Newsletter no. 35 - February 1998
OTHER NEWSKNOYDART DANCEIrvine Butterfield is organising a dance, with music provided by Iain Cameron to raise funds for the Knoydart Appeal. The dance is at the Atholl Palace Hotel in Pitlochry on Saturday April 18th at 7.30 p.m. Tickets can be obtained direct from the MCofS office by sending a cheque for £3 per ticket made payable to the 'Knoydart Appeal'. Please phone us beforehand on 01738
638227 to check availability. Each ticket is numbered and will be entered in a prize draw for a bottle from Irvine's illicit
still. Entry is by ticket only, so please support the event, and book early to avoid disappointment.
The S.M.C. keep a register of everyone who has completed their Munros (if they inform the appropriate person) but not the Corbetts. This may be rectified by James Lamb who is asking everyone who has "done the Corbies", or if anyone knows of such a person (including deceased) to inform him of the relevant details (including completion date). You can contact him at the address below or by e-mail on PeemL@ aol.com. The information will then be available on a web site. Please include a s.a.e. 23 x 16 cms for reply. If anyone has any information relating to any prior attempts to gather this data then please send this to James as well. Contact: James Lamb, Burnside Cottage, Balmblae, Falkland, Fife KY15 7BS.
Following an expedition last summer to S. Greenland, the team, led by Al Powell, made an extensive pictorial record of the area in order to produce educational materials in the form of a glaciation resource pack suitable for O Grade / GCSE Geography students. The pack contains information and slides from the expedition, together with numerous worksheets and activities to form a stimulating introductory course on glaciation. A £6 donation in order to copy the slides will secure you the whole lot copyright free. For more details contact Mr. A. Powell, Brighouse High School, Finkil Street, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, HD6 2NY. We recently conducted a postal survey to find out the outdoor retailers who would offer our members a discount on production of their cards. All retailers offer a 10% discount unless otherwise stated. ABERDEENSHIRE
EDINBURGH AREA
GLASGOW
PERTHSHIRE
OTHER AREAS
ATTENTION YOUNG CLIMBERS! BRITISH REGIONAL YOUTH COMPETITION SERIES The MCofS is helping the BMC in a brand new initiative across Great Britain to encourage all those budding young crag rats to show off their skills and experience the excitement of a climbing competition. Who is eligible -
What will be involved -
There will be six categories, one for each of the three age groups in each sex. Any ties for first place will be settled by looking at the best results in the climbs. Only if that fails to break the first place tie will there be 'head to head' eliminators. Ties for lower places will remain as ties. Adequate medical cover (i.e. a qualified medical practitioner or members of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade) will be on hand for the full duration of the event. Cost -
Dates and Venues -
The National Final -
Entry forms are available from any of the three Climbing walls
MC of S "MOUNTAIN LIFE" NIGHT Illustrated Lectures on Island Climbing, New Zealand and Morocco by office-bound climbers and trekkers Kevin Howett, National Officer, Mike Dales, Access & Conservation Officer and Lorraine Nicholson, Administrative Assistant. Why not come along and enjoy an evening of light entertainment with a raffle (sponsored by Mountain Man Supplies), refreshments and the travelling MCofS "shop" for all those goodies you have always wanted. WEDNESDAY, 18th March, 1998 in the A.K.Bell Lecture Theatre,
Perth Library, York Place, Perth at 7.30pm
THE GREAT DEBATE Sponsored by NORTH CAPE SATURDAY MARCH 14th 1998 8.30pm at the CLACHAIG INN, Glencoe Topics for debate:
FREE ENTRY
WET WEEKEND WITH A DIFFERENCE! The Scottish Society for Autistic Children are holding a white water raft race at Croft-na-Caber in Kenmore on Sunday 12th April starting at 1.30pm and are looking for teams of 5-8 people to take part. We would ask you to raise a minimum of £50 per person in sponsorship to help families throughout Scotland who are living with autism. If you wish to enter a team please contact Suzanne Henderson on 01259 720044 for sponsorship forms and more information. Hands off mountain cairns!! With regard to the piece in the last (No.34) MC of S newsletter detailing the removal of the summit cairn from Cairngorm, I am in complete agreement with Mollie Porter's view that this action could lead to serious incidents in future. All summit cairns should be either left well alone or enlarged , as they are often the only point of accurate reference in an otherwise bleak landscape. Without these essential reference points it could prove very difficult to navigate to or from a summit in poor visibility. For those of us who are intent on visiting the highest points in the land, we would often have no way of knowing if we had actually arrived and therefore whether or not we should put a tick in 'the' book. Large summit cairns also provide welcome shelter from the elements for a short 'butty' break before moving on. We should also be thinking about encouraging the maintenance of historical waymarks which have been around for years. Even the most well known cairn basher of recent times, Cameron McNeish recently told me that he did not ...."have any real problems with some navigation marker posts"... but..." strongly objected to lines of marker cairns on our mountains".... A possible way forward would be for clubs to adopt a mountain and in agreement with the landowner they could keep an eye on the cairn situation, making sure that only essential piles were maintained. In summary I would say leave all summit cairns alone and look carefully at maintaining those existing cairns which can be proved to offer useful waymarks. Yours sincerely, Alan Kimber
