Climbing at Birchen edge

24^th & 27^thJuly 2003

The Black Mountains

September 2003

Thursday saw our first attempt at running a quiz night and thanks to Colin it proved an unmitigated… success!

Colin’s quizmaster skills were sent into overdrive as he drew and threw questions from thin air during the individual 50/50 round. If you answered wrong you got to sit down and with so many members and guests present, it was an honour to find yourself seated once more; strange that a

non-mountaineer won that round and the bottle of plonk that went with the ability to answer obscure questions, and, have the stamina to stand for a long, long time!

Victory in the team quiz should have gone to the chairman’s (my) team, but an unfortunate twist of fortune (a fix) befell us during the sports round where the questions were impossibly obscure (Do you know how long you have to stare at a bull to score a Rodeo?) we wasted our joker! In the end, teachers won! (cough, splutter!)

It was all done with an air of joviality and a few beers to boot.

Thanks must also go to our very own Carol Vorderman, Louise, who adjudicated and didn’t do as I asked and cheat on our behalf. The night raised £50 for purchase of new climbing equipment from a raffle of spirituous substances but most of all it was great fun and enjoyed by all.

On Sunday, five defeated members and one winner ended up at Birchen edge in Derbyshire at a climbing venue that borders Chatsworth house land. (I feel a list coming on…)

On Stokers wall we started up Nautical Crack (7m VD) and Yo-ho Crack (7m VD), the first climbs to fall to our newly honed mental and physical agilities. We followed up with Reef Knot (7m S 4b *), a nice slab climb with an added guidebook warning about the final difficult moves; Panic not! Afterwards we moved onto Stokers Break (7m VD) and Trafalgar Crack (13mVD 4a **) to conclude the morning session and prelude a feeding frenzy that is dinner.

The afternoon serving forced us all to attempt Sailors Crack (5m S). The guidebook description is a blatant underestimation; ‘An awkward, overhanging crack is climbed on superb jams to an awkward exit.’ Many styles of ascent were demonstrated and all led to grazed knuckles!

On Kismet buttress we took on Device (10m VS 4c *) a nasty slab with minimal frictional qualities. We had to finish on a high note so we did the buttress’ classic routes of Nelson’s Nemesis (15m VS 4b ***) and Horatio’s Horror (16m S 4a **), more hand jamming and more grizzly grazes but well worth the left-behind skin.

Okay then! There’s a theme running in the climb titles and that question never came up in the quiz; maybe next time

Pints in the Robin Hood afterwards and that’s not the answer:

As a foolproof guide to understand the climbing grades used in this text...

V= very, S= severe, D= difficult which isn’t as hard as severe, the climb’s height is always measured in metres, the higher the letter following the number the higher the technical grade and, the more stars there are the better the route overall.

You could of course come down to the club and learn these codes for yourself…

On a splendid September day the group assembled at Capel-y-ffin in the Black Mountains where the narrow road widens enough to allow several cars to park.

Following field footpaths we made our way along the valley before beginning the steep ascent to the Offa’s Dyke path. The route zigzagged up the hillside through the bracken before flattening out on the heathery moor land giving excellent views of the valley below and extensively across both England and Wales.

In places the path had been paved, but today there was little sign of the muddy conditions that prevail throughout much of the winter. For four miles here the route took us along the border between England and Wales until eventually we reached the trig point on Hay Bluff giving extensive views to the north and along the steep escarpment of the Black Mountains.

Turning to the south-west we made for the Gospel Pass and the minor road that leads down to Hay-on-Wye before climbing again to Lord Hereford’s Knob and Rhos Dirion. For some time we had an extended lunch break enjoying the pleasant afternoon sunshine before moving off for the final part of the walk.

From Hay Bluff there were numerous other walkers, many seemingly taking part in a sponsored event but as soon as we turned again to the south-east we were pretty much by ourselves again.

While some of the group extended the walk to take in Charwarel y Fan, others thought the 12 ½ miles already covered was enough and began a steady descent to Capel-y-ffin and the starting point where half an hour was enjoyed in the sunshine before we all moved off to find a pub for our evening meal.

Climbing at Birchen edge

24th & 27th July 2003

24^th & 27^thJuly 2003