South Wales Mountaineering Club

Clwb Dringo De Cymru

www.southwalesmountaineering.org.uk

Newsletter, March 2001

Notes from the editor

Happy New Year to all club members. (It seems strange writing that in March, but I thought I'd include it as it's the first newsletter of the year!)

The preceding three months have seen a little ice climbing by some members and dashed hopes for more who didn't get the conditions they hoped for. Others are making plans for trips to exotic destinations for mountaineering and sun rock.

Where are you going? If your still looking for info on your destination or even travelling companions, why not put an entry into the newsletter? There is a wealth of experience within the club that can be tapped into.

Don't know where to go? Why not visit one of our many slide shows for inspiration.

Remember, you don't have to catch an aeroplane to reach an adventure. The Barn is situated amongst some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, in an area used by some of the planet's finest climbers over the years. There are walks your dog will manage to extreme test pieces for rock athletes, with every thing between.

Check out some of the items in this newsletter, or go to the website for up to the minute info. www.southwalesmountaineering.org.uk

Newsletter publication

Any club member with an email address that hasn't passed it on to their membership secretary is urged to do so. A short email to the following addresses will ensure you get your newsletter in colourful pristine electrons rather than a plain brown wrapper that arouses suspicion from your neighbours and maiden aunts.

Gary can also be contacted at 18 Finchley Road, Fairwater, Cardiff. CF5 3AX

Reports from the committee

The committee last met on the 25^th January 2001 and the following items are reported.

Members who have suggestions for improvements at the barn are asked to contact Kim Collis. If you have any comments on the work already planned these are also welcome. (See Letter from Barn Warden later on.)

Some committee members were unable to attend the work weekend in February and suitable dates for another weekend are needed. Anyone wishing to propose a date can again contact Kim.

The club is considering a PO Box address for all official communications. It is anticipated that bookings for the hut from outside bodies and other such communications can be sent to a single short and snappy address which need never change, regardless of who the Club Sec. may be at some time in the distant future.

Other matters were discussed which will be reported upon as they develop.

The committee will next be meeting on Thursday 22^nd March 2001.

Letter from the barn warden

The work weekend on 3-4 February went very well despite there only being four people who turned up. Thanks are due to our leader Gwyn, Steve "The Barn" Lewis, Stuart Lloyd and me, of course. We managed to install a fridge, an outside security light and more lighting for the lounge area. Stuart also painted the kitchen (not before time) and I did the upstairs members room. Steve continued with the tongue-and-groove ceiling, this time over the landing. We also had the builder round to quote for more work. This includes inside toilets in the unused area outside the drying room; two washrooms in the present one (male and female) each with its own shower; skylights for the kitchen, together with insulation and a tongue-and-groove ceiling; a new kitchen worktop and cupboards and drawers; and a draught proof uPVC front door. If this work goes ahead, there could be some disruption over the summer: I hope to keep you posted on the website about current work and include a new page on hut availability so that you can check this to see whether you are going to be sharing the barn with a party of 20 and make plans accordingly.

Talking of disruption, a large group wants to use the barn after Easter but in Easter week, 17-22 April (Tuesday to Sunday). This will take up all the non-members space, leaving room for eight in the members' room. The group consists of Air Force Cadets (with their COs) from Liverpool. If you were intending to be up there with a group that week, please contact me ASAP: these are however regular users and we need the money to fund all these improvements.

At time of writing, there is some problem with the ignition button on the boiler and it needs great perseverance to get it to light. Hopefully, it will be sorted by the time you read this, but it raises a point. When you leave, make sure you turn down the thermostat and turn the boiler to hot water only, not heating and water. The boiler has been running itself in our absence when the temperature reaches the minimum thermostat temperature, wasting gas and money, and causing the pilot light to go out when the gas supply runs out.

If anybody has any climbing books or magazines that could go in the barn, please contact me. I am also looking for photos of SWMC members on rock. If you are trying to contact me by phone, my number has changed to 01792 527327.

Kim Collis

Club Meetings

At the end of this section is a table with all the relevant (known) details for club meets. Cut out and paste into your diary in real Blue Peter style!

