Gwent Mountaineering Club
N E W S L E T T E R
Number 19:  Sept 26th 2002

This is the last newsletter for 2002 folks ! Hope you will enjoy this offering.

Thanks for all contributions yet again, Dave Bingham

GENERAL NEWS

AGM

This will be the last newsletter before the AGM in November so it is appropriate to update the situation with regards to the committee officers.  Both Hugh and Ted have indicated their decision not to re-stand.  As procedures dictate, a nomination form applicable for all officer positions will be circulated in due course, nominations close 14 days before the AGM.  Special business to be included in the agenda, including motions, should be notified to the Secretary by this time also.

Shelters

The club has purchased two emergency shelters; Colin will keep one of these, the other will be passed around the leaders and this will be organised by Robina Cocker.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING!

Many events have taken place in the two months or so since the last newsletter, here are just a few examples…

Baggy Point meet

13-14 July

Words by Rachel Lewis

Pictures by Annemarie Simons

About 12 braved the strong sunny sea cliff climbing weekend at Baggy Point. It was scorching to the point of eyeburn, even topping up with the highest factor sun lotion available we still all got burnt.

The climbs were slabby and long and most would agree that a first rate Hard Severe called Freddy was the best climb.

 Left:    typical climbing at Baggy point

Elli and I almost became the adopted mum of a baby gull who had to dodge the abseilees cruising down the crag, where we were limbering up for a climb. The baby gull squawked and squawked at us, as every climber behind us down the 130ft “ab” commented on its abandonment.  It continued to squawk and still no mean-mother of a seagull came, and then even we abandoned it as we set off up Shangri La (a downgraded HS to Severe).

Above: Dug leading with Elli and Rachel below.

A great walk along the Malverns Ridge.

15 Sept

By Dave Bingham

I have to confess that in the past the Malvern hills have not attracted keen attention from myself.  However, the opposite was the case when I discovered the walk on the programme was to be a linear affair, was a long day of 16 miles and would do all the ridge.  And I was not disappointed on the day either!  It proved to be a lovely day with plenty of tops to reach and at least 4000 feet of ascent to tackle as we made our way from Malvern  to Ledbury in the south.  9 members had a special day with nearly 8 hours walking.  Thanks to Ian Tucker for leading the walk.

ALPINE TRIPS – A Special report

There were many trips by club members into the Alps this year.  Here are brief reports of just some of these endeavours.  Look out for the illustrated talks on the winter programme… there are three – December 5, January 23 and February 27!

Hugh and Ted

Stubaital

Words by Hugh Woodford

Austria

13-17 July

My fifth visit here and Ted’s first, we were joined during the second week by Mark and Renata.  In spite of a number of overcast days with occasional showers we walked on 11 days out of 13.  This is an ideal area for first-timers to the Alps with beautiful rugged scenery, snow-capped peaks up to 3500m and a number of glaciers.  Being a steep sided valley, most up and downs on the walks are fairly steep and tough. Most days consisted of a walk up to a hut or alm, where we would lunch, then either onto a peak or go back down in the afternoon.  There is also good climbing and scrambling to be had in the area.  To find out more, come along to the slide show on 27 February 2003.

Club Trip

10-24 August

Information from Trefor Beese, Andi Brogle and others

The first venue was the Bernina area in Italy where 5 members, after an initial warm-up peak, did the Piz Bernina, the only 4000m peak in that area.  The preferred hut for this climb was full and so the group had to ascend from a lower point resulting in a very long day indeed!  After this, a move was made to Grindlewald in Switzerland to tackle further peaks at which point the initial members were then joined by others: Trevor Flint, Dave Simcock and Andi Brogle.  Andi had some peaks earlier in the season (see last page) and then enjoyed some rock climbing with Sue in the second week  The next peak tackled by the main party was the Wetterhorn, below 4000m, but a fantastic peak, a stone’s throw from the Eiger. 2 members, Alison Stevens and Dave Simcock, did the Monch together.  3 members, Keith Anderson, Trefor Beese, and Vaughan Dugmore, had success on the Schreckhorn by a long technical route.  Meanwhile, Trevor Flint suffered great disappointment as his guide for the Mittellegi ridge of the Eiger was still engrossed on the mountain with another client, had not yet reported in, and could not take him the next day!  Also the notorious weather of the Eiger made an attempt the next day impossible too.

