going on that clashed with my clinics up in the mountains, so if you only wanted one day’s activity there’s lots to see and do.

Walking round Chamonix on the Sunday evening I passed the Alpine Village again just as all the guides and event organisers had gathered together - it was clear they had as much of a buzz from the weekend as the participants (see blog post by Andy Perkins for his summary of the event at: http://andypmountainguide.com/entente-cordiale/).

Overall I would certainly recommend the event - if you want to cover the basics there’ll be something for you. If you want to try something new, there’s a clinic for that; if you want to learn something specific that will be available too.

Me getting some ice practice

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1992 John Spencer

A

couple of years ago Martin Cooper passed on to me a boxful of old NMC Newsletters and early issues of County Climber...’You might find some of these interesting’ he suggested. And interesting they have proved to be, not least recently when I was looking back at 1992....as you do....well, as I am wont to do anyway. But why 1992? The simple answer: it was a quarter of a century ago, a neat metric for a bit of reminiscence.

So I thought I would reflect on what issues were preoccupying the Club 25 years ago, in the broader context of what was happening in the world(s) beyond.

Nineteen ninety two was in fact a pretty good year on Planet Spencer. Notwithstanding fairly heavy domestic and work commitments, I managed a decent season, climbing in the County (of course), The author (right) and Ian Rowe on the summit of Naranjo de the Lakes, and Scotland.

Bulnes after climbing the Rabado-Navarro route (TD) On family holidays I also managed some scrambling and climbing on Majorca and in the Picos de Europa, as well as a rather special day climbing ‘The Moon’ on the Yellow Walls, Holyhead, with its first ascentionist, the legendary, charismatic, idiosyncratic Ed Drummond, probably the most skilful climber I’ve ever shared a rope with – which was followed by a twilight ascent of a worryingly damp ‘Vector’ at Tremadog, but that’s a whole other story......

Meanwhile out in the big, wide world, a Tory Government had been elected in the March of 1992, albeit with a small majority, the results confounding the pundits. However, by the end of the year the Government were struggling internally over the UK’s membership of the European Community (as it was then called), as a signatory to the Maastricht Treaty. This was against a backdrop of accusations of sleaze, mismanagement of the economy and ministerial resignations. Meanwhile in Opposition, Labour had a new, charismatic leader (John Smith) and was ahead in the polls. Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland claimed its 3000th victim since ‘the Troubles’ began in 1969 - easy to forget what a difference the Good Friday Agree-

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ment of 1998 made. And the Windsor Family soap opera continued at full tilt, obsessing the tabloids: Charles and Diana were ‘officially’ separated, as were the Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Anne married again, and the Queen declared the year, what with all that stuff plus a fire at Windsor Castle, to have been her ‘annus horribilis’.

The Balkan region was embroiled in an ugly conflict and the Siege of Sarajevo began, a campaign that would last 4 years and claim the lives of around 14000 people of whom nearly 40% were civilians. Hatred and fear between different ethnic groups within previously (relatively) peaceful communities was whipped up by state media (and this was before Twitter was a twinkle in anyone’s eye!). Meanwhile the United States had elected a President who would in Ed Drummond walking on ‘The Moon’ due course be impeached. Oh, and Ireland won the Eurovision Song Contest with Linda Martin’s rendering of ‘Why Me?’....

In the parallel universe of climbing, in 1992 the UK community was served by no fewer than four magazines: Climber and Hillwalker (previously Climber and Rambler, nowadays plain old Climber); Mountain, for many years considered the leading voice in international mountaineering and climbing, but soon to cease publication after 23 years; High, (which had evolved from Crags, itself a successor to Rocksport; High ran from 1994 to 2005); and the youngest rag of them all On the Edge (OTE), started by Ed Douglas in 1987 while he was still at University. This was arguably the organ that captured the Zeitgeist, or attempted to, not only carrying comprehensive new routes updates from around the UK along with competition reports, but also regular feature reviewing European climbing magazines such as Desnivel (Spain) and Rotpunkt (Germany).

As it happens, I’m a bit of a hoarder (‘You can say that again!’ shouts my wife) and have a fair number of issues from all four magazines in the year of 1992. The following impressionistic overview is based on a quick skim of these copies, along with my own recollections, and thus is completely subjective, selective and biased.

