First I must apologise for the lack of information regarding this meet but I have only just received the information myself.
We shall be staying at the Fylde M.C. hut at 2 Newhouses Little Langdale: G.R. NY 315030.
The hut sleeps 16 in two dormitories and has all the usual facilities. 14 of these places have already been reserved so if you want to come you'll have to get your skates on and give me a ring.
As most of you who are coming on this meet are very familiar with the area I shall forebear to tell you what you already know, like the excellent climbing, mountaineering and walking plus the excellent company. I am personally hoping for ice and snow but warm and sunny is preferable to wind and rain. Whatever the weather we shall have a great time. See you there.Derek
I have booked accommodation in Kingussie. If you would like to join me, please contact me.
The Grampian MC hut is ideally situated for a wide range of activities in Lochaber. It lies at the foot of Glen Fhaolain to the south of Bidean nam Bian and SW of Buachaille Etive Mor, both more than 1000m high. There are other lesser Munros in the group. The ice climbing on the south side of Glencoe is well known to Oreads though it will make a change to access from a different direction. A car or two will give easy access to the Aonach Eagach ridge. If the sun shines and the ice melts, the Trilleachan slabs are very nearby, so rock boots recommended on this winter climbing meet.
We shall be travelling up to the Grampian MC hut on Friday 5. I visited this hut in the mid 70s and can highly recommend both its position and ambience. Map reference is NN 158507. The hut is situated 7 miles down the Glen Etive road from its junction with the A82 Tyndrum - Glencoe road. No gas. Composting toilet. Electricity from £1 coin meter. No running water so bring big containers to carry from the burn 80m away. We also need to take our own coal or wood to fire the stove in the common room. Full info sheet available electronically from me. £4 per person per night.
One slightly embarrassing admission: I believe one or more Oreads may have booked places with me already. I have mislaid my list: please re-book!
Bookings are going very well for this hardy annual, but if you ring me now, I might just be able to squeeze you in. As I am sure you all know, the excellently furnished George Starkey Hut gives immediate access to a feast of attractive crags, gullies and mountain ridges. It lies in the village of Patterdale at GR 394162, just at the start of the track to Side Farm, with its own decently sized car park. I suggest that we water at the nearby 'White Lion Inn' of Friday night. Ring me to reserve your place. See you there. Colin
Over the years we have had many fulfilling meets at our Welsh hut. All types of mountain sports have been carried out. It is therefore difficult to come up with something that has not been done before. As this weekend will be the first day of Spring I thought it would be nice to circumnavigate the Yr Wyddfa massif. The height will depend upon the weather, which hopefully will be fine, but the normal route to Cwm Clogwyn, Cwmbrwynog and Cwm Glas would be the start, and then it will depend on how tired we are as to the return! If we are lucky and have lots of snow (dreams!) climbing should take priority. In the evening we could look at some slides from long ago in days when we used to get real winters and of course a few drinks. Sunday will take care of itself.
If you would like to join me on this jovial weekend ring to book a place.
The 55th A.G.M. of the Oread Mountaineering Club will be held at The Bear Hotel Alderwasley on Saturday 27th March 2004 at 20:00 hrs. May I remind members that subject to Rules 8 and 9 of the constitution of the club the Secretary must receive any nominations for election of officers and committee members at least 14 days before the A.G.M. Derek Pike. Hon. Sec.
The weather forecast predicted heavy rain and gale force winds for the weekend, but it didn't materialise until late on Saturday afternoon. This spot of good weather allowed us (Neil, James, Mike Wren, Simon Pape and Derek Pike) to get a good day's winter climbing in at Coire an t-Sneachda. Mike, Simon and Derek ascended Crotched Gully but were delayed slightly as Mike went sledging without a sledge resulting in some sore ribs and horror of all horrors, a 'broken Tupperware box'. The Tubby-Weatherstone team ascended Aladdin's Mirror, Central Gully and Jacob's Ladder before the forecasted bad weather appeared and white-out conditions became prevalent on the tops. On Saturday evening many pints of Wild Cat beer were sunk at the Glenmore Lodge Bar, while sitting on the almost too comfy sofas. At 6:30am on Sunday the weather was rather inclement. As this was forecast to continue the only possible course of action was to have a lie in before heading home. Altogether an enjoyable weekend made worthwhile by the routes achieved on the Saturday. Neil Weatherstone and James Tubby
The winter indoor slide lectures will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 8:00 pm in the Royal Oak Ockbrook.
