Number in series 70; Year of publication 1986 - Fell and Rock ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Tony Burnett 173after work and a high speed race up the dales to beat the darkness. Climbing inthe dark however does not lead to accurate grading and the second ascentionists,namely Martin and myself, were left to correct the grade from El-5b to E3-6a;so much for the team's ability to grade routes.September 1984 brought about the episode that earned the team its name. Itwas a wet day when Martin, Chris, Mark and myself, closely followed byStreaky in his Tonka Toy, went to check out a minor crag, Raverscar South, andof course do a little exploring on as yet unreported crags. As with all Yorkshire'sunexplored rock, from a distance they show a lot of promise, however, the closeryou get the smaller they become until finally you arrive at yet another esotericgem. Within four minutes of arriving at the crag one ascent was under way fromthe bottom up and two other routes were being cleaned from the top down. Tosay the least, Streaky was impressed (so much so that he returned mid-week topick off the last remaining line); needless to say it was not by the quality of theroutes but by the ruthless efficiency with which they were being exploited.Evening activity was centred on Kilnsey at this point in time, due partially tothe weekend climbing ban and partially to the prying eyes watching our everymove at weekends. On one particular evening Martin was engaged in the firstfree ascent of Ice Spurt Special. Under normal circumstances an event such asthis would be preceded by an abseil inspection/clean; however, due to theimminent onset of darkness, Martin considered the route looked fairly clean andpretty straight-forward so a direct assault was employed.It quickly became apparent that the route was not as clean or straightforwardas it appeared. Blocks cascaded down from on high and the meek cowered underwhatever shelter was to hand. It was about this time that a visiting southernclimber had the misfortune to witness the ongoing pantomime and appearedtotally unconvinced as rocks and curses rained down, in between which Martinwas extolling the virtues of his adopted crag in terms of quality and potential. Itwas after the umpteenth airborne incident that Martin disclosed that this was infact the first free ascent and not an aid route. The route did in fact concedesomewhat later the same evening.The Machine gathered momentum as the year drew rapidly to a close,culminating with the exploitation of Gordale's upper right wing, reputedly preemptingMartin Atkinson by twenty-four hours, and, surprisingly, the left wingat Malham, with many thanks to Dave Cronshaw for pointing the way.Gordale's upper right wing yielded seven excellent routes while Malhamrendered another fifteen. Possibly the most memorable (or, if you like, epic) wasthe ascent of Night Moves. Prior to setting out for Malham on the nineteenth ofDecember, Dr. Berzins had just invested in his latest piece of mountaineeringequipment, (probably as a charm to ward off the possibility of any snow in theforth-coming winter) a new-fangled head torch. I cleaned the route by abseil anddue to the lack of runners decided to split the route on the half-way ledge,working on the principle that this would probably give the343
174 THE WELL-OILED MACHINE - TWELVE MONTHS ONsecond a chance to grab the unfortuate leader should gravity take control.Things were not however going well. I had led the first pitch and returned toearth in order to allow Chris to continue his siege (oops sorry Chris): eventuallythe crag submitted and Chris succeeded in climbing the excellent Ship Of Fools.He was followed in double quick time by Martin and myself. I returned quicklyto my position on the half way ledge and brought Martin up to the belay.Frantically we changed places and I got to grips with the top pitch. It was nowtwenty past four, the sun had set about half an hour previously and I was gettingnowhere fast. In the gathering gloom I changed places with Martin and passedhim the runners, one number three friend, one number two friend and anumber three rock. Standing on the edge of the ledge looking up at forty foot ofunknown rock he looked totally unconvinced; unconvinced the rock could beclimbed, unconvinced the runners were good and unconvinced that he could seewhere to put the runners. It was now completely dark. The bleating comingdown from above my head would have put many a woolly sentinel to shame.Spasmodic lurches, grunts and curses were the only evidence that the ascentwas, if not going well, then at least going up. A tight rope around my waistsummoned me upwards and an hour and a half after sunset we let the root of ourproblems, Chris, ascend the route. Needless to say the new head-torch waslurking in the car boot.Another atmospheric addition to Malham's left wing was the title track TheWell Oiled Machine. Fittingly, after leading one pitch each, Martin and myselfwere joined on the first ascent by Chris, Mark and of course Streaky Bacon.P.S. The team has always assumed Graham's title to be a compliment for itsefficient activity. It could of course be attributed to the time served by the teamat the barHI
