Clwb Dringo De Cymru
www.southwalesmountaineering.org.uk
Newsletter, June 2001
Notes from the editor
“Foot and Mouth.” Each a very
simple and familiar word when used alone. Strung together in a phrase they now
carry quite a heavier meaning for many people within
The
latest info on where to go can be found on the BMC web site. Those without
access to the web can contact John Custance or any committee member for
assistance.
Newsletter publication
Any club member with an email address that hasn’t
passed it on to their membership secretary is urged to do so. Send to:
|
Anne Pitman |
Membership secretary, |
a.pitman@swancoll.ac.uk |
|
Gary Lewis 029 20214677 |
Membership secretary, |
Gary.lewis2@ntlworld.com |
It has been brought to the notice of the committee that some club meetings are being listed without the full knowledge of those shown as contact points. This has been done in good faith but could easily have caused problems for some people. Anyone who wants to put an item into the newsletter about a meet or proposed meet can simply send details to the editor for publication, but as with any news item, the accuracy of information submitted can only be confirmed if it arrives with enough time to do so. The newsletter is published mid month, with the deadline for copy being the first day of that month. If I am sent things late, they may be able to go into the newsletter at the last minute, but then again, maybe they won’t. (I have a full time job and a young family!)
Reports
from the committee
The
committee last met on
Progress
with the guidebook is quite slow. No date has been fixed as yet for
publication.
The
Barn is open for use and has had part of the building work completed. (See
Kim’s letter later on).
The
club will be actively seeking to become involved in any consultation with Local
Government concerning the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000. (“Right to
Roam” Legislation)
Other
matters were discussed which will be reported upon as they develop.
The
committee will next be meeting on
Servei general
d’Informacio de Muntanya
Some club members were recently lucky enough to have a private visit to
the above named organisation which is based in Sabadell Barcelona
During
the Seventies, serious alpinists from Catalunya were finding it increasingly
difficult to obtain information on far-flung mountain ranges outside
In
1974 a group of friends started a project to find, classify and file any kind
of documentation suitable for use by climbers and Alpinists, with the intention
of making their collection as widely available as possible.
The
collection, now big enough to be housed in a renovated 10th Century
church, contains thousands of books and periodicals, libraries of maps,
newspaper articles, photo’s and videos and a growing collection of documents
provided by National governments and individual expeditions which are not
available anywhere else. Pictures of the church and more information is shown
on their website www.drac.com/sgim
There
are other less serious collections such as labels and stamps with a mountain or
climbing theme, and an impressive collection of postcards sent by National
Expeditions from the highest mountains in the world.
The
Servei have even gone on to publish several excellent works of their own,
including maps of the
Also
published by them are excellent “Cuadernos” or booklets on specific Mountain
masses, including Garet el Djenoun, in
Summaries
from the most interesting Mountaineering periodicals are published annually.
The
Servei would like it known that anything published concerning mountains is of
interest to them and they are keen on filing and preserving it.
Consultations
with the Servei can be arranged by all modern media and the addresses are shown
below. You can become an Associate of the Servei for an Annual fee of Ptas
5,000 (about £20) or pay a nominal fee to access their archives. An associate
is entitled to free consultations, copies of any future Cuadernos, Annual
Summaries and up to date catalogues of the libraries contents. As well as
receiving discounts on other publications, associates are of course supporting
the work of the Servei.
Should
you wish to contact the Servei, you should bear in mind the members are all
volunteers and are only at the premises two nights a week. Between themselves
they speak Catalan but are completely fluent in Spanish, speak good English and
a smattering of other languages.
|
Phone |
00 34 93 723 84 13 |
|
Fax |
00 34 93 723 74 89 |
|
Email |
sgim@drac.com |
|
Post |
P.O. BOX 330, E-08200, Sabadell, Spain |
Letter from the
barn warden
No sooner had the last
newsletter come out than we had to close the barn because of the foot and mouth
outbreak. I am pleased to say that we have now reopened the barn with the
agreement of the farmer and the Council. But please use the yellow disinfectant
bath provided at the top of the track (bring some of your own disinfectant to
keep it topped up, Jeyes Fluid is OK). Keep to the track and don’t go for a
wander in the fields around. If you see a sheep, RUN! There is much more
accessible now in North Wales- so it may be worth a visit.