Climbing walls were mushrooming everywhere and indoor climbing was slowly becoming a ‘thing’ in its own right. For example, the Eldon Berghaus wall, which

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opened in late 1990, logged around 24,500 users in its first 12 months.

In an article in OTE 33 Mark Pretty discussed the huge rise in popularity and availability of walls and asked ‘Will there be a new breed of climbing person who start on indoor walls and don’t want to go onto the stuff outside?’ In parallel with this expansion, competition climbing, both leading and bouldering, was (excuse the pun) in the ascendant. The Berghuas wall was a regular host of Indoor Bouldering League competitions. New names on the national scene included Malcolm Smith and Ian Vickers.

The hardest climb in the UK was Ben Moon’s 1990 test piece ‘Hubble’ at Raven Tor, training for the FA of which included working on a replica of the sequence built in his Sheffield cellar. He graded the problem 8c+ but it was later regraded at 9a, and considered the world’s first climb at that grade. This accolade had been held by ‘Action Direct’ at Waldkopf in the Frankenjura climbed by the legendary Wolfgang Gullich in 1991. Sadly Gullich, whose other achievements included pioneering campus boards, the first solo of ‘Separate Reality’ (5.12a) in Yosemite, and doubling for Sylvester Stallone in the epic film ‘Cliffhanger’, died in a road accident in 1992 at the age of thirty one.

All the magazines reported and commented upon proposals to bolt some of the fiercely traditional granite climbing around (privately owned) Lands End, purportedly in the interests both of safety and the environment. The project was to be led by Rowland Edwards of Compass West, then based at Sennen, now based in Finestrat on the Costa Blanca. Predictably the proposal caused quite a fuss, with representations from the BMC and other bodies, and the plans were dropped. In fact this was just one in a long series of controversies in Cornwall involving bolts, drilled peg and thread placements, manufactured slots for cams and chipped holds going back to the 1960s, with, in more recent times, Edwards and his son Mark often cast as the villains of the piece, unfairly as it usually turned out. The inimitable Gary Gibson was also courting controversy with his bolting of new lines on Lundy.

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In the higher ranges, Stephen Venables (our guest speaker in February) fell 300 feet whilst descending after a successful first ascent of Panch Chuli V in Kumaon, near the India-Nepal border when an abseil anchor failed, sustaining fractures in both legs, one of them compound. Against the odds, a miraculous rescue followed thanks to his Indian and British teammates and the skills of the Indian Air Force helicopter pilots that plucked him from the glacier.

Alan James of Rockfax wrote an article in OTE 30 entitled ‘Guidebooks and Cubism’ bemoaning the fact that the format and style of climbing guides, then almost exclusively produced by local clubs, had hardly changed since they first appeared in the early 20th Century, other than in the quality of action shots. These traditional guides, he argued, tried to do too much, what with their wordy route descriptions, long historical sections which often included anecdotes and trivia, detailed lists of first ascents, comprehensive coverage of all venues including ‘minor crags’, the crags illustrated mostly by line diagrams which, though often works of art, were frequently not terribly helpful in identifying routes.

He argued the case for ‘a change in direction from verbal to visual presentation of route information’, replacing line drawings with high quality photo-topos, and pithier route descriptions. The now-familiar topo-based guides were becoming commonplace in Europe, but in the UK at this time Rockfax had published just three: Yorkshire Limestone, North Wales Limestone, and the most recent, Peak Limestone. James noted that these new-style guides currently only covered limestone areas. ’Whether they will infiltrate gritstone and mountain crags only time will tell....what is certain is that independent guides will arrive in greater numbers’.

Interestingly May’s Climber & Hillwalker reported that Chris Craggs, yet to join Rockfax, had apparently come under fire from local Spanish climbers following publication

by Cicerone of his guide to climbing on the Costa Blanca. He was accused of ‘piracy’ of both text and photo-topos, of inaccuracies in route descriptions, and of potentially depriving the local climbing community of income for equipping/re-equipping routes through drop in sales of their guides. He refuted some of the accusations and pointed the finger of blame at ‘a couple of well-known Cornish activists’ he believed had stirred up the Spaniards – they were none other than father and son team, Rowland and Mark Edwards!