Feb. 3 A World of Sport and Ice Climbing Simon Dale
Mar. 2 Vintage Films + The Dolomites Chris Radcliffe
This list is only correct at time of going to press. Members are advised to check availability with the hut booking secretary Colin Hobday before going to either hut. Note that hut booking dates refer to nights (e.g. Fri/Sat for a weekend), whereas meet dates refer to the days e.g. Sat/Sun).
Last October, 2003, I devised an expedition to Spiti on the east side of the Great Himalaya Divide to re-locate and climb the crest of the "purana" (old) Pin-Parbati Pass, 15,754 ft which until the Chinese re-asserted their suzerainty over Tibet in 1959 had linked Tibet and India via two great river valleys, the Parbati on the Kulu side, and the Pin on the Spiti side. Both valleys were heavily glaciated in their upper reaches.
In recent years I've had a number of interesting encounters with the Parbati valley approach to the Divide, including two expeditions which had the main objective of crossing the original "purana" (old) Pin-Parbati pass from Kulu and descending into the Pin valley in Spiti. Although I did eventually succeed in crossing the Himalayan Divide separating the heads of the two valleys in the year 2000, the "new" pass was both higher and more hazardous than an historic pass should be. Our calculations showed the variation to be 17,000 ft., high against the original pass's surveyed height of 15, 754 ft.
Not content with exploring the higher variation route I still yearned to locate and reach the crest of the original Pin-Parbati pass. However the chaotic state of the ten-mile long glacier at the head of the Parbati valley dictated an approach from the east or "backside" through the border province of Spiti. The Urdu word for "backside" is the more respectable sounding "pichu" - so our expedition became the Pichu Expedition 2003, and I persuaded Paul and Jean Bingham and the youthful octogenarian John Welbourne of the Oread MC, and Stan Moore of the Birmingham Cave and Crag, to join the enterprise.
We approached the upland desert of Spiti through the famous old hill station of Simla and the precipitous mountain roads of the valley of the great river Sutlej and Kinnaur. At one point we were only twenty-five miles from a Chinese manned checkpoint on the Tibetan border. To our consternation an enormous rock avalanche had swept half a mile of the only highway into the valley bottom a thousand feet below. The two ends of the road had been linked by an aerial ropeway manned by the Indian Army, and on this our gear was shipped across. However during the descending traverse on foot, with the main party safely across the danger zone, Paul Bingham and I bringing up the rear narrowly escaped annihilation by a subsequent colossal rock avalanche.
By Sunday 2 November, using a team of yaks led by the powerful but genial "White-face", we were in base camp lying under the nevés of the Pin Valley glacier complex. At 05:30 on Monday 3 November we set out to explore the upper Pin valley and climbed steadily up the approach slopes. The final stage to the crest of the "purana" Pin-Parbati pass was a steep combination of glacier snout, nevé and gigantic scree until at 14:00 I reached the crest with Sonam Tashi and Jeet Ram. Recent snow fall had created a massive cornice on the south western (Kulu) side of the crest but the level nature of the nevé surface indicated a classic Himalayan pass, as well as providing the obvious source of the Pin river, which emerged below us to the east from beneath the snout of the Pin glacier. After a brief session of photography we made the weary descent to base camp to rejoin the support team for dinner at 18:30.
Bob Pettigrew (Pettigrew Pahari Sahib)
If anyone still wishes to upgrade to full BMC membership, please ask me for a form. Please make all cheques payable to Oread Mountaineering Club.
There are still 34 members who have still not paid their annual subscriptions to the club. According to the Club rules, those who have not paid by the AGM, will automatically forfeit their rights to membership. If you wish to remain a member of the Club and have still not paid, please do so ASAP.
Thank you. Simon Pape (Treasurer).
Please ensure that material for the next newsletter reaches me before Monday 23rd February. I would like to hear from John Gresty, (Spring Stride), Rob Tresidder (Alpi Dolomiti), Daryl Kirk (S Pembroke - Easter), HSC (TYW WP).