Category: Featured Meets

Five years after the Club’s lease of Cwm Eigiau ended in 1921 a sub-committee was formed to find a replacement “in some local climbing or tramping area but not so difficult of access as was the Cwm Eigiau hut or even so far off as the Langdale Valley”. A search for premises close to the Kinder/Bleaklow area proved fruitless but then Herbert Carr, Hon. Sec. of the Climbers’ Club and former Rucksack Club member, suggested Tal y Braich Uchaf, a small farmhouse near to Helyg, the CC’s new hut in the Ogwen Valley. A lease was signed in February 1927 and we are fortunate to have in the archives Keith Treacher’s unpublished history of Tal y Braich covering the next seventeen years, which can be found here As Keith says, this was a particularly active period in the Club’s life and he highlights the impressive list of first ascents recorded in the hut’s log book. Several of these were the subject of Journal articles and I have selected Lindley Henshaw’s entertaining account in the 1928 Journal of the attempts and final ascent of what became Pigott’s Climb on Clogwyn Du’r Arddu’s East Buttress. This represented a major breakthrough. In his[…]

In an earlier post in this series Andy Tomlinson gave us Tim Wyldbore’s amusing account of Cwm Eigiau’s transformation from a remote shepherd’s cottage to Britain’s first climbing hut, together with Roger Booth’s detailed history of the hut up to the end of the Club’s tenancy in 1921. Mike Dent’s Archivists Report 2020 refers to a visit to Cwm Eigiau hut in 1917 by Walter Haskett-Smith (the ‘Father of British rock-climbing’) and Mr and Mrs Scott-Tucker and the reports by Haskett-Smith and Mrs Scott-Tucker (the ‘Commissariat Officer’) from the 1918 Journal can be accessed here. The accompanying photograph of Cwm Eigiau Cottage was taken in May 2006 shortly after a crack Wednesday Walkers team set off on a three-day tour of the Welsh 3000s. We found the hut (maintained by Rugby Mountaineering Club) little changed, with basic facilities, no electricity, bottled gas instead of the ‘capricious’ Primus stoves for cooking and access on foot only: a proper mountain hut!

In his On the Hill With, Nick Wallis made reference to his ascent of the Walker Spur. Along with fellow Club member Martin Cooper, 2006 proved a very successful alpine season and this article encapsulates all that can be had from an alpine trip, accessed by clicking here.  This is my last Classic Article…George Wilks has kindly agreed to take over this occasional series, giving me time for other duties I’ve taken on! 

In his ‘On the hill with…’ Geoff Bell recalls that his President’s Meet on the Faeroes in 2004 was a gamble that paid off handsomely. Four members decided to sail there and in his article on this Meet in the same Journal he writes: Meanwhile Boece Cardus had clandestinely contacted me, sworn me to secrecy, and said that he fancied the idea of sailing there. A few days before our departure I had an email from him ‘…tight time table…weather is going to be crucial…my commander is beginning to say it is going to be a lot of hard work just for a Rucksack meet tick. Don’t hold your breath.’ This Classic Article recounts this journey and is a fascinating read and shows the breadth of interest and activities undertaken by Club members. The wonderful descriptions of the wildlife encountered could almost convert this confirmed non-sailor, however the thought of big waves and dense fog soon bring me to my senses! Click here for Sailing to the Faeroes with Boece and crew.

Philip Brockbank joined the Club in 1931, after his student days in the infant MUMC. It was said that few could go as fast or as far as Philip, and he was renowned for his innovation and meticulous planning of long walks, particularly in his native Pennines, which included the Marsden-Edale (single and double), The Four Inns, Colne- Rowsley (once solo), Moffat-Peebles, and Tan Hill-Cat & Fiddle. In 1954 he masterminded the first continuous Scottish Four-thousands, which this Classic Article recounts. Many walks were repeated several times, and by 1965 he had been up Kinder 706 times! He was responsible for the 14 issues of the Journal from 1947-60, more than any of our other Editors, and wrote 19 articles for it over a period of nearly 50 years. Frank Williamson joined the Club in 1947 and, like many then, was a member of the YMCA. Apparently, he could often be found in the lounge there on a Friday evening, planning some preposterous walk, many of which were Sunday Peak District marathons made possible by the then rail network. It was as a long-distance walker that he is be best remembered including the first successful traverse of the Scottish 4000’s.[…]