Dear Sirs, I am writing in response to your appeal for opinions on the issue of cairning hills. This is a pervasive habit on our hills and if unchecked in some areas can lead to serious degradation of the hill. Not only are a proliferation of cairns unsightly but the gathering up of so much surface stone from the hillside can only add to the process of erosion. Many cairns have stood for long ages and have a historical significance. Some are so venerable that they are regarded as ancient monuments and very properly these structures ought to be protected and cherished as links to the past. I know of cairns which were built for religious reasons, others which mark historical events. There are other cairns which fulfil an important role in navigation, particularly those on the summits of many hills and cairns which indicate the start of a path or an obscure junction. A sturdy summit cairn can also be a welcome source of shelter for a tired walker who needs a few minutes rest before battling his or her way back off the hill. However, there are also a great many unruly heaps of stones which seem to be gathered up for no other purpose than to indicate to the world in general that some oik and his mates have been on that hilltop, crest, spur or upturned sod at some unplaced point in time past. In its most extreme form this practise includes the use of rocks on flat ground to write messages, usually names or obscenities. In common with other hill-goers I make a point of obliterating such unsolicited autographs wherever practical and make no apology for doing so. It is not time to remove all cairns from our hills, but it is time to classify the practise of building new cairns along with issues such as littering and to direct some thought towards educating this problem away. Yours sincerely Peter King
Dear Sirs Regarding your article about Cairngorm's summit cairn, I am completely against the "proliferation" of cairns in the mountains. It is ridiculous to have them spaced at about 10-20 metres apart on an obvious path. Though under snow the path could be less obvious! However I do think that they have their uses at path junctions and if spaced further apart do offer reassurance in bad weather (used in conjunction with map and compass of course). I personally like to see summit cairns and would not want a historical one destroyed. I hope that a smaller distinct cairn was left on Cairngorm. I must say that I was very surprised that no-one informed the MC of S about the removal of the cairn. What will be the next fait accompli? Tony Hallard
Dear All, The Mcof S Bulletin No. 34 is another "fact" packed publication which compares well with Summit, which is probably over glossy for the job it's supposed to do. However, a publication tends to lose some credibility when
several "deliberate" mistakes creep in, for example:- The above do not detract from the value of the publication, but somewhat reduce its credibility, as there may be others as well. Never mind the Spellcheck (page 28), what about the Copycheck. Yours in Sport, An Admirer Editor - We must apologise for the number of out of date entries in the last issue. Many were sent in to us at the last minute and although they would have just been useful information had the Newsletter gone out on time, there were unforeseen hold-ups during page setting and printing which meant they only served to annoy. Sorry again.
Dear MCofS, Just to add support to Ken Wilson's stand against bolts, and Steven Venables' 'The Zmutt Ridge' article in 'High', I infrequently put pen to paper to the media, MPs etc. but traditional values need re-inforcing against the quick-fix, instant and commercial values of these times. In a period of 40 years of rock-climbing and mountaineering at a middle grade, I have always valued highly the 'adventure'aspect within the activity. The best experiences involve the possibility of not getting up the route. The difference between unequipped routes and bolted or way-marked routes lies in the degree of certainty of 'success'. Routes without bolts or pitons (or boot marks) and without paint splashes or cairns require a pioneering or route finding skill which is the explanatory and adventure element. It is this enhancing element which raises the experience from one of a climbing wall or "theme park" type to a near pioneering level of experience. On an "adventure" route, success is not certain, and this is what makes success a more fulfilling experience when achieved. In 1963 I did the Zmutt ridge from the Hornli hut to the top and back to Zermatt in the day - a great experience. In 1966 I did the S. Face of the Dent de Geant with etriers - frightening, as it overhangs at 4000m, but a foregone conclusion as concentration was on the mechanics (short ladders, pitons, hammers) of ascent, not of route-finding, skill on unsound rock and speed. I didn't get up the Dent d'Herens first time (broke a leg), but took three goes before reaching the top. It took me three goes to get to the top of a Himalayan peak ( unsuccessfully in 1968 and 1970 and successfully in 1974.) What euphoria then! I was on a high for a fortnight. And so on. Now (in 1997) that the Zmutt ridge has been bolted up and supplied with a hut at its base, it is no longer a quality adventure experience. And so on? Pre-placed bolts would have reduced the quality of my experience on the Zmutt. Concerning the Geant route, I never did any more 'artificial' climbing as it was known, even though I had practised it in the U.K. For sense of achievement it didn't compare with using judgement, average ability and fitness. I can accept and climb on indoor climbing walls. Bolting disused quarries or man-made rock faces is okay by me, but not on nature's creations, for reasons of quality 'adventure' experience, as well as obvious environmental violation. I feel that modern bolting practitioners are degrading the validity of the 'adventure' experience for me and those who come after me, replacing it with an inferior experience and an inferior code of behaviour acceptable to them. In modern jargon, value has been subtracted, let alone remained equal, never mind added. From a middle grade mountaineer and rock climber. Yours sincerely, John T H Allen ( Member of Alpine Club, BMC, MCofS, Rucksack Club) The Independent Hostel Guide; U.K. and Ireland 1998.
Edited by Sam Dalley, Ideal for pocket or rucksack and still excellent value. On special offer to MCofS members for £3.30 including P&P. Compact and comprehensive, this guide is a mine of information for outdoor enthusiasts looking for budget accommodation, featuring 198 individual hostels in the U.K. and Ireland. The hostels have full page features detailing costs, booking requirements,opening restrictions and descriptions of the hostels character and location which will have you reaching for your backpack.
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