Andy Tomlinson – Page 9 – The Rucksack Club

Climbing Everest in 2 weeks!

7th June 2020 Andy Tomlinson Member Posts

Following Kilian Jornet’s record breaking climb of Mt Everest in 2017. A vital part of this process took place at home, using a hypoxic chamber Kilian for sleep as well as exercise over the 8 weeks prior to his departure for Nepal. Finally, before flying, he spent a further 10 days preparing in the Alps where, his records show, he spent 100 hours sleeping and ski mountaineering at altitudes of up to 4200m. Since then, other mountaineers have adopted a similar approach. On his Blog, Into the Death Zone, Jeremy Windsor discusses one such ascent with Roxanne Vogel who made headlines in 2019 by successfully climbing Mt Everest in a 14 day round trip from her home in San Francisco…incredible! Follow the link below https://deathzone.7thwave.io/blog/1661

Something completely different…alpine ‘skycling’!

6th June 2020 Andy Tomlinson Member Posts

Top of the Grande Motte at sunrise…May 2020 What do you do when you have been locked down for 7 weeks in Tignes and you are fanatical about skiing and cycling? Two “Ultimate” boys dreamt of combining the two disciplines for a challenging day out https://vimeo.com/user25116911/skibike …and they loved it so much, they looked for a longer challenge! https://vimeo.com/421213481

Covid 19 and the Rucksack Club: update 5 June 2020

5th June 2020 Andy Tomlinson Archived

The President writes: Important Update – Covid19 and the Rucksack Club The Rucksack Club committee cancelled all outdoor and indoor programmes and closed all huts until further notice on 24 March 2020. This was in accordance with Government advice and aimed at protecting us all. Since that date the committee has been, and continues to, follow Government advice. It is also reviewing BMC and other mountaineering club advice. On this basis the committee will decide what is in the best interests of our club. The following is an update of the Rucksack Club response: Indoor and Outdoor Programme: All Club meets are currently suspended. The committee will continue to review this situation based on updated Government guidelines and also advice from the BMC. We will provide appropriate updates as and when our stance changes, but in the interim, and for the foreseeable future, the meets programme is suspended. All Rucksack Club huts and the grounds: At the present time, and until you are otherwise informed, all three huts remain out of use. You must not enter any hut or park vehicles in the grounds. This also applies to huts belonging to a Kindred Club. We would like[…]

Classic RCJ article: Trespassers will be Prosecuted, by C.H. Pickstone [1922]

1st June 2020 Andy Tomlinson Classic Journal Articles

The Classic Article“Trespassers will be prosecuted” was published in the 1922 RCJ. The author, Charles Pickstone, was a solicitor and one of the original members of the Club. He was President 1914-1916 and was also very influential in writing the first “Rules of the Club”. Club member Jean Walker, who is also a solicitor, has kindly provided the following introduction: Are we any freer to roam today than we were in 1922? Are we still likely to be “prosecuted” if we trespass on private land? Firstly, nothing has changed so far as notices are concerned. The absence of a notice indicating private land does not mean we have a right to go onto that land. Equally the notice that says “trespassers will be prosecuted” remains misleading. Prosecutions relate to the process of bringing criminal offences before the court. What those posting the notices really mean is that if we trespass they will start civil proceedings for compensation for any damage we do. Landowners and their gamekeepers can remove us from private land using only reasonable force, if we refuse to leave when requested. They do however risk a prosecution themselves for assault if that force was not reasonable so, as before,[…]

On the hill with…Gerry Goldsmith

29th May 2020 Andy Tomlinson On the hill with

Welcome to another “On the hill with…”. This time it is the turn of Gerry Goldsmith. Gerry was one of the Club’s first female members, joining within a year of the historic change in 1990, and a very active member in all aspects of Club activities as she reveals. Gerry on home ground; 2020 How did you get into walking and climbing? Camping with the Girl Guides got me started. Then lots of walking on Kinder with the YHA Society at Sheffield University, and hitch-hiking (in pairs) to Youth Hostels in the Lakes. A few years later I met Neil, we moved to Stockport and joined the Kinder Mountain Rescue Team (KMRT). They took us climbing (Tuesday evenings) and we were hooked. With KMRT we learnt winter climbing in Scotland and went to the Alps in summer.Gerry climbing on Anglesey; early 1990’s Lifting heavy stretchers and climbing with heavy sacks ruined my knees, so I graduated to fell-running. It seemed the answer, nothing to carry! My favourites involved running long challenges such as the Bob Graham round, the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon (KIMM…now morphed in to the OMM) and the Derwent Watershed. Who has had the most influence on[…]

Covid-19…latest guidance from the BMC

16th May 2020 Andy Tomlinson Archived

The BMC have produced updated guidance as lockdown across the UK evolves. Please click on the link for the full update, which the Club Committee fully supports. https://www.thebmc.co.uk/can-i-start-climbing-and-hill-walking-again Our huts remain closed until further notice.