We’ve used the closed period
to do some building work. The kitchen now has a wooden tongue and groove
ceiling and Velux windows in the roof. Last weekend I experienced the novelty
of sunshine in the kitchen! Before you reach for the Factor 25, this may only
be a midsummer thing.
At the last Committee
meeting a motion was passed for the installation of internal toilets. We hope
to get this job done during the summer, but it could mean some disruption to
the washing and showering arrangements, since the waste pipe will go through
the washroom and so we will have to have new showers and washbasins installed
at the same time. There may be 2-3 weeks in which washing will mean a basin at
the sink. I know my fellow climbers are all very particular about washing and
showering. Sorry, but it will all be worth it in the long run. I’ll put the
exact dates of the disruption on the website when I know them. It will however,
be after Gary’s barn meet at the end of June.
Keys are available from me
in Swansea, telephone 01792 527237 (not the number given in the last
newsletter) or e-mail <kim.collis@ntlworld.co.uk>
or Chris Wyatt 01792 521228 e-mail <classicacw@aol.com>.
In Cardiff they are available from Pete Bennett or Gary Lewis.
If you are able to give up some time to work at the barn or do a job while you are up there (this is not a toilet joke), I would really appreciate it. At the moment a lot of stuff needs to go to the tip on Anglesey. If any body has some spare cutlery, decent pans, decent wooden storage shelves, coffee table, sound system, etc., once again, get in touch.
Kim Collis
Club Meetings
The
list of meets has been revised. Get rid of the list published in the March
Newsletter and stick this in your diary instead. Contact points remain the
same, or contact any committee member who will be able to point you in the
right direction.
Put these dates in your diary today!
|
Date |
Meeting |
Venue |
|
Sat 16/6/01 |
Pyrenees trip |
Ordessa Gorge |
|
Sat 23/6/01 |
Novice’s day (Camp) |
The Gower |
|
W/end 29/6/01 |
Family BBQ |
Llety Llwyd |
|
August Bank Hols |
Camping/Climbing |
Swanage |
|
Sept 2001 |
Youth Meeting |
To be fixed |
|
W/end 21/901 |
“One club” meeting |
Mid Wales |
|
W/end 19/10/01 |
Camping/Climbing |
Sharp Nose |
|
W/end 2/3/02 |
Ice climbing/Walking |
Scotland |
Several club members will be
in Bangalore, Southern India, during June, attending the traditional Hindu
wedding of Peter Bennet and Rachana Nagaraj. I’m sure all club members will
join in wishing them every future happiness.
BMC Dates and Info.
|
29/9/01 |
BMC Committee for Wales |
WICC |
Gwyn Evans reports on the recent British
Mountaineering Council AGM held in Cardiff.
On
7 April the BMC came to Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Before the AGM there were workshops on:
·
Mountain
Heritage Trust
·
Membership,
Insurance and Club Developments
·
Current Research
and Equipment Standards
·
Summit, Website
and BMC Information Service
·
Access Debate –
The BMC and Rural Development
Kim
Collis and Gwyn Evans attended but, because they hadn’t spoken to one another,
both ended up attending the Access Debate. Not only did Gwyn attend the Access
workshop but ended up as one of the speakers, having only opened the email that
morning! The morning session on membership and other developments was mostly
singing the praises of Summit Financial Services, which you will know about if
you insure through the BMC. They are
introducing a new product to insure against loss of income through accident.
Useful snippets of info about the BMC and barns and about the new BMC
membership card- if you’ve got one already you’ll see it carries the UIAA
symbol which is handy when you are brandishing it about in out-of-the-way huts
trying to get a discount.