A Women's meet will take place at Wintour's Leap. If the weather is too bad to climb outside, the venue will be changed to Welsh International Climbing Centre, Trelewis. If that happens, a further date will be arranged for outside.

Anyone interested should contact Linda Jensen for car sharing, etc..

Linda Jensen 029 20 652992 Linda.jensen@ntlworld.com

Two weekend meets are planned which are hoped will specifically draw members from Swansea and Cardiff into climbing together as "one club". Venues have yet to be finalised but it is anticipated they will be at The Roaches, North Wales or Mid Wales. Contact a committee member for details.

Two novice's days will take place in The Wye Valley and The Gower. Experienced climbers will team up with any newcomers. Those that have none can borrow spare kit.

Contact: Gary Lewis 02920 214677 gary.lewis2@ntlworld.com

A youth meeting held in conjunction with the BMC will be held at a venue and date to be determined.

Portland Area. Up to a week in a static caravan. (8 berth, £100 for the week).

Bring the family.

Contact: Gary Lewis 02920 214677 gary.lewis2@ntlworld.com

A weekends camping and climbing at Treen, Cornwall. There is a good pub, shop and café within spitting distance of the campsite.

Contact: Kim Collis 01792 527327 kim.collis@swansea.gov.uk

Club members are invited to a fortnight in the Pyrenees.

Two weeks of cragging, multi pitch climbing, alpine routes, canyoneering, mountain biking, walking and partying!

Some of these activities could even take place on different days!

Paul O' Neil (Of the Cogan Pill O'Neils) is organising the trip, probably flying via Stansted on "Easyjet." Camping will be near the fantastic Ordessa Gorge where as many of the above activities as can be fitted in will take place. All are welcome. Please contact Paul on the below numbers.

Mob: 07775 761591. Home: 029 20 703536. Wk: 01656 642727

A family weekend will take place at Lletty Llwyd, (The Hut). Come and try out the new access track and delight your family and friends with your barbecuing skills.

Contact: Haydn Griffiths, 02920 251265 Haydn.Griffiths@ntlworld.com

A weekends camping and climbing at Swanage. Tom's Filed Campsite for rowdies, Burnbake Campsite for families.

Contact: Gary Lewis 02920 214677 gary.lewis2@ntlworld.com

John Goodwin is organising a trip to Sharp Nose and Baggy Point in Devon.

Camping will be at Heartland, with the pub nearby.

John Goodwin: jngoodwin@hotmail.com

Book early!! Eight places have been booked (well in advance) for a long weekend to Scotland, staying in the Climbers Club Hut.

For a long weekend of ice climbing or winter walking contact The Venerable Chairman, Gwyne Evans. gwyne@globalnet.co.uk

Put these dates in your diary today!

BMC dates

The BMC are hosting a number of events in the area, the dates are shown below. There is a two-page flyer for the Annual Gathering with Summit Magazine.

With regard to the information published in the last newsletter regarding Area Access Reps, I have received an email from John Custance asking me to issue a correction. John is abroad and unable to write a full piece outlining the issues. Because of this I am only able to publish an extract from the email.

"I have just been speaking to Clair Bond at BMC about an access issue (NOT
SWMC guide book area). She also confirmed that as far as the BMC are
concerned BMC reps are NOT a club orientated thing, that is, they are NOT
decided at club level and that I am still the S.E. Wales rep. as far as they
are concerned and that they have no plans to change this.

Therefore the information in your latest Newsletter is incorrect. Can you
please issue a correction in the next Newsletter. Of course I will challenge
the minutes of the last AGM at the next AGM, as, if you remember I did
challenge when the change was "tried" at the last AGM."

(Note from editor: Anyone can contact the BMC direct should they have an access issue. There is a structure in place with Area Reps and the like but this is a BMC forum not SWMC. If anyone wants to write an article explaining the set up and structures I will publish it. Until then I won't mention it again.)

Wayne Gladwin (BMC Committee member) is running a First Aid Course over the weekend 5^th May 2001. Limited places are available at £60 a person.

