CC Newsletter January 2024

President’s Remarks

Mike Mortimer. Photo: Ian Smith

Mike Mortimer

I have this evening heard the terrible news that Mike Mortimer died in a climbing accident at Murla on the Costa Blanca on Sunday 28th January. Mike was President from 1993-95, a couple of years after I joined the club, and was one of the first members I remember meeting when I started attending meets in the 80s – always welcoming and enthusiastically recommending routes to me. Latterly I would see him at Awesome Walls, Sheffield, with the regulars (many CC members) known as The Grumpies. I’m so sad that he is gone and send my sympathies to those who were with him and particularly to Marjorie.

AGM

We are nearing the final stages of preparing for the AGM and dinner on 24th February at the Royal Victoria Hotel, Llanberis.

The Annual Report and AGM papers are just about to go to the printers. They will be published on the website on 10th February and posted to those members without an email address. Hard copies will be available on the day. The meeting will also be available on a Zoom link for those who can’t attend in person.

This is a particularly important AGM, at which we will be asking for your approval to wind up the old Club and become The Climbers’ Club Ltd. In the six months since the EGM on 26th June we have been hard at work writing the Articles of Association (which replace our current rules) and appointing solicitors and accountants to oversee the process in all three countries where we own property. We hope you will be there to support the committee in this process.

… and Dinner

Bookings for the dinner at the Royal Vic will close on Tuesday Feb 13th but please don’t wait till the last moment! We have booked sole use of Llanberis Youth Hostel, so walking-distance accommodation is available at the very reasonable price of £40 for the weekend. We have, at the moment, block-booked Cwm Glas Mawr and Helyg for members attending the dinner. Alternatively you can book a room at the hotel.

See article on AGM/Dinner below for the link to booking.

Dinner Weekend activities

• Friday evening – social in the hotel
• Saturday morning – tour of the slate quarries with Cathy Woodhead and David Medcalf
• Saturday afternoon – inspect the progress at Ynys Ettws
• Sunday – mountain bike ride with Cathy and David

New (and old) Members’ Zoom

The bi-monthly Zoom for new members will be at 8pm on Monday 5th February. Old members are very welcome to join in and learn about the mysterious arts of hut-booking, fob-breeding and cleaning.

Link to join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 838 6659 2841

Passcode: 000395

Hilary Lawrenson

Situations Vacant: Volunteers Required

We have vacancies on the committee for:

• Meets Secretary (needs to enjoy going on club meets and be good at enticing others to run them),
• Finance Secretary (supports the Treasurer with payments and managing the club accounts)
• A committee Member (likes the idea of getting more involved with the club from the inside)

If you fancy any of these posts please get in touch with me, the President, Link Above.
Links to the Job descriptions are below.

Honary Secretary

Treasurer

We are just about to do another direct debit run for hut billing. NB: By the time the Newsletter is published his may have already happened.

Paul Drew-Treasurer

Meets Secretary

Atop Chair ladder, Climbers James Mann and Rob Seymour. Photo: Dave Viggers Click for larger image

View Meet Reports

Meets Update

Meets are being added to the calendar on the website all the time. So please check from time to time to see what is available.

Coming up we have the following meets

• Range West Briefing Meet. 9-11th Feb 2024
• Winter Climbing at Riasg. 19-24th Feb.
• 2024 AGM & Dinner weekend, Llanberis 23-25th Feb.
• The Spring 2024 Anti-Atlas Morocco Meet. 9th March to March 16thth 2024

Do check the calendar and book early for meets, so as not to be disappointed.

Debbie Marsh Meets Secretary

View Meets Page

Contact Meets Secretary

Hut Finance Secretary

This post became vacant following Roger Withers’ death. I’d personally like to thank both Chris and Helen Allan who took up the reigns in the short term on top of the main roles that they already have as Membership Secretary and Hut Booking Secretary. With their assistance I have managed to pick up the Hut Finance Secretary role to some extent.

I have found taking over the collation of data from the hut booking sheets ‘interesting’ and I will communicate more about that at a later date. As a result we have now sent out bills to members and the next billing run as advised will be 13th February 2024.

Please contact me directly at the link below with any queries on your billing, include the hut and date, before the deadline so I have time to investigate, respond to you and make any necessary adjustments. You’ll always be sent an acknowledgement of your email.

I’ve already mentioned Chris and Helen, there are other club volunteers that play an important part in the process as do you the member. The accurate completion of the sheets by members should ensure that the billing process is quick and there are less errors in the charges to you.

Lastly, as I get a better understanding of the current process we can make it better for both the club and you the member.