In
the afternoon session, “what we can contribute to rural development” was the
main issue. The BMC has established a Rural Development Panel, which has the
objectives of assessing what hill-goers contribute to the development of rural
communities and promoting ways in which positive contributions can be increased
by the BMC, commercial bodies and individuals. Ken Taylor showed how the rural
economy (primarily agricultural incomes) has been affected in the last twenty
years. Hugh Harris demonstrated the size
of the outdoor industry and how some firms had chosen to set up in less than
ideal manufacturing locations but were helping the rural economy by offering
local employment opportunities. Gwyn
talked about what we as individuals take out of an area and asked what we could
put back. A lot of what we take is
intangible, but we also cause damage to walls, gates and obstruction of and
damage to verges. Iain Peter showed what
Plas y Brenin contributed to Capel Curig.
PyB employs over 100 people at its peak and that doubles the local
population, it also provides the nearest photocopier for miles. They also encourage visitors to travel by
train to Llandudno Junction, pick them up by minibus and then hold them
“prisoner” in Capel so that they spend their money locally, helping the local
community! The debate that followed
offered many more ideas that will be taken forward by the RDP.
The
AGM had all the usual items and two that will affect the Club. The first was a motion to increase the per
capita subscription to the BMC. The
proposal, which was eventually passed, was to increase the rate from £4.25 pa
to £5.25pa, effective from January 2002.
The last increase was two years ago.
This subscription provides each member with four copies of Summit
magazine a year, £3million liability insurance and free access to the
information service, as well as supporting the BMC’s access and conservation
work.
The
second was a motion from the Committee for Wales that the BMC’s organisational
review should create a “new identity and structure in Wales…… within a
co-ordinated UK framework”. In essence
this would reflect the new political structures in Wales and the need to increase
the Welsh identity of representative bodies (a possible Mountaineering Council
for Wales?), it would also be more able to access support for the sport in
Wales. This was also passed.
Gwyn
Evans
Anne Pitman reports on the recent BMC/MLTB Training Day held at WICC.
As part of the annual AGM, a training day was held, entitled, ‘organising club meets’. The wide title of the day’s training encompassed five choices of modules, of which we were allowed to choose two:
1. Belays and Anchors
2. Coaching Climbing & Improving own Performance
3. Navigation Skills & Rope work for Scrambling
4. Working with Novices
5. Organising Club Meets
Amazingly, despite the course being advertised in the Summit magazine and free to members, attendance was surprisingly thin. This of course worked to our advantage. Much more attention was spent on those of us who were there. (Which resulted in more time being spent with the gorgeous climbing guru, Andrew)!
Personally, I chose to attend the first two sessions. Understandably, the foot and mouth restrictions proved interesting, as the entire course had to be undertaken at the climbing wall – I did wonder how they would be able to effectively teach belays and anchors at a bolted wall!
Even
with the limitations – the course provided excellent sound advice! We spent the entire morning looking at
different ways of setting up belays, acceptable angles, different methods of
equalising anchors, every method possible of tying in to a belay etc, etc. Of course all of this training was very much
enhanced by the gorgeous, Andrew, who was responsible for the instruction.
Interestingly
enough – he picked up on my black diamond harness, and the use of it at the
wall (they don’t have a belay loop), in addition to the fact that I have
previously tied in to anchors via clove hitches and three anchor points! Not that I am paranoid you understand!! Apparently, I have spent all this time,
following the textbook style method of tying in, which you only use when you
have too much time on your hands! (I can
now tie on using the rope!)
In
the afternoon, I attended the ‘Coaching Climbing and Improving Own Performance’
session. A gentleman called Mike, who is
already familiar with the SWMC, held this session. (Sorry I can’t remember his surname)!
Here
we spent the afternoon, looking at different bouldering problems, planning our
moves, and coaching each other. Again,
interestingly enough, Mike pointed out how I didn’t appear to spend enough time
planning my next move (I didn’t feel victimised at all, by this point – I
promise)!! The session really was
useful, as well as being great fun. Of course, I learned loads, but
interestingly enough, so did very good and experienced climbers.
On
the whole, all of us who attended had a thoroughly enjoyable day in addition to
each of us learning something
new. I for one will actively look
forward to any future courses run locally by the BMC.