Finally, the late Dave Cook (climber, writer, teacher, one-time national organiser of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and general ‘character’) wrote a brilliant tongue-in-cheek article in OTE presenting the case for a weighting system to be applied to grades so as to allow the cutting edge climbs of different historical periods to be compared appropriately. Multiplying factors were: a ‘decade equalizer’ (one additional E grade per decade); a trail-blaze factor; an ‘on sight bonus’ and equipment

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allowance; and a chop factor. Thus Fred Botterill’s epic ascent of his eponymous slab on Scafell in 1903, during which he carried an ice-axe ‘just in case’ and even managed to raise his hat to a lady walking below on the screes, and which involved an unprotected lead of 120 feet (36m) of 4c rock, would be elevated from VS 4c to E10 and ‘Hubble’ downgraded from E9 to E8!

So against this backdrop, what about the NMC Winter Newsletter of 1992? It was Cliff Robson’s last issue as editor, stepping down after two years due to pressure of work. The President, Nigel Jamieson, was also about to come to the end of his term of office and listed, in his ‘retirement address’, some of the changes and issue that had arisen during his tenure: the success of bouldering competitions at the Berghaus wall; a plethora of new routes in the County; an increase in club membership, and with it a concomitant rise in numbers attending meets; the great variety of social events; recent refurbishments to the Bowderstone Hut, including the installation of power and, according to a cryptic comment, ‘strange things happening in the toilet’ (!); and recent negotiations between the Club and Blyth County Council over refurbishment of the Concordia Leisure Centre climbing wall in Cramlington.

There had indeed been a flurry of activity in the County in the early 90s, the main activists being Hugh Harris, Joe Webb (including his hair-raising solo FA of ‘Time and Motion’, E7 6b, at Sandy Crag), Richard Davies, Dave Pegg and Ian Cummings.

One stand-out route was Scottish raider Dave Cuthbertson’s ‘County Ethics’ at back Bowden, weighing in at E7 7a, which remained unrepeated for 13 years. Julian Lines also snuck in under the radar and climbed ‘Boulder Lands’ (E5 6b ) also at Back Bowden. At the same time bouldering was in the process of evolving from being simply a means to an end, , however enjoyable – i.e. training for ‘the higher ranges’ – into an end in its own right, with Rothley and Shaftoe seeing a fair amount of development.

In the Newsletter Steve Crowe expanded on the Concordia negotiations. An Ex-

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traordinary General Meeting had been convened in October to discuss a proposal that the Club lend Concordia £8K to support the proposed refurbishment. Up until this time the infamous wall was standard old-school red brick and concrete (‘brick-edge cruising), the proposal being to modernise it with panels Jim Rigg on the lower traverse at Concordia, Cramlington and bolt-on holds. At the EGM there was a Q&A fielded by Steve, the President and John Earl, including a proposal to hold ‘a series of leading competitions’ throughout the winter of 1993-4, once the work had been done. The proposals were met with approval by the meeting and, although the loan arrangement never came to pass, the upgrade went ahead. In the end three competitions were duly held - one assumes that competitors would have ignored the diktat issued at the EGM that ‘anyone caught training will be disqualified’! For those readers not familiar with Concordia, in my (and a few others’) opinion it was was the gnarliest wall ever, an early DR creation, gently overhanging with holds that became more and more polished as the years went by; a Concordiawork-out was a work-out and a half, for sure! It has now been decommissioned and transformed into the ‘Clip ‘n Climb’ enterprise.

Calum Mayland wrote a brief article about his five favourite County E1s, an interesting selection: ‘The Viper’ (E1, 5c) at Bowden; ‘Green Line’ (E1, 5b) at Peel (thought to be the first ‘Extreme’ in the County, FA Nev Hannaby 1958); ‘Rake’s Crack’ (E1, 5b) at Great Wanney; ‘Wasted Time’ (E1, 5b) at Kyloe Out; and ‘The Sorcerer’ (E1, 5c) at Back Bowden. The latter was his favourite, described thus ‘powerful, stretching moves, a delicate step right and a groove lead up to solid jugs on the summit.....Get yer arse up that!’ Fair enough.