Michele Hart: Hut Finance secretary

Contact Hut Finance

2024 AGM & Dinner Weekend – Booking Now Being Taken

Reminder – 2024 Dinner & AGM weekend 23-25th February 2024. Royal Victoria Hotel, Llanberis, and Llanberis Snowdon Youth Hostel. Deadline for booking is Feb 13th

Only two weeks left to book. There are still some places left in the Youth Hostel.
Bookings are still being taken, all details on the Website Meets Page, link below.

Remember there are only a limited number of places available at the Youth Hostel, so get your booking in now.

Also if you want to see who’s already booked there is now a list. See link below. (note this is not updated in real time so may be a few days out of date.)

Alison Cairns, Dinner Organiser

Many thanks to all contributors to CCJ 130. Apologies to those people whose work we were unable to publish. We intend to include your work in the next journal which we aim to publish at the end of the year. If you have not heard from me about you work already, please get in touch.

We would very much like to include contributions for member under the age of 35 as well as maintain or increase the number of articles by women.

I would like to emphasise that we welcome contributions from anybody, no matter what age. Any type of writing is welcome. It has been pointed out to me that there was only one work of fiction in the last journal and more would be welcome. There is no need to let the truth stand in the way of a good story!

Articles can be sent to me link below.

Word documents and photos should be sent separately as Word makes pictures embeded in documents difficult to use in the design process.

As you can see from recent journals photos are an important part of the publication.

Andy Kitchen-Journal Editor

So how good are your rope skills?

In autumn 2023 I signed myself up for a refresher course on problem solving on the rocks. I regularly practice the basics of a prussik on an ab rope, setting up a balanced ab, but decided it was time for a refresher when I couldn’t explain how to do an assisted hoist without working it out from first principles, and therefore being a bit slow.

It was a good fun couple of days covering all the bits we think we know well on building belays, abseiling, and moved onto assisted and unassisted hoists, abbing past a knot, escaping the system.

The building blocks are simple, and repeated in different combinations for the different techniques, and repetition is the learning key.

Might there be interest from club members for a course like this?

I worked with Esther Foster who is based in the Lakes and would be happy to coordinate a meet in Autumn 2024. It costs a bit, but not a lot in comparison to what we spend on our game, and it might get you and your companion out of a sticky situation.

If you are interested plaese contact me to let me know. See below.

Val Hennely

Discount for CC members on FRCC Guidebooks

The code for CC members to get a discount on the purchase of guidebooks from the FRCC website expired on 31/12/23. It took a couple of weeks and a post from a member before we realised this. The code has now been renewed for 2024 and a note made to check it in Decemebr 2024.

Reminder:

• You have to get the discount code from the members section of the CC website.
• Enter the code in the box when you order your guidebook from the FRCC website shop. NB:After entering the code you must press ‘enter’ on your keyboard for the discount to be recorded.
• You should then see that the code has been applied when you proceed to payment.
• The FRCC is to publish a new guidebook to Eskdale in February-pre-orders avaialble.

Book Review

Winter Climbing in the Cairngorms

Published by Cicerone

Cicerone says: Guidebook with topo diagrams, approach maps and clear route descriptions for hundreds of Scotland’s best winter climbs in the Cairngorms and Creag Meagaidh. Contains a wide selection of grades, lengths and styles of climb, from straightforward snow gullies to mixed turf, rock and icy routes and advanced ice climbs. Routes are classified by area and style, helping climbers choose according to weather and conditions.

Guidebook to more than 450 winter climbs in the Northern Corries of Cairn Gorm, Braeriach, Beinn a’Bhuird, Lochnagar, Glen Clova and Creag Meaghaidh. Includes a wide selection of snow, ice and mixed routes of varying grades and lengths, from straightforward Grade I snow gullies through to extreme ice and mixed climbs of Grade VII and above. With clear route descriptions accompanied by symbols denoting the type of climb (snow, ice and mixed) and photographic topo diagrams, this guide helps climbers choose the best route for the prevailing conditions. Advice is given on how the required snow/ice conditions form for each climb, as well as how to evaluate avalanche risk, while approach maps for each climbing area show the best routes to access each crag. The Cairngorms offer some of the most reliable and accessible winter climbing in Scotland. Deep recesses and remote corries are home to some of the best mixed climbing anywhere. In good weather the journeys to and from the climbs can be as rewarding and memorable as the ascents themselves, while in poor weather the conditions will challenge the skill of the greatest mountaineers.

Quiz:

Win a copy of Winter Climbs in the Cairngorms.

Last Month’s Quiz

The winner is: David Gardner A copy of Alpine Ice is on its way to him.