Anne
Pitman
Access Info.
John Custance, an Area Rep.
for the BMC, has submitted the following information.
TAFF’S WELL
Access problems have arisen at Taff’s Well. The actual
crag and the
woodlands above are both SSSIs and SACs. The crag is a possible nest
site for peregrine falcons. Permission is needed before access to SSSI/SACs
can be made. Nesting restrictions may be necessary. Negotiations are
actively under way. In order not to prejudice these negotiations please do
not climb here until news indicates that climbing can take place.
Letters from members
Swansea Goes To Skye
Guy Richardson
This
year Skye was chosen for the Swansea branch annual Whit sun trip to
Scotland. Meet Leader Jo invited some
other Cuillin virgins to join her - Anne, Tim and Nicola (Nic), plus Dave and
Katherine, Julie and, very briefly, Kim. In addition she recruited two members
of the SWMC’s SAGA branch- Mike and
myself. We were to provide sound
guidance to a party unfamiliar with the Cuillin or alternatively, depending on
your point of view, unnecessary, unwanted and irrelevant advice.
We
assembled on Friday night in my local pub in the Lakes where the landlord was
mightily impressed with the number of pints downed between arrival at 11pm and
leaving one hour later. We drove up on the Saturday discussing ambitions on the Main Ridge and our hit list
of routes on Sron na Ciche and elsewhere - all based on the assumption of
continuous sunny weather, of course.
Our
accommodation in Broadford was generally fine except that Jo directed Mike and
me to the beds in the attic. Here, we discovered, it was impossible to stand
up. To make matters worse we had for company both the water tank and,
immediately outside the window, a nest of noisy birds. We were unclear how we
had offended the Meet Leader so early in
the week.
Sunday.
Rain, low cloud. Julie, Kim and Jo went to the Quiraing, while the rest of us
decided on a coastal walk. We started at Kirkibost and walked to Coruisk. The
‘Bad Step’ was declared ‘pathetic’. We then retraced our route to Camasunary
and then continued down to Elgol in the pouring rain. To our surprise the tea
shop hadn’t closed and we splashed in to the consternation of the owner who was
momentarily undecided as to whether the profit on six cups of tea justified the
flooding of his newly laid wooden floor.
Monday. Rain, low cloud. We decided to get serious. Tim put on his old Rohan Superstrider breeches from the 1980’s and we all fell about laughing. “Nail him up on a pub wall as a mountaineering relic” was probably the best line. The plan was a scramble up the north east ridge of Sgurr a Bhasteir, descend below Am Basteir and then up the west ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean. As Mike had previously descended the scramble under snow conditions he was voted route finder in the misty conditions. Eventually he stopped, in an arbitrary fashion, at the foot a bit of slab and in the absence of a better idea declared this the start of the route. A pleasant scramble followed which eventually took us to the Main Ridge alongside the Bhasteir Tooth.
We made our way to the west ridge of Gillean where I was then voted route finder. I was supposedly familiar with the correct chimney to gain the ridge proper. By this time it was raining again and I launched up a dripping Tooth Chimney with a rope around my waist having missed the easier chimney on the right that I had been up and down n. times before. On reaching the ridge I was met by lashing rain and a gale. Even with the use of a rope I declared it ‘not on’ for such a large party and climbed back down. This, I discovered later, brought an argument about whether tying on directly to a rope was best done with a bowline or a figure of eight to a premature end. (It was good to see that the decades old SWMC tradition of saving arguments about the basics of climbing until high up on a mountain in adverse conditions is still alive and well!).
At
this point a guide and his party arrived. Mike and I immediately recognised him
as one of the guides on our ski mountaineering course in Arolla last year.
After a brief chat he ascended the chimney to assess the situation. The
possibility of humiliation loomed – would he decide to press on with his party?
To my relief he turned back and we all descended soaked through, except Jo and
Superstrider who, with impressive commitment, went back to knock off Bruach na
Frithe. The price was high for Tim, though, as he finished the day with a
whopping blister from his new boots.
