The New Year brings a new venue for members to meet. From this month our committee meetings and evening get together will be at the Royal Oak in Ockbrook. It is hoped this will encourage more members to turn up for a pint and chat, on the second Tuesday of each month. Wednesday midweek meets stay the same. As usual your editor went along on the Bullstones, and had fabulous weather and a great time. I have to say also that this was the best organised and well run Bullstones meet for very many years, many thanks Derek. A Very Happy New Year to everyone.
The change from our traditional venue arises from advice from on high, (about 1.6 metres actually), that the George is less welcoming than formerly. We shall meet at Ilam Cross (in the village, but not up the youth hostel drive), at about 10.45, ready to move off a few minutes later, for a leisurely stroll up the Manifold, via Throwley Hall, crossing the river at the stones below Beeston (water level permitting) and so to the Royal Oak at Wetton. Doubtlessly, a plan will evolve for the return, but that will be allowed to occur in the mellow surrounds of the hostelry.
This additional meet to the calendar will hopefully be blessed with snow and ice a plenty. We have 6 guests from the Tuesday Climbing Club along as well, so it should be great fun. There will probably be some disruption around the drying room as the builders are in, but don't let this put you off! Note the picture above if you need any more reason to come along. It's what mountains are for isn't it?
Following a successful holiday to Jersey at Easter this year I find that I am now organising a Club meet to Jersey for next year. Considering the time of year the weather we had this year was very good with only one bad day and that cleared up for the afternoon, this does not mean that I am promising a week of sunshine. The island which is only about eight by five miles appears to have something for everyone from climbing, walking, cycling plus some gorgeous beaches. We shall be camping at the Bleu Soleil campsite in the north west of the island near to the best crags and a fifteen minute walk to the beach or the pub which ever takes your fancy. The campsite which unfortunately boasts a yellow and blue colour scheme has the usual facilities plus a good cafe cum restaurant and a hot tub. You may bring your own tent or rent one of theirs already erected. Your own two berth tent for seven nights £80, four berth £150. Rent a tent around £215 for two people. Bookings for the ferry if done through the campsite, will save you around £100. [Condor ferries from Poole to Jersey via Guernsey, around 4 hours sailing]. Bookings to www.bleusoleilcamping.com or I will book it for you if you wish, If you are intending to come for only a few days it is possible to fly direct to Jersey from Liverpool from around £60 return. A hire car for a short stay will probably not be needed as the campsite is only about 3 miles away from the airport. One benefit of taking your car to Jersey is that when you get there, there is no long drive to your final destination, around 20 minutes should suffice. Anyone taking a caravan or campervan will have to get a permit from the site owners. Caravans are only permitted to travel to the campsite and back to the port, and campervans must return to the site every night, no overnight parking in lay bys is allowed. A 1-25000 map of Jersey is available from the Map Shop Upton upon Severn 0800 085 40 80 or www.themapshop.co.uk Jersey Climbs by Kevin Eloury is available from Cordee books www.cordee.co.uk Any further information required please phone me.
The best way to get out winter climbing seems to be prepared to go where the conditions are good when the forecast is good! Easier said than done. Last winter we managed 2 or 3 weekends good climbing in this manner. Communication is normally by e-mail, but telephones work too. So if you want to go up to Scotland this winter or even get out closer to home if conditions allow, please let me know and I'll try and put you in touch with like-minded Oreads.
Next year's summer alpine meet will be at the start of the school holidays from 24th July to 7th August. Currently I am looking at a venue east of The Bernese Oberland called The Western Alps of Uri. However, there has been mention of visiting the USA and currently I am researching these and other options. I would welcome any communication on people's preferences, please contact me.
Our first talk of the New Year on is by Mike Mortimer, who has been described by the Alpine Club as having done more climbs in the Dolomites than any other British Climber. He has also done plenty of new routes in Morocco & will be coming to talk to us about 'New routing on the North Side of Jebel el Kest in Morocco'. But more than this, he will be presenting a Quiz for Climbers. It should be a really good night! You will need to bring a pencil & paper along for the Quiz. It's on Tuesday 5th January - at the Royal Oak, Ockbrook at 8pm as usual. Please let me know if you intend to come along. On the 2nd February we will have Nick Evans talking about 'Hot Rock: Four Italian Volcanoes' and Chris Radcliffe presenting 'The Alps 2009'. I hope to see you at both these events, Happy New Year.
The 54th Dovedale Dash was a wet, very wet one, though yet again, it didn't actually rain during the race. The Oread was thinner than ever before. Of course some stalwarts were involved with bigger things in the Himalaya (well, London airport actually!) The results as best I can discover: 79th Roland Smith - 102nd John O'Reilly - Clive Russell ? - 791st Rob Tresidder - 8** Claire O'Reilly
At the dinner the day before the walk, John Dench outed himself as the scurrilous Tricouni, anonymous correspondent of Oread newsletters years ago, I think when Scott and Radcliffe were wearing the green eyeshades. This of course was the very same day that Dr Magnanti, the respiratory physiologist, outed herself as Belle de Jour, the blogging £300 an hour prostitute. Shome connecshion urely? Who inspired whom? I think we should be told. Musing on these matters led the meet leader to leave his waterproofs behind thus making an early bid for next year's bent ice screw award. Fortunately for him, the weather stayed remarkably fine and his omission passed unnoticed.