Page 1 and 2:
100 YEARS OFROCK CLIMBINGIN THELAKE
Page 6:
EDITOR'S NOTESGeoff CramIn June 188
Page 9 and 10:
4 THE FIRST ASCENT OF NAPES NEEDLET
Page 11 and 12:
6 THE FIRST ASCENT OF NAPES NEEDLEb
Page 13 and 14:
10 A SHORT HISTORY OF LAKELAND CLIM
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
H.M.Kelly and J.H.Doughty 33for the
Page 31 and 32:
H.M.Kelly and J.H.Doughty1892 Moss
Page 33 and 34:
H.M.Kelly and J.H. Doughty1923 Toph
Page 35:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
John Wilkinson 47men: Birkett, Peas
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
John Wilkinson 53are now Hard Very
Page 46 and 47:
John Wilkinson 57have radically tra
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
John Wilkinson 6 5being made by the
Page 53 and 54:
John Wilkinson6SWith the opening up
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Pete Whillance 73good routes on Low
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
A SHORT HISTORY OF LAKELAND CLIMBIN
Page 69 and 70:
A SHORT HISTORYOF LAKELAND CLIMBING
Page 71 and 72:
Ron Kenyon and AlMurray 89climbed b
Page 73 and 74:
Ron Kenyon and Al Murray 91spotligh
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78: Ron Kenyon and Al Murray 97In the E
Page 79 and 80: 102 A SHORT HISTORY OF LAKELAND CLI
Page 81 and 82: 106 A SHORT HISTORY OF LAKELAND CLI
Page 83 and 84: 110 THE NORTH-EAST SPUR OF THE DROI
Page 85 and 86: 112 THE NORTH-EAST SPUR OF THE DROI
Page 87 and 88: ROCK CLIMBING IN NORTHERN ITALYAl C
Page 89 and 90: AI Churcher 119Sergent and Caporal,
Page 91 and 92: 13 MILES FROM THE EQUATORRay Cassid
Page 93 and 94: Ray Cassidy 123and I suddenly found
Page 95 and 96: W. Heaton Cooper 127One element see
Page 97 and 98: June Parker 131show a new route bei
Page 99 and 100: 136 THE ABRAHAM COLLECTIONwas a for
Page 101 and 102: 140 THE WASDALE CLIMBING BOOKClimbi
Page 103 and 104: SCAFELL CENTRAL BUTTRESSG.S.SansomR
Page 105 and 106: G.S.Sansom 145bulge, above-mentione
Page 107 and 108: MORE OF C.B.Bill BirkettWhen the ed
Page 109 and 110: 150 MOREOFC.B.ground, rather overha
Page 111 and 112: 152 CLIMBING IN THE MIDDLE AGEStemp
Page 113 and 114: THE MAN WHO BROKE THE NEEDLEGraham
Page 115 and 116: G. Sutton 157tooth....'Ron's voice
Page 117 and 118: G. Sutton 159view; they must have b
Page 119 and 120: Ed Grindley 161A couple of hours la
Page 121 and 122: 164 THE MODERN ICARUS!This was now
Page 123 and 124: 166 THE MODERN ICARUS!Aware that I'
Page 125 and 126: Angela Soper 169whispered happily,
Page 127: 172 THE WELL-OILED MACHINE - TWELVE
Page 131 and 132: A. Harry Griffin 111the same mould
Page 133 and 134: A. Harry Griffin 179merged together
Page 135 and 136: 182 WAY OUT WESTone of them picked
Page 137 and 138: 184 WAY OUT WESTseverity it was of
Page 139 and 140: 186 WAY OUT WESTwho made me a pair
Page 141 and 142: SCOTLANDThe Fell and Rock members c
Page 143 and 144: Jim Sutcliffe 193June Parker report
Page 145 and 146: NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESAlan Murray & P
Page 147 and 148: 198 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESIvor the Bo
Page 149 and 150: 200 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESBLEAK HOW C
Page 151 and 152: 202 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESJoker Man.
Page 153 and 154: 204 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESPrivate Eye
Page 155 and 156: 206 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTES6a. Climb t
Page 157 and 158: 208 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESBURNT CRAG
Page 159 and 160: 210 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESYEW CRAGAut
Page 161 and 162: 212 NEW CLIMBS AND NOTESSilverstone
Page 163 and 164: 214 IN MEMORIAMGladys died peaceful
Page 165: CLUB OFFICERS AND MEETS 225Libraria
show all

Number in series 70; Year of publication 1986 - Fell and Rock ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?