Andy Birtwistle described his ascent of 50 County extremes in a day in ‘Fifty Not Out!!’ The idea apparently came to him partly out of boredom, partly inspired by

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Birty on The Sorcerer (E1 5c), Back Bowden

Ron Fawcett’s 1986 project ‘100 Peak Extremes In A Day’. Andy decided to focus on just six crags to minimise travel and between venues, long walks-in etc. They were: Bowden (16 routes), Back Bowden (8), Kyloe Out (8), Kyloe In (12), leaving Jack Rock and Corby’s for the remainder. After a few half-hearted attempts, managing only 36 on the best attempt, one Spring morning, following a week bolt-clipping in the French sun, he went to Jack Rock. With the weather looking good he cruised a couple of E routes and decided this was the day......and so, via (in sequence) Corby’s, Kyloe In, Kyloe Out, Back Bowden, and Bowden he knocked off the routes. On the last lap at Bowden he was joined by a posse on the Club’s Wednesday night meet, and as the rain started to fall, his final route, ‘Stretcher Wall’ (E1, 5c), was vanquished.

Reflecting on it all, in answer to the question Why? He wrote ‘I don’t really know.

Probably something to do with testing my limits. Why climb at all? It’s not a record, not a statement, just something I fancied doing, something personal. I think that’s why we all climb, because we enjoy it....I wonder what to try next’.

It was interesting that Andy made no mention of the potential dangers of soloing in his brief reflection. So I recently asked him why. ‘Ok, well, I do remember the day very well as I was uncertain I could do it. As I soloed in Northumbria all the time the safety issue was one of judgment. Climbing with the ‘Cream Team’ honed skills and nearly every solo was certainty of mind for the outcomes. No mats of course then so it had to be! Safety and soloing are not synonymous but the freedom of the solo combined with the focus of mind produced a clarity that dispelled fear. I’ll be honest and say I’ve been more scared on some well bolted routes as I always feared falling. Probably a reason why I was a good, bold trad climber but didn’t make the same leap on sports climbs, although I did manage 7b. So, safety. Well, perhaps a combination of familiarity and commitment. I never ever felt I was go-

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ing to fall when I soloed and I had soloed a lot of those routes a number of times.

I often reversed them as well Crucifix at Kyloe In was fun starting at the top jams then crimps. Fact is John it’s what we did and it was easier sussing the crux then soloing on a route with minimal gear where you wasted strength and interrupted your flow. Lots of routes like that in the County.’

The newly published and ‘long awaited’ second edition of the North of England Rock Climbs guidebook was reviewed in the Newsletter. The first edition had been published in 1980 and aimed to ‘link all the isolated and spread out crags in the vast area of ‘The North’ that were surrounded by other guidebook areas.’ As such it had been a truly eclectic guide covering everything from top quality grit escarpments atop windswept moors to vegetated limestone ravines, crumbling sandstone quarries and man-made seawalls, documenting no less than 78 crags in Lancashire, Cumbria, the Borders, Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, including some wintter climbing venues!

For me, having newly arrived in the North East in 1979, this somewhat off-beat guide complemented the NMC’s latest County guide, as a source of inspiration and ideas for exploring the region. But, as stated in the guide ‘The crags are very varied and whilst some are not of the highest quality, there are gems....’ – you can say that again! Take Castle Eden Dene, for example. This is one of the ‘Durham Denes’, a series of deeply-incised ravines cutting through the coastal plain south of Durham.

The crags, outcropping to 40 metres in height, are of Magnesian limestone ‘which is tremendously variable’ (ahem) and heavily vegetated to boot, and very compact with little natural protection – what’s not to like? Twenty nine routes were listed, including ‘Archangel’, a 30 metre three-star VS, following a ‘fine arete’ and finishing in ‘an awe-inspiring position’, apparently ‘the best route in the area.’

We duly trogged down there, to discover the crags were indeed heavily vegetated, so much so that we failed to convincingly locate most of the climbs, probably in-

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cluding ‘Archangel’. We didn’t even unpack our sacs! Just in case you’re tempted, Castle Eden Dene is nowadays a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve and climbing banned.

There were several other disappointing discoveries, but the guide led me, amongst other fine venues, to Armathwaite in the Eden Valley, Scugdale and the Wainstones on the North Yorks Moors, The Cove at Marsden, Cleadon Quarry (which for several years was a favourite bouldering spot of mine – when I was GP in Gateshead I could nip along there on a summer weekend afternoon on call and snatch an hour’s workout in between home visits!), and the famous Motorway Bridge... ah, yes, the Motorway Bridge...located ‘neath Original Route at Cleadon Quarry; climber: Karin Magog the A1M as it (Photo: from climbonline.com) crosses the Breckon Hill Beck just up the rise from the Chester-Le-Street turnoff. It’s a long (motorway width!) wall of rough sandstone blocks providing some very pumpy traversing to the rumble of the traffic above. What’s more, as the the guide declared, it was ‘very, very popular with local climbers and a good place to meet people’ with a nearby (the Smith’s Arms) to hand.

