Marylebone Mountaineering Club
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Library and Information > Meet Reports
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Marylebone Mountaineering Club Library and Information > Meet Reports |
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By Jane Buxton
Thursday 17th April
Friday 18th April
At Chair Ladder: Shane and Warren climbed South Face Direct - a good classic (VS***) - Shane did a Topley special and made up part of the route. Barry and Russell climbed Wolverine Chimney (S). Barry, despite not having lead for 2 years, reckoned to climb in style but there are no witnesses and he had had a few pints! Russell was chuffed to have recovered a girls belay plate. Sennen had a good turn out of MMC'ers: Tara and Sandy climbing various routes. This was Tara's virgin voyage on multipitch, she untied herself from the system but was saved by a nice man, however, he forgot the Milk Tray. Jules and David climbed Banana Flake (VD - Jules lead). Zoe set up Rob's abseil rope, with text book precision but unfortunately the bit the text book forgot was that the rope was now 8 feet too short; a simpler system was installed, the rope finally grounded and was used by many! Rob B, Zoe and Ben climbed Africa Route (VS - Rob lead) and Overhang Corner (VS - Ben lead) and a couple of HS's (though Rob disputes their grading as being E1's). Marvin and Wendy spent most of the day causing a nuisance in Dartington gardens breaking rules by climbing trees, rolling on the grass and screaming! When they eventually turned up at Sennen Wendy lead Banana Flake (VD). Rob M and Jane also climbed Banana Flake (VD), Letterbox (S), Intermediate route (VD) all lead by Rob without glasses which were somewhere in St Ives after a brave dip in the sea without a wetsuit - Mad dogs and English men! Jane lead Staircase (diff). Paul was "dragged up" Hayloft (VS) and Smeagol (HVS) by Jiri. Jiri then soloed HS and VS routes. Pete and Bart climbed a HVS multipitch . Mark Winfield and David Dees were at Bosigran, climbed Zig Zag (VS), Paragon (HVS) and Venusberg (VS). Mark practicing for his new job in the circus stood on David's shoulders on the final pitch as David was too tired to lead the overhang. Lucy and Lemony wanted to join the fun at Sennen but unfortunately Lemony's climbing skills were a bit rusty and they ended up going for a walk instead. Other walks included: Bea, Ro and Liam along the costal path. Rhian went to St Ives and saw Tate, Phil and Katrin went to Penzance saw Mont de St Michael, watched the windsurfing championships and then walked from one side of England to the other. Tara and Tony walked towards Zenor, Tara convalescing after her run in with a speed bump at the campsite. Nikki and Mandi arrived, got straight to it, stripping to underwear to lie on the beach for a quick snooze - then went for a hike round the cove and Catharine arrived late Friday evening. Saturday 19th April
David B reported a day of complete faff! It was Nikki, Mandi and Tara's turn to walk from one side of England to the other and they then continued to St Ives and the shops before refuelling with a picnic at Hanging Rock. Catharine spent most of her day in the bar but she was studying for her final exams - honest! Miles flew his kite. Barry and Rhian went to visit relies in Penzance (uncle Ray and auntie Rhys) and watched TV. Jules and Russell climbed at Lands End, The Long Route - HS/S, 8 pitch multipitch. Jules did some fantastic leading and very interesting moves on corpse forward. Bea, Rowena, Liam (and Jane half way) did a circular walk from Zennor to Bosigran and back. Jane left the group at Bosigran as the jangle of climbing gear was calling. A lovely walk recorded by the group though a bit wet underfoot in parts, Bea's trainer full of bog. The group ended in the Gunards Head for a fabulous lunch which was highly recommended. The Bosigran contingent consisted of: Chuck, Paul and Zoe climbed Doorway (S) followed by Clob reported to be 2 pitches but Chuck managed to pull a third out of the bag. Marvin and Wendy also climbed Doorway, reported to be an excellent climb, despite the queue. Marvin and Lucy climbed Andrew (VD) until a dodgy move at the top of pitch 2, reported to be at least Severe, defeated them and they backed off from the third pitch. Rob M, Jane and Sandy climbed Oread (VD), Sandy lead In Between (VD), with communication failure which ended in the half the crag playing Chinese whispers until messages were passed between lead and seconds (Wendy and Jane). Rob M then lead Oread again this time with Tara, this was Rob's third variation on the route and after watching someone else who'd carefully read the guide book he concluded he hadn't climbed the proper route once! Alix and Tony climbed Black Slab and Andrew (VD). Phil and Katrin climbed Andrew (VD) wedged between groups of 3 and 4 climbers, then tried to climb Central Ridge but as they hadn't booked tickets in advance, couldn't be bothered with the queue, decided to throw away the gear and solo routes including Alison's rib! Pete and Bart climbed In-between (VD) and Alison's Rib (D) with a bit of scrambling thrown in to keep warm. Rob B and Ben climbed a couple of 2 pitch routes the names of which were not memorable but, in keeping with his belief of the previous days climbs, Rob reckons they too must have been E1's.