Website

Anyone who has paid more than passing attention to this newsletter couldn't help but to notice that a "Website" www.southwalesmountaineering.org.uk has been mentioned more than once. If you haven't yet visited the club site, do it today! All credit to the webmaster Linda Jensen for her hard work. If you have any suggestions for the site or links you would like to see added, pass these on to Linda.

Letters from members

The ascent of Jebel Burdah. Nigel Lewis.

Together with Lisa Thomas, Peter Bennett and Rachana Nagaraj, I visited Jordan during October 2000.

Our first week was spent touring all the ancient and natural wonders of the region and the third week was earmarked for diving in the Red Sea. The middle week was reserved for our desert adventure.

We had given up our hire car at Petra and after a few days walking around one of the most amazing sites in the world, we were ready for our trip to continue.

We had arranged a good price with Mohhamed the taxi driver to take us to Wadi Rum, the village used by Lawrence of Arabia as his base during the First World War. The journey took us over barren high plateaux leading away from the Great Rift Valley toward the eastern Desert. The villages we passed through were not much different from those seen by travellers hundreds of years earlier, until we met with the modern Desert highway. This broad modern motorway sped us along, closer by the minute to the distant mountains we could see breaking the horizon ahead. As we neared them, they looked like a climbers paradise; High sweeping walls rising almost sheer from the sandy floor as if they were islands floating in a yellow sea. I had my nose pressed against the window eagerly soaking up the view, not realising that these were merely scruffy outlying peaks that wouldn't hold a light to the real thing.

We turned off the road onto the Wadi Rum Road. Leaving behind the many heavy lorries made the journey seem quieter at first but this was soon to be shattered. The first sign of the impending "feeding frenzy" for our tourist Dinars was the sudden flashing of the Mercedes headlights behind us. Our driver pulled over and the car behind us stopped. Out climbed a Bedouin, full-length robe and shamag headdress. Were there any Welsh hostages taken in Beirut? Were we to be the first? Don't forget, the Israeli army was attacking people with helicopter gunships and tanks only a modest drive away.

He approached our car and held an animated discussion with our driver. It turns out Mohammed was instructed to drive straight through Wadi Rum and go directly to this man's tented camp where he would then see to our every need. When we relayed back to him that we already had plans he presented us with an embossed and edged business card complete with email address in case we should change our mind.

We arrived at the quaintly named "Guesthouse" and were greeted by an army of Bedouin who all insisted we should speak to them. Arabic, German, English, French, they all shouted at us to take their Jeep for a desert trek. Several camels wandered by, bellowing at the hordes of tourists in the guesthouse. The buses would drop them off, (the tourists, not the camels) whereupon they would be ushered into the restaurant, fed good but tremendously expensive food and then shoved onto camels or jeeps for their desert safari.

We were dropped off just outside the melee at the nearby Wadi Petra restaurant. The owner was a friend of Mohammed and the staff would look after us. Nevertheless several others followed us into the little garden trying to get our business. We were invited to camp free at the Wadi Petra and given several glasses of Arabic tea to welcome us. We took up their offer and were soon greeted by "Mohammed" the jeep driver and climbing guide. (This is a different Mohammed, just one of at least two-dozen Mohammeds we met).

He was a distant relative of the hotelier from Petra and had been rung up and told to give us a good price as we had already conducted business with the family.

We spent the next three nights camping alongside the restaurant. The noisy camel in the yard next to us was easy to cope with compared to the basic sanitary facilities we shared with the restaurant staff. The meals we ate there were basic but good, with the overwhelming advantage of being absolutely gargantuan and dirt-cheap. We were so surprised at the quantity and the low bill agreed before the meal that some amongst us thought that we were being set up for a scam. (Two solicitors and two coppers, a very suspicious team indeed). We were pleasantly surprised when "Bilal" the manager explained we were getting the special "Climbers" rate as opposed to the tourist rate.

