The Rucksack Club

PierrePierre St. Martin 2021 expedition.

Just a heads up for all would be Rucksack cavers.Because of the success of the 2019 Berger Expedition, some of the original team are looking at another mammoth trip next summer “UP or should it be DOWN” the classic world caving trips.The PSM as its known lies close to the French/Spanish Pyrenees town of Bayonne on the western coast of France. Heralded as The deepest world cave for many years until the Berger was bottomed in the late 1950’s it attracts teams from all over the globe because of its ease of access and the mammoth SALLE VERNA cavern bigger than Wembley stadium.A man made tunnel takes tourists into Salle Verna but for the proper cavers unlike the Berger there a different entrances and through trips to accommodate all levels of experience.Obviously its early days and plenty of planning to do,but it would be great to have strong Rucksack club presence this time along with the other clubs involved.John Warby.

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Virtual Gogarth Meet Saturday 13 June @ 7pm

Every June, for almost 20 years, Helen and I have organised The Gogarth Meet. Despite my best efforts, and the climbing on The Best Crag In The World, this has become known as the Barbecue Meet! 2020 will be a bit different – we’ll still have the Burgers, BBQ, Beers, Bonfire and Banter, but we’ll be getting together in back gardens across cyberspace rather than on Port Dafarch Beach (you could argue that’s all the best bits, without the carbon footprint or the terror of Main Cliff!). We’ll have a few pics, some tales from ‘Back in the Day’, a prize for the best burger, and a Gogarth-themed quiz to amuse you, so put the beers in the fridge, fire up the barbie and come and join the virtual fun on Zoom. Please pass the invitation on to friends (whether in the Rucksack Club or not – EVERYONE WELCOME!) and get in touch if you’d like to share a story or pics of your favourite Gogarth experience. Link to follow via email or check the Club FB page or email me at virtual-meets@rucksackclub.org Cheers, Dom & Helen

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Classic RC Alps Meet – Randa 2008

Summer Alpine Meet August 2008 – Randa This meet was a successful outing and typical of Alpine meets the club use to run until fairly recently. Just a group of RC members and guests having a go at some of the best mountains in the Alps. No very difficult routes but challenging enough if you’re not used to the Alpine scene. A good 40 people turned up for this meet based at Randa near Zermatt.  I’ve included the original meet report to jog a few memories.                                           Alpine Meet August 2008                                                                 Rae Pritchard Randa   Those attending this meet completely missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics but never mind we had our own Alpine Olympics in Switzerland.  The campsite at Randa was much the same as I remember from the last time the club had a meet here nine years ago with improvements to the facilities it proved once again to be a good base for various activities. About forty members and guests in various tents, caravans and campers attended. We enjoyed mixed weather and conditions but with only one day[…]

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The Rucksack Club

Compensation for cancelled Ryan Air flights

Due to all the lock down stuff ‘im sure l lot of us have been trying to get some sort of refunds for flight cancellations/accomodation.Especially for the March Sun Rock Trip. I contacted Ryan Air through “Resolver” very prompt reply from Ryan Air” NO CHANCE” as its classed as EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES under EU legislation ,wondering if anyone has any success elsewhere.

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