Tuesday.
Not raining but low cloud over the Blacks. The Reds were clear so we decided to
do Marsco. We had a pleasant ascent and
some good views although the Main Ridge remained well covered. Jo and Superstrider
took charge of the descent and stormed off down the north ‘ridge’. It soon
became apparent that we were on a convex slope of increasingly steep, wet grass
that was going to lead to a vertical drop. I persuaded the others to stay with
me in the land of the living and follow an alternative line, but Jo and Tim
were down and out of sight. As we picked
our way down I contemplated a puzzled mountain rescue team finding a man’s body
at the foot of this crag clothed in Superstrider breeches, indicating a fall
some twenty years ago, and yet displaying minimal signs of decomposition.
Wednesday. Raining and low cloud. However, we decided to get serious again. The plan was to get on to the Main Ridge at An Dorus, traverse Sgurr a Ghreadaidh and Sgurr Na Banachdich, rounding off the day with a mass ascent of the “In Pin” on Sgurr Dearg. In the mist we felt our way up through Coire a’Ghreadaidh. Here we came across a solitary figure. On enquiring whether he was going up or coming down he said he wasn’t sure. He was trying, without success, to find An Dorus. He latched on behind us and with the unerring navigational skills so typical of the SWMC he was led onto the Main Ridge exactly where he wanted to be.
We
then traversed a very wet Sgurr a Ghreadaidh in limited visibility. My verbal
pictures of the vast 3000-foot drop beneath us down to Coruisk were not
appreciated by all, but it was such a shame to be denied the full splendour of
our position. All the Cuillin virgins managed the scrambling with great aplomb despite
the adverse conditions. Anne pretended she didn’t like one or two of the going
down bits, but as she was invariably giggling at the time no one believed her.
Then
past the Three Teeth, over Sgurr Thormaid and to the North top of Sgurr Na
Banachdich. Here Mike and Katherine opted for the Gobhar ridge, while the rest
of us continued over the various tops of the Banachdich ridge until we reached
Bealach Coire Na Banachdich. Here we concluded that the wind and rain would
make the “In Pin” too unpleasant so we bailed out. With some route finding
difficulties in the mist we finally made our way down to Glenbrittle.
Thursday.
The weather was almost half decent, but there was a forecast of heavy rain
after lunch. After so many soakings, Anne, Dave and Katherine decided on a rest
day and did a tour of the island. Mike and I made a firm decision to climb
MacLeods Tables, but finished up with a fine tally of three galleries, two
climbing shops, two tea shops a picnic and two cemeteries (it’s the old, not
the new cemetery at Struan, if you’re interested in paying your respects to the
Cuillin pioneers.) The only people to show the fitness and resolve which befits
the SWMC were Julie who did a mega walk over the Suisnich round and Jo, Nick
and Tim who decided that Skye’s highest summit, Sgurr Alasdair, should feel the
weight of their boots. They climbed it via Sgurr Sgumain and the Bad Step
bypass in poor conditions.
Then
somehow Thursday night turned into party night. The booze stocks were decimated
and Nic finally got into her true drinking stride with a bottle of vodka. A
vast pile of pizzas was demolished and Dave then led us into a range of party
tricks and balancing feats. With everyone thoroughly pissed we finally went to
bed at 3am fully prepared for our final ‘big day’.
Friday.
Rain, low cloud and a very strong wind. With a forecast giving no hint of a let
up the ‘big day’ was cancelled. Tim, one of the car providers, tried to
interest the party in a distillery, but there was a mood to go home. Eventually
Anne’s pleading eyes and softly spoken ‘I want to go home to my cat’ won the
day and we packed up and left.
Note
from Editor Can anyone come up
with a story from Skye that doesn’t involve loads of rain?
Coming soon
The
next newsletter will be published in September 2001. Please submit any items,
requests or pictures by 1st September to n.and.l@ntlworld.com
All
submissions will be considered for publication and almost definitely printed.
Remember,
the submission date means the date for inclusion in the next newsletter.
Any item can be sent to me at any time for future publication.