We did some scrambling and walking amid fantastic scenery around the village. Unfortunately the topos were not as good as we had hoped and we soon came to realise that the rock was absolutely lethal. Huge rocks would crumble like concrete powder as they were stood upon. That week had seen the only rain for several months and the thinner flakes of sandstone had become very brittle.

We were eventually joined by Xavi, (pronounced Chabby). He had been told we were going to hire a jeep to take us into the desert to one of the remote areas and asked if he could share our costs, travelling with us. Pete and I salivated when he told he was a mountain guide living in the Pyrenees, whilst the girls swooned over his Catalunyan good looks.

The next morning saw us load the jeep early and set off into the village. We stopped at a small house, which turned out to be the petrol station of sorts.

Mohammed put a large plastic jerry can onto the roof of the jeep, stuck a plastic tube into his mouth and deftly siphoned the contents into his fuel tank.

From his nearby house two worryingly identical containers were loaded with our drinking water and we were off. A bone jarring fast drive into the desert took us away from the early morning sounds of the Muezzin calling to prayer. Already there were other jeeps criss-crossing distant horizons and the occasional early walker avoiding the full glare of the later sun.

We pitched our tents at the base of Jebel Burdah, "The mountain of cool breezes," and set up our camp.

We set off up the North Ridge following a scrambling route to "Burdah Rock Bridge", a famous natural arch high up on the mountain. The first section of scrambling took us into a shattered cwm with lots of cairns placed across it. If you wanted to follow the cairns you could have gone in any of ten different directions. Again the topo and description weren't as easy to follow as we had hoped. The route finding was quite maze like with several seemingly correct ways leading to sheer blank walls or rounded domes that went nowhere. We met another party who were descending and they got us back on the right track.

By now we were into the hot part of the day and the rocks, being quite grey in this area, reflected the heat like an oven. We crossed an upper basin that had a surface like the moon. Barren, lifeless grey rock, sandy floor and shattered "onion peelings" formed by the desert erosion were surrounded by pillars and domes which sometimes cut down your line of sight to a few metres. We began to seek out shade for a water stop and as we did so, realised we were within sight of the bridge. Rach and Pete decided they would wait at the bridge while the rest of us went on to the top, some 90 minutes further.

A short section of unprotected climbing up the side of a steep dome took us onto the ridge above the East face. We moved right into an upper valley and then scrambled back onto the ridge. By this time we were able to enjoy the breezes for which this mountain is named. We followed the ridge over several false summits until we could finally see down the other side. Several big blocks crowned the summit in a giant Adam and Eve fashion. We sat there at 1,574m, basking in the hot sun while we slowly cooled down from our exertions. The view for 360 degrees was superb. Hundreds of rock islands rose up from the desert floor. Some we could identify from our guidebook, and others we would never know the names for, marched on into Saudi Arabia. We began to pick out countless peaks which we were sure people didn't climb for years at a time, if ever. The only people who went to some of these places were the goat-herders we occasionally saw, looking exactly as if they had stepped out of a child's Bible stories book.

Eventually we had to leave. If route finding had been hard in the daylight, imagine the pleasure of a nighttime descent.

We made our way back to the others and then eventually back to our camp, only getting frustrated with the route finding a handful of times. That night saw us light our brushwood fire and sit under a fantastically starlight night. Rach sung beautifully while I sung terribly, occasionally sipping from the Whisky we had brought with us. A brilliant end to a brilliant day.

Another day in the desert saw most of us stay close to the camp as illness had struck. Pete and I tried some new routing on nearby Jebel Um Hamata but were turned back by a huge blank wall before the top.

That night saw another roaring fire, this time marvellously aided by the camel shit we had collected on the way back from the other mountain.

We returned to the village the next day and shortly after that moved on to the coast.

Whilst some climbers rave about Wadi Rum, others have vowed never to return. Whatever your feelings about the climbing, it is a beautiful wilderness area well worth visiting, especially in the company of good friends and loved ones.

Coming soon

The next newsletter will be published in June 2001. Please submit any items, requests or pictures by 1^st June to n.and.l@ntlworld.com

All submissions will be considered for publication and almost definitely printed.