So, yes, the variability in quality across the patch was considerable, but, for me at any rate, the guide served a very useful and timely purpose.

The second edition, reveiwed in the Newsletter, set out to rationalise boundaries, including some limestone crags in South Cumbria, Causey and Howtown Quarries, which had been ‘received from the NMC, aiding them in rationalising their own guide’ as well as ‘an up-to-date and more accurate account of three North Yorks crags’. However the Newsletter reviewer was disappointed with it, asking, for ex-

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ample, why some North Yorks Moors crags had been omitted, why the Durham Denes had been include at all, and so on. A more general criticism was over the over-enthusiastic, sometimes gushing descriptions of some of the venues, potentially ‘leading the uninitiated to obscure and miniscule piles of crumbling tot barely warranting to be described as a crag.’!

Many of the North Yorks Moors venues had been covered in the Cleveland Club’s dedicated 1985 guide, and in due course most of them, along with other locations east of the Pennines and in Tyne and Wear, were revisited in the more comprehensive ‘North East England’ guide authored by Steve Crowe, Bob Bennet and Mark Turner published in 2003. A lot of this information is now available through Steve’s excellent Climbonline website (http://www.climbonline. co.uk/index.htm). A comprehensive guide to bouldering in North Yorks and the East Coast was puiblished in 2014. And finally, the F&RCC (rightly) claimed the Cumbrian limestone and Eden Valley, much of the former having featured in successive Lancashire guides, in their definitive ‘Eden Valley and South Lakes Limestone’ guide.

What else in the Newsletter? There was a brief report of a working meet at the Bowderstone hut, and a guide to climbing on a new crag: Hareshaw Linn, with twenty-one routes described, from VS 4c to E4 6a, all the work of Malcolm Lowerson and Nick Steen. A debate had taken place in the Committee about meets; in light of falling attendance at some of the weekend meets, the number of these had been reduced, with more single day outings in the County and Yorkshire suggested, as well as a number of ‘new members training meets’ introduced. Finally, access problems at Corby’s Crag were outlined, the intended solution, after discussion with the landowners, being to remove the parking area above the crag and create a new approach path from an alternative parking spot.

So what conclusions to draw? Well, nothing profound. And can we learn anything from it? I doubt it. For me, revisiting the 1992 guide, along with Al Horsfield’s article has given me a few ideas for outings for the forthcoming season. Meanwhile, it was interesting, although vaguely predictable, to see how broadly the same issues preoccupy us 25 years on; on the socio-political front, internal Government wrangles, sleaze and incompetence, Europe, conflict around the edges, the power of the media, a potentially dodgy US President, the Royal Family; and in the climbing world, controversies and debate about bolting, guidebook provenance, access, grading, and so on. As the man said ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.’......

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Have you sent us a ‘postcard’ yet?

EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT, WHATEVER THEIR LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE AND ALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO COUNTY CLIMBER ARE WELCOME!

Whether about rock-climbing (trad or sport), bouldering, winter climbing or hill-walking, or indeed anything to do with ‘the great outdoors’, especially Northumberland. Contributions from new members are particularly welcome.

It doesn’t have to be a ‘story’ either, so for example a report about a visit to a new location, or a new take on an old one would fit the bill. Reviews of guides or books, films or festivals are welcome. From time to time people submit mainly photographs (see below) accompanied by only the briefest of text, and these can be published as a ‘photo-essay’. And don’t limit yourself to prose in responding to your inner muse - poems are also welcome.

The Editor would be happy to discuss ideas for articles, comment on rough drafts, or work with you to produce the finished article. You could even send us a real postcard if you wanted!

Regarding photographs, please send as high a resolution as possible, although photos, depending on format, may need to be resized. If you are using other peoples’ photos in your article, please ensure you have sought permission.

Please contact the Editor at and/or send submission to: john.spencer@ncl.ac.uk 102

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