Dave and

Terry trip

Words by Dave, picture by Terry

Myself and Terry Delbridge met each other in the Saas Valley on Friday August 9th though Terry had travelled out the previous Monday.  A hugh dump of snow at 3000m (55cm!) caused problems on the first weekend – high avalanche risk and a huge effort required to walk anywhere from the Weissmies hut!  Plans were amended not to include the rock route of the Lagginhorn straight away! The first peak was therefore the Strahlhorn from the Britannia hut along with at least another 5 ropes of people. After 8 hours of shared trail-breaking the summit succumbed!

The Lagginhorn in less snowy conditions !

Our route takes the left-hand ridge.

2 days later we turned our attention back to the Lagginhorn now that most of the snow had melted from the rock ridge and had a great, memorable day with a stunning summit ridge.  After this, we parted company as planned, Terry meeting other friends to tackle the Monte Rosa peaks from Italy and I went on a mountaineering course doing 3 north face routes in Italy and France with 2 ice tools. The highlight was the Aiguille du Chardonnet North Spur, an alpine classic.  Terry did the Vincent Pyramide from Italy but then fell badly ill, thus sadly he never made the other 6 peaks he had targetted.

For a summary table of peaks over 3500m climbed this season, the special report continues on the last page…..

WHAT’S COMING UP!

There’s plenty on the winter programme; in particular there are 3 weekends taking place using accommodation other than a leaky tent ! – Kirkby Stephen, The Annual Club Dinner and Meerbrook.  Also, an ample serving of Sunday walks, illustrated talks and climbing evenings at the Welsh International Climbing Centre and the Llangorse Wall.  Here are details on some of these to whet your appetite…

Kirkby Stephen Weekend

Sarah Kirby explains

15-16 Nov

This is a reminder that the above weekend is booked by the club. This is the third attempt at visiting the hostel and, touch wood, it is going ahead. 

There are 38 places available at the hostel and approximately half have already been booked.  I should be obliged if:

1.                    Those who have booked can confirm that, after all this time, they are still coming!, and

2.                   Those who are interested, and I’m sure that there are many, let me have your name and money a.s.a.p. £14 per head

To encourage you to come this is a brief description of the hostel, facilities etc.

Ø        The Hostel is on the main street in the centre of town and is a former chapel

Ø        Parking is on road and 200 yards away from the hostel

Ø        The town has several pubs and takeaways!

Ø        The hostel has:

o         Electric Heating

o         Kitchen

o         Dining Room to sit 38 people

o         Lounge Balcony overlooking the dining room with seating for 20 people and a pool table!

o         Washing Facilities  4 showers, 8 toilets, 10 washbasins

o         Bedrooms: 1 x 2 beds, 2 x 4 beds, 2 x 8 beds, 3 x 6 beds

(Yes, this adds up to 44 – but a capacity of only 38 is recommended!)

Ø        Explore – High Pennines, Yorkshire Dales and Howgill Fells, Upper Eden and Mallerstang Valleys.

Note:

1.            

No evening meal has been booked with the warden at the hostel as there are pubs in the village.  However, if a number of people would prefer to eat at the hostel, please let me know and I shall make enquires with the warden as to whether a group meal can be provided.  It’s up to you to let me know your thoughts.

2.            

Should the numbers exceed 38 then priority will be given to paid up members of the GMC

Look forward to hearing from all you keen members                 (Phone 01633 423784)

Club Dinner

18-19 Jan

Robby has organised the Club Dinner this year

The venue is Plas y Brenin again and this year a Ceilidh

is provided for extra entertainment.                                                            (phone 01873 840526)

Meerbrook

28 Feb – 1 Mar

Sarah leads this weekend also

The club has booked the Meerbrook hostel in the Peak District.

