Climbing the Needle – Gordon Gadsby.   March 2011 It was a warm sun dappled day in the mountains of central Lakeland with great fleecy white clouds drifting slowly above the towering rock spires of Great Gable. With Colin Hobday and George Reynolds I was climbing Napes Needle, the most famous rock pinnacle in England. Although less […]

Holiday on Ice? – Tony Howard. March 2008 ‘Good lead Youth.’ ‘What?’ ‘Good lead Youth’ came the words from below.  I thought I’d check that I’d heard correctly.  I don’t hear that much nowadays.  It was the penultimate pitch of the last route of our holiday, and the best pitch of the week ……. so far!  Simon joined me […]

2012 – My Climbing Year Simon Pape. March 2013          All the books suggest that setting objectives is a good thing to do to guide one’s climbing (or any other) activity. I’d done it once or twice before, and it does seem to help. It’s also recommended that if you tell others about your objectives you […]

Moonlight Symphony – An Ascent of Centre Post Direct, Steve Christian.  Feb 2011 So there we were Phil, Stu and I, three and half pitches off the summit of Creag Meagaidh, 300 metres up Centre Post Direct, at 4pm on the 6th of January. Darkness is falling as I set off on a grade V icefall, […]

Picos de Europa – July/August 2017, Mike Mowbray and Roger Gibbs As the summer tries to establish itself against the vagaries of our English weather, and the mixed blessings of school holidays loom closer, it is time for Oreads to prepare for Alpine adventure. This year the meet leader appears to have had little schooling […]

Who’s the ‘Barmy’est in 2000? I’ve finally been persuaded to give a result, much against my better judgement and principles!  The point of the exercise being to have an enjoyable day out and perhaps do one or two things that you wouldn’t normally do.  However, I’m pleased to report that the scoring system worked almost perfectly […]

Swanage – by Royal Appointment June 2015 One was wondering what to do for the Bank Holiday weekend.  One had spent all week fondling with one’s Velocettes, ensuring they were in imperfect working order and guaranteed to breakdown before reaching Windsor.  One was also keen to get away from one’s palace before the arrival of one’s latest […]

Alpine Meet: Val Ferret – August 2012, Pete Lancaster It was twelve years since the club last visited Val Ferret for its summer alpine meet so a return trip to this beautiful valley was due.  I was determined not to hassle Sally about booking and might have succeeded had the online booking form performed…however, after only […]

Walk & Climb the Edges Meet – 22 September Gil Male. Let’s start at the beginning. Simon Pape, Chris Wilson, Roger and Tom Larkam, Mike, Helen and Tom Hayes and Gil Male (meet leader) were surprisingly on the starting blocks at High Neb at 8.45. Correct me if I’m wrong but this must be a […]

Tan yr Wyddfa Working Party, July 2016 by Snod Helliwell Even before the working party officially started Nodge was in there, slashing, strimming and burning so the garden was pristine by the time most of us arrived on the Tuesday evening. He’d spared our lovely spotted orchid, flowering for the second year at the top […]