Year of publication 1990 - Fell and Rock Climbing Club

LOOSE ROCK: A MEMORY OF PILLARJohnHuntI may not be alone, among the older generation of climbers, inrecalling my return to the fells in 1946, the first year of the peace, as auniquely emotive experience; for me it was almost an act of thanksgivingfor survival. In late August. 1939, as the clouds of war gathered overEurope and my recall to military duty became imminent, my wife and I,with Heaton Cooper, were walking down Easedale towards our rentedcottage in Grasmere on a glorious evening of that long, hot summer. Wehad been climbing on Lining Crag below Greenup Edge. I recall sayingto my companions: "Whatever else happens, these hills will still be herewhen it's all over." A few days later I sailed from Greenock in the firstconvoy of the war; a copy of Heaton's "The Hills of Lakeland" was inmy baggage and this helped to keep hope alive during the months andyears ahead of me.True, there had been a few opportunities to climb in war-time, duringthe brief spells of leave and while training Commandos in mountain andsnow warfare in Scotland and Wales. But I had not returned to theLakes in all those six years. So it was with a special sense of anticipationthat Joy and I came down from Scotland after a few days climbing inGlencoe, to spend Easter with Professor A.S. Pigou at Gatesgarth. Hisother guests were Philip Noel-Baker, at that time a Minister in ClemAtlee's administration; Harry Tilley, with whom I was shortly to climb inSkye; and Wilfrid Noyce. Wilfrid, a most improbable soldier, hadturned up in my regiment at the beginning of the war before beingposted to duties more attuned to his talents; I had made the most of hisskill and experience during the short spell to help me train soldiers of myBrigade and later. Commando units, in North Wales. It was during thoseweeks that we had played truant - or taken busmen's holidays - andclimbed together.It was as though to give thanks for personal survival that, on our firstday that Eastertide, I suggested we return to Lining Crag after climbingon Scafell. Joy, having the responsibility of being mother to our youngfamily, was not climbing that year, but she came along to watch ourantics and meet us when we reached the top. We spent a splendid day onEagle Front and other climbs in Birkness Coombe on our second day,the pleasure of it by no means diminished by a dressing down from the'Prof for being late for dinner. For our third and last - and best - daywe chose Pillar, my favourite Lakeland crag, which held many goodmemories from pre-war years.55