It was a cold night as groups of MMCers made their way to deepest darkest Yorkshire for the May bank holiday. Members struggled to pitch their tents as the wind transformed them into giant kites. MMC first timers Liz and Mary proved they were suitably qualified to join the club by trashing their tent after a valiant effort to put it up. Faced with the prospect of spending a night in the car, the duo manage to persuade the campsite owner to arrange a fabulous 5* B&B facility for them for the period of their stay. Cots in the dining hall! Breakfast in bed…. well almost.

Friday night's experience was described by old grizzly members as 'a slightly disturbed night' and by relative newbies to camping as 'kept awake by howling gales and praying our tents would still be there in the morning'. Well, the winds did die down in the early hours of the morning and people managed to get some sleep.

On Saturday Nick, Steve, Nikki Ashley, Ivone, Mark Rennie and Elsa went to Crummackdale (given the unfair sobriquet Crummy Rock Dale in one guidebook). Rick and Niki turned up from Bristol eventually leading to a glut of Nick's, Niki's and Nikki's.

Steve and Nikki warmed up on Monsocope (VS 4c) and then climbed Olympus (HVS 4c), The Generation Gap (HVS 5a) and Little Pink Clare (HVS 5a) all led by Steve.

Mark led Nick and Ivone up Snowcem (VS 4c) and then Nick led Little Pink Clare. They also climbed Olympus and The Generation Gap. Ivone then led Monoscope seconded by Elsa who had been persuaded to give climbing a try. She climbed quite ably, but with a little trepidation that was voiced in the evocative and original Spanglish phrase "I am leaving myself" as she stopped for a rest while on a top rope.

Nick then felt bold enough to climb Feeling the Pinch (E1 5b). He ably nipped up the hard start and then cruised the easy middle section before hitting the roof. There he clipped two insitu wires, backed up with a friend under the roof and having surmounted the roof decided to go straight up rather than to the right and promptly fell off. Mark later showed him the correct way of climbing it.

All this took some time and the main party found themselves in the near unique position of seeing Niki and Rick leave the crag before them! Well, there's a first for everything.

A second group of members Neville, John Rowe, Phil, Steinar, Shane, Julie, Robin, Chuck, Wendy and AG climbed at Oxenber. FTR the Mitton's Mutt (Robin's dog) was there as well though he didn't do any climbing. Neville and John amongst other routes climbed Right Flake (MVS) and Bulls something-or-other (VS). Neville took several attempts at this VS due to it being so polished, but was eventually climbed it with Shane seconding him. Of the climbs at the crag, Chuck and Wendy had the misfortune of picking most of the polished ones.

Paul and Delphine went for a bike ride and returned with tales of steep hills and strong winds. Mary and Liz went for a walk and tried some bouldering. Andrew having enjoyed a long lie (we do have some sensible people in the club), went for a walk up Ingleborough.

On Sunday Steve had a plan to go to the Lake District and so was knocking everyone out of bed like a drill sergeant. Despite a minor faff in finding each other Nick, Steve, Mark, Ivone, Niki and Nikki all met up at Gimmer, a Rhyolite crag in Langdale. Nick and Nikki then climbed the excellent multi pitch classics Gimmer Chimney (VD) and Slab and Bracket (MVS). In the guidebook this totals 13 pitches but they managed to lace them up in a total of 7. Niki led the superb NW Arete (VS) while Steve led the equally superb Kipling Groove (HVS). Mark and Ivone meanwhile did Introduction (S) and Gimmer String (E1) alternating the leads.

Everyone then had dinner in the New Dungeon Ghyll before heading back to Yorkshire.

Rick had undertaken to spend the day with his parents and so had a slightly hang-dog look about him, like a small boy lying in the san while he hears the rest of the school marching out for field day.

It was the turn for Mark Winfield, Dave Faff, Chuck and Wendy to climb at Crummackdale. Starting with a VS for a warm up, Chuck felt confident enough to lead his first HVS of the season. But what was supposed to be "Generation Gap" turned into something new thanks to Chuck going left when he should have gone right. This lead to enjoyable climbing but long gaps between gear. Chuck started calling his new Route "Porker" (HVS 5a) almost immediately. Mark W thought he'd have a go at "Porker" but changed his mind half way when he found out that Chuck had made it up on the spot. Mark then finish up with the rest of Generation gap HVS 5a. After "Porker" Chuck lead Little Pink Clare HVS 5a a fabulous climb which Wendy seconded with great skill apart from leaving part of Chucks rack still stuck in the rock face.

Neville, Mary, Liz, Shane, Julie, Steinar, Phil, Rob and AG along with the mutt went to Twistleton Scars (with some minor detours on the way thanks to AG's by now legendary route finding skills) to find that the place had dog restrictions. The farmer consented to allow the mutt provided he was on a leash when Rob discovered he had forgotten the leash back at the camp! A sling was put to good use and the mutt's advanced years and short eyesight convinced the farmer that he would not be any threat to the sheep. The group proceeded to enjoy the delights of the highly polished routes at the crag. Notable route was Evening Star (S) where Neville managed to shower Liz with dropped hexes. Her brand new helmet has passed the test.

The group made bookings at the local pub for dinner and got a room all to themselves. They were joined by Wendy and Chuck. There was even evening's entertainment in form of a pub quiz.

Andrew in his inimitable style reports that on Sunday he drove around to see what there was to be seen.

On Monday Nick, Ivone, Elsa, Steve, Nikki, Niki, Chuck, Wendy, Neville, Mark and Rick went to Giggleswick South. Some of this party had a protracted approach having gone completely wrong and so spent 45 minutes stumbling over hill and dale until finally spotting the distant figure of Ivone standing on the skyline blowing a whistle.

Generally the crag was quite low (c. 10m) which resulted in most of the climbs being stubby little technical nasties. Many a blue world was mentioned, and at one point three of five leaders on the rock face, almost in unison! backed off their routes muttering "HVS?! that was no #$% HVS." or the like under there breaths. Nick and Neville had enthusiastically started up Satori (HVS 5b) until Nick reached a stopper move that necessitated lunging out for a flake. "I'd rather have a Flake for lunch than lunge for a flake" was the witty quip. Fortunately a brief rain shower allowed him to make an honorable withdrawal. Similarly Rick backed off Meerschaum (HVS 5a) at the same time. Nevertheless they persevered and Nick led Left Hand Siamese Twin (HVS 4c). Several people (including the recently inspired Elsa) also climbed Custard Crack (MVS) and then Steve, Nick and Chuck had a play around on Go Johnny Go (E2 5c) and Slap and Giggle (E1 5b) on a toprope. Meanwhile Mark had been spending an inordinate amount of time not climbing The Arches (E1 5c) from which he eventually backed off.

Shane, Rob, Julie, Steinar, Mary, Liz, Paul, Delphine, Andrew and AG went to Brimham Rocks. Shane, Steinar and AG (who was not supposed to be climbing) made something of a project of getting up an MVS then getting back down off the top! However having recuperated with a café stop, Steinar and Shane proceeded to climb the right hand crack, one of the classic VS lines at lovers leap.

Fully sated by three days of excellent climbing the weary members then collapsed happily into their cars and drove home.

AG