Classic RCJ Articles…two articles on the first Club hut [Cwm Eigiau] from 1913 and 2001

16th May 2020 Andy Tomlinson Classic Journal Articles, Member Posts

On 15th June 1912, the Rucksack Club opened the first club hut in Great Britain in Cwm Eigiau below Craig-yr-Ysfa in theCarneddau. 28 year old Stanley Jeffcoat was the prime mover in its acquisition who, with a small group of mostly younger members, had been looking for suitable premises. They were put in touch with a local tenant farmer who was in a position to sub-let the cottage in March 1912. There is more information on the influential Jeffcoat in the last Classic Article A Bivouac at Thirteen Thousand Feet [RCJ 1912] which can also be found in ‘Classic Journal Articles’. On this occasion two articles are attached: The first is simply called The Rucksack Club Hut authored by T. Wyldbore, which appeared in the 1913 RCJ. It provides a fascinating insight into the hut and its first ‘working meet’…how easy it is for us today! The second and much more recent article Cwm Eigiau Centenary by Roger Booth, appeared in the 100th RCJ issue in 2011. This provides a detailed and fascinating insight into this unique hut and its place in UK mountaineering history, even though it was only leased for 8 years as security issues became a significant problem.

Young caver Peak District…who and where?

11th May 2020 Andy Tomlinson Member Posts, Members Tales

Young caver in a famous Peak District cave in 1965…who and where?!

“On the hill with…Geoff Bell”

6th May 2020 Andy Tomlinson On the hill with

On the Hill (and other RC pursuits) with…Geoff Bell who, as you will read, has been a serious and successful long distance endurance cyclist, runner and walker over many years. A very active Club member he was President in 2003-04. How did you get into “being out there”? As a Sheffield teenager I was into cycling. Club runs and time trialling at the weekend and a 7 mile ride to work in the labs at the Stocksbridge steelworks. In all weathers. I carried my bike through the snowdrifts that the bus couldn’t get through. I never got under the hour for 25 miles, but did manage 226m in 12 hours. In hindsight, this was an early example of my being able to pace myself over long efforts. Teens over, I was married to Mary, proud father of three daughters, and living in Glossop with a demanding job ensuring that the superalloys we made were up to spec. Then at 34 came my epiphany. Chris Brasher wrote an inspiring account of the 1972 Karrimor mountain marathon in his regular column in The Observer. I resolved to do the next one, so it was Chris who got me going on foot in[…]

Classic RCJ article: A Bivouac at Thirteen Thousand Feet, by Stanley Jeffcoat [1912]

27th April 2020 Andy Tomlinson Classic Journal Articles, Member Posts

The next offering for the Classic RCJ article appeared in the 1912 Journal entitled “A Bivouac at Thirteen Thousand Feet”. Another understated article, it is a delight to read…candles rather than head torches, no alarm clocks and step cutting, are some of the impediments to climbing not normally suffered by the modern alpinist! The description of the pleasures of an unplanned bivi will, however, ring true to many. Its author, Stanley Jeffcoat [above], was a rising star in the Rucksack Club. He was elected to the Club in November 1908 at the age of 24 and was already an experienced climber in the UK and Switzerland. He rapidly developed his skills in the Peak, Wales and the Lakes climbing with the likes of Herford and Laycock. Three first ascents in the Peak stand out: Jeffcoat’s Chimney [VDiff] and Jeffcoat’s Buttress [HS 5a] at the Roaches [both climbed in 1913] and Scoop Face [HVS 5a] at Castle Naze [1914]…the picture below shows Jeffcoat soloing Scoop Face barefoot! Scoop Face remains a Peak District classic and is a Top 50 route in the Western Grit Rockfax Guide. A year after becoming a Club member he was on the Committee and delegated to[…]