Sunday 20th April
Marvin, Wendy, Lucy and Jules had breakfast in St Ives washed down with a parking ticket. Then went to Halsetown to look for a climbing wall. Marvin ended up in Sennen and summed his day up as a major café faff. Wendy and Lucy went for a walk/run relying on Lemony's navigation skills (Wendy, dogs aren't allowed to enter the KIMM!). Lemony decided to put the girls through their paces, went on ahead and waited patiently by the car for their return. Wendy and Lucy finally managed to find their way back to the car before nightfall. Needless to say Lemony will not be auditioning for the part of Lassie! Jules, Barry and Rhian went to see a wreck. Miles hit the coast kayaking, Ro and Liam also hit the surf, whilst Bea woke in her hotel - a necessity due to her ripped tent - honest! Bea tried to educate Ro (ozzie) took her for her first ever cream tea. Phil, Katrin and Bart went to Geevor mine to suffer the locals calling them "my love" Catharine still in the bar pretending to study …… Mandi and Nikki walked to St Ives, into Carves Bay and with a scrambled back. Frequented the seafood café twice - joined by Catharine now in need of some food to soak up the alcohol - I mean to refuel after all that study! Tara, Tony and Zoe walked into St Ives taking in the tea shops and the Tate gallery. Jiri and Rob Brooks climbed at Sennen. Jiri's definition was some easy one pitch routes, however according to Rob mere mortals found them impossible (should get down to the wall more often Rob!): Demo Route - HS, The Arête - VS, Turescrew Crack - VS, Double Overhang - VS lead by Jiri, Civvy Route - HS, Africa Route - VS lead by Rob. AG, also at Sennen, solo'd a V Diff and Severe just to see if he was in the mood to solo a diff with rucksack to get back to the café. Barry, back in the pub with beer in hand, claimed to have soloed an E5 but again no witnesses (anyone seeing a pattern here?), however he did climb Black Slab, (VD*) with Russell. It must be reported that they were wearing rucksacks and carrying an abseil rope. Russell later went to hit the surf but despite his military training of sauna followed by cold showers he only lasted 40mins in the water, frostbite can be suffered elsewhere other than the mountains then! Mark and David went to Chair Ladder and climbed Diocese (VS) and Corporal's Route (HS). Back to Bosigran again: Jane led Kate (VD) with Sandy and Tara; Sandy then led Big Top (VD). Warren and Rob M climbed Doorway (S) and Little Brown Jug, the panic rack (SP) made an appearance followed by an interesting moment when Rob coughed and dropped his nuts but a nice man soloed up to return them. All just about finished climbing before the downpour of rain but still got soaked. Paul and Pete, who had stormed Commando Ridge in a record breaking 3 hours were not so lucky and finished the last two (now very interesting) pitches of Doorpost (HS), in the pouring rain. Ben was last seen driving round the west coast…………… Monday 21st April
Marvin, Wendy, Lucy, Paul and Jules went to Wintor's Leap to climb Central Rib, a four pitch, three star classic (VD), Lucy asking, "does 3 star mean it's harder?". Roped as a five Jules led the first pitch, rather polished, Paul led the second two and Wendy led the fourth. Mark, Helen, David, Alix and families had time in St Ives and the coast. Rob M, Jane, Phil and Katrin got the last of the cobwebs blown away on the costal path from Zennor to Gunards Head, Robin's rocks and back (a little soloing of unnamed routes couldn't be resisted). JB 
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Jiri and AG climbed Little Brown Jug and then went on to Paragon for a bit of an epic. First Jiri went off route, then lost his credit card; obviously he decided his wrack of gear was not complete and that Access, his "flexible friend", was the only thing that would save him (Jiri will be giving lessons on how to place this gear if required). After down climbing to recover the credit card (one never knows when it may be necessary to buy that box of milk tray!) Jiri then cut his finger and in an effort to stop it bleeding stuck it in his chalk bag. Whilst bleeding to death he found out that he had strayed on to the crux of an E1. He attempted the crux but had to rest on a piece of gear, unfortunately the gear came out and he was left dangling by one hand (the other still bleeding). The last straw came when he lost his belay device so he decided to bring AG up on an Italian hitch; AG climbed the crux to finish the route. Jiri was found in the pub later with copious amounts of beer discussing his will.