5 Miles from Leek, 11 miles from Buxton and within easy reach of the Roaches climbing area, the Staffordshire moorlands and beautiful parts of Derbyshire.

Cost to be advised. There are 22 places available.                                  (Phone 01633 423784)

MISCELLANEOUS

Peter Salenieks has news on the new rights of access

The Countryside Council for Wales are currently undertaking a consultation exercise that will create new rights of access across Wales !  These rights will be defined in conclusive maps approved by the Welsh Assembly.  In particular, consultation is underway for the draft map of the Eastern South Wales Valleys (our local patch). Interested parties have until the end of the month to make representations. Consultation has already been completed for some areas, but the timetable for others continues into 2003.  It is likely that farmers and land owners will be making their views known, so it is important that walkers also make their voices heard. Pay particular attention to any areas where it may be desirable to add open country so a boundary can follow a more appropriate physical feature. If anything isn't right, now is the time to press for revisions.

 The draft maps are available at http://www.ccw.gov.uk/mapping/index.cfm and information on the consultation process, together with a form to submit your views, can be found at http://www.ccw.gov.uk/generalinfo/index.cfm?Action=ResourceMore&ResourceID=88&Subject=Access&lang=en .  This is a brief outline of events  – contact Pete if you seek further details.

“Wilderness Lectures”, Bristol

Starting on October 2 there are a series of 12 lectures by travellers and mountaineers at Chemistry Lecture Theatre, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Clifton, Bristol.  Phone for details/tickets (0117 9299966)  or  click onwww.wildernesslectures.com  for a full details of each lecture.

Summary of Alpine peaks climbed this season

The following table is a summary of the 14 peaks over 3500m climbed this season by 10 members on various trips. In addition there were some lower peaks also. For those members who have signed up to entry into the GMC tables, an entry has been made against their name as appropriate for those peaks over 3500m.

I am grateful for information received from Trefor Beese, Trevor Flint, Andi Brogle and Terry Delbridge which allowed me to compile this table.

Ht (m)

KA

TB

VD

SW

AS

DS

TF

AB

DB

TD

A

Vincent Pyramide

4215

*

B

Rimpfischorn

4199

2

C

Strahlhorn

4190

*

*

D

Monch

4099

*

*

E

Schreckhorn

4078

*

*

*

F

Piz Bernina

4049

*

*

*

*

*

G

Allalinhorn

4027

2

H

Weissmies

4023

2

I

Lagginhorn

4010

*

*

J

Aig du Chardonnet

3824

*

K

Wetterhorn

3701

*

*

2

*

*

L

Pizzo d’Andolla

3653

*

M

Ciaforon

3642

*

N

Becca di Monciair

3544

*

TB = Trefor Beese

KA = Keith Anderson

VD = Vaughan Dugmore

SW= Sue Webster

AS = Alison Stevens

DS = Dave Simcock               * = first ascent for that member

TF = Trevor Flint                  2 = second ascent for that member

AB = Andi Brogle

DB = Dave Bingham

TD = Terry Delbridge

Routes – grades approximate

A) – normal route (PD)

B) – normal route from Britannia hut, N ridge(AD)

C) - normal route from Britannia hut (F/PD)

D) – Monch East South East ridge (PD)

E) – SW ridge (AD+)

F) – Bellavista Terraces/Spallagrat (PD)

G) – Hohlaubgrat (PD)

H)– Traverse: S ridge up (PD), W ridge down (PD)

I) – normal route from Weissmies hut (PD)

J) – North Spur from Albert Premier (D-)

K) – Normal route from Gleckstein Hut (AD)

L) -  Portjengrat from the Almageller hut (AD+)

M) – N face from Vittorio Emanuele II hut (AD+)

N) – N face from Vittorio Emanuele II hut (AD-)

Grade definition:  F  facile = easy, PD peu difficile = a little difficult, AD assez difficile = fairly difficult, D difficile = difficult