The weather forecast was not looking very favorable for the weekend as I did the last-minute planning for the meet. I had a good selection of Aspirants and hoped that we could show off the best of our club. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning Borrowdale lived up to its reputation as the wettest place in England. It wasn’t really fit even to go scrambling. We delayed our start and then after lunch walked over to a still slightly soggy Shepherd’s. The delights of Brown Slabs, Adam, Chamonix and Donkey’s Ears were enjoyed with regrettably more Aspirants than members climbing. Nigel Barry and Tracey had very kindly offered to cook the evening meal. We were treated to a lovely Spaghetti Bolognese and fruit crumble with generous portions left from the people who had planned to come but not actually appeared. Sunday morning inspire of a more hopeful forecast, was wet again and very few people were racing to get out of the door (apart from the Aspirant Charlie who ran off to Keswick and back just to confuse the runners in the race who were going in the opposite direction!).
It was lovely to see the enthusiasm and commitment that the Aspirants brought to the weekend. I would be happy to welcome them all into the club, not only for their obvious dedication to trad climbing but also for the engaging conversation that we shared throughout the weekend.
Astrid
Aspirants’ Meet Borrowdale 2023
Posted in Meets
2 comments on “Aspirants’ Meet Borrowdale 2023”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not a very good weekend weather wise for assessment of the aspirants capabilities climbing very briefly only on 1 day in wet and poor conditions .
Should all the aspirants be invited back on another meet?
Keith s
Plenty of climbing was done on Saturday and Sunday Keith as it dried up enough on both days to get out on Shepherds. The biggest challenge was the lack of members to climb with the aspirants but we managed to climb enough with them all between us over the two days.