A huge crowd (more than two dozen) gathered variously at the hotel, at the bus stop and at the station in Matlock from where we walked to Bonsall. Arrived almost at the Barley Mow a chink appeared in the leader's preparations when he failed to find the footpath down to the pub, only to be rescued by some intuitive nymph. Colette and David were welcoming in the pub and coped with our overwhelmingness. After nearly 100 minutes of R&R we staggered back to the hotel via St James Church, Ember Farm and Upperwood. A very "Oread" gathering, with a reassuringly wide range of ages and fitness's. Belle de Tricouni
Mummy and Daddy packed the car and we drove to the Peak District for my first Heathy Lea experience. We arrived mid afternoon following a pub lunch in the Robin Hood. I was concerned I may not get my nice warm evening bath and how would mummy sterilise my feeding equipment? But all was well, how marvellous, the place had electricity!! But no bath, what?? But there was a plastic washing up bowl that made a perfect substitute, I wondered where I would sleep but I had a whole room to myself upstairs!! Daddy put my travel cot up and as if by magic a baby sized sleeping bag appeared which was warm and snug and made me very happy. I had a great nights sleep and the next day we went for a walk around Chatsworth Estate.
In Early September 2009, Sylvia and I decided to take a journey to John o' Groat's, after which we travelled down the west coast of Scotland, and over the sea to Rum. The island is entirely owned by the Scottish Nature Conservancy, but over the next few years the village parts are being returned to the people, in the form of a cooperative. From a mountaineer's point of view, the highlight is the Cuillin Ridge in the south east part of the island. This is a smaller version of its Skye neighbour. The ridge has two Corbetts, Askival, the highest point, and Ainshval. To traverse the whole ridge is a very hard day.
We stayed at Kinloch Castle bunkhouse, actually a set of individual rooms in the castle itself. These cost £15 per person per night. There is a self cooking kitchen and a small Bistro which did meals for another £15 per person inclusive of 3 courses and tea or coffee. It was excellent value, and the chef's knowledge of the area's mountaineering potential, was as good as his cooking! In the evenings, there were slide shows and talks about the island's history and how the SNC is ensuring the wildlife is protected.
Also staying there was another mountaineer, called David, who wanted to do the traverse as well as me. It made good sense to go together. So, on Thursday 10th September we set out from Kinloch Castle in rather poor weather. The walk in was about 4k to the summit of the first peak called Hallival at 723mtrs. Some scrambling followed to the first Corbett Askival at 812 mtrs. Then the fun started! After the Bealach an Oir we scrambled to the summit of Trollival and heard the famous noise from the very green banks on its side. This noise was made by the remaining Manx Shearwater young, deep in their breeding holes, calling for food. This is the reason for the name of the peak, Trollival, as the invading Vikings thought the noise was made by Trolls! As we traversed around the peak in the mist I used my trusty GPS to locate our exact position and as always it told us exactly where we were. However, I do not use the GPS to guide the way, I use my compass, and in this instance it was a big mistake, as it led us back to the Bealach an Oir! After some head scratching I realized what the problem was, the geology here is the same as Skye, ie gabbro, a magnetic rock. Everyone knows compasses are not reliable on Skye but I had forgotten the same applied to Rum, so be warned! We cut across from here to the Bealach an Fhuarain and slogged up the interminable scree to the second and last Corbett Ainshval 781 mtrs. The intension was to continue over Sgurr nan Gillean, but time constraints made this to difficult. We set off down Glen Dididil to the stalkers track and bothy, and flogged along this back to the castle 10 mins late for dinner. We had been going for ten and a half hours. Very few photos were taken due to the mist, but otherwise a great day out. Our return to the mainland was in contrast to our outward journey, in that the ferry does a tour of the islands of Canna, Muck and Eigg, traversing all around the island of Rum in doing so. The cost of the ferry return was £15-35, excellent value, the return taking over four hours. The last island passed was Eigg and the view of the Sgurr was fantastic, I have to go back to get to the top. It looks just like the Devil's Tower in Wyoming, in fact it was created in the same way. This brought the trip to an end and the long journey home. Well worth the effort for those who have not been.
Cycling in spring/early summer 2010. I've just signed the contract to write (and photograph) a new guidebook for Cicerone. It's the first of a new series they're doing on cycling, falling in between the desperately hard mountain-biking guidebooks (of which the outdoors shops seem full of) and the namby-pamby ones that list short, flat, stop-at-a-pub/loo/ice cream shop every 2 seconds at the other end of the scale. So a range of routes between these two extremes, but generally 10-40 miles long, as much as possible on quiet lanes and friendly off-road tracks (that don't make it into the category of serious mountain-biking) and a reasonable amount of hills.First one of the series is the Peak District, so I'll be spending a lot of time there next spring and early summer, riding and recce-ing the routes, and taking pictures of people riding on them for the book. If anyone wants to come out riding with me (and doesn't mind me taking some pictures of them riding -a couple of them may have to be semi-staged (ie backtrack a short distance and re-ridden 3-4 times!) to get the best light/background etc) then you're more than welcome. So please get in touch if you'd like to come out cycling then - especially folks who are around mid-week!
I discovered this region last summer, while trying to find somewhere high enough to pre-acclimatise for climbing Stok Kangri, yet accessible enough that I could do things without needing someone else to hold the other end of the string. It's an awesome and relatively little known mountainous region (at 3400m Mulhacen is the highest mountain in mainland Spain) and is also rather stunningly picture-skew. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, I met the owners of the main trekking company (Spanish Highs) out there, and a few Riojas later, we decided that me running photographic holidays/workshops out there for them was a great idea. So if you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about how their camera works (ie using it on settings other than Automatic or program), wants to learn more about landscape photography, or just simply wants to spend some quality time taking pictures in an awesome and affordable location, then please get in touch/pass my details on to them! In the meantime - here's a link to more info - http://www.spanishhighs.co.uk/outdoor-photography-courses-sierra-nevada.html or for some more images see www.flickr.com/groups/1248551@N23/
Thank you if you have already paid. By the time you read this, I will have returned from Antarctica, where I have been for the last 5 weeks. I therefore apologise for failing to respond to any messages you may have sent me